Tribute to Oscar Yatco/San Agustin Music Fete / Calbes in song concert

On Nov. 22, PPO Conductor Laureate Oscar Yatco, the Mighty Mite of Music, will wield the baton over the orchestra at the CCP main auditorium. After the concert, a plaque citing his achievements will be read to honor him on his 75th birthday.

In the mid ’70s, Oscar bested 15 aspirants to become concert master of the Mannheim National Theater Orchestra, Germany’s oldest municipal ensemble. After only eight months in Mannheim, Yatco received an invitation from Wolfgang Wagner, grandson of the great Richard Wagner, to join the Bayreuth Festival as one of its concert masters. Perhaps the most daunting, the Festival has 196 members handpicked by Wagner himself from Germany’s 60 major orchestras.

After stints in three successive Bayreuth Festivals, his last being under the baton of Pierre Boulez, Oscar begged off from future offers.

Also regarded as a violin virtuoso, he earned among other distinctions, a "rave" review after performing Khatchaturian’s Concerto, with the critic writing: "A violinist must prove whether he may rightly call himself a virtuoso. Yatco may do so."

With another discipline beckoning, Oscar became concert master of the Stross Chamber Orchestra and violinist of the Stross Quartet which regularly performed in Europe, the Middle and Far East. Oscar founded the Yatco String Quartet whose other members were German.

From 1966 to 1973, before Oscar’s long residency in Germany, he was conductor-music director of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, the first Filipino to assume the post in the MSO which was founded in 1926. He was its youngest member at 14, becoming a soloist at 15.

During Oscar’s stewardship, he introduced works by Bruckner, Bartok, Stravinsky, Hindemith and other contemporary masters. Under him, the MSO became concededly the best in Asia.

In 1982, Yatco was appointed music director of the PPO. In two seasons, he conducted Britten’s "War Requiem," Wagner’s "Prelude to the Master-singers", Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor and Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra.

Oscar is full professor at Hannover’s Hochschule. In 1979, he had auditioned for the post, winning over 30 international violinists. The screening was so rigid, it lasted a whole year!

When Oscar conducts the PPO on Nov. 22, the featured soloist in the concerto will be Joaquin "Chino" Gutierrez, 15-year old violin prodigy. Chino, who will also give a solo recital on Dec. 6 at the RCBC auditorium, won his scholarship at the Hochschule in Munich over hundreds of aspirants. He also won first prize in a math contest in Bavaria.

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In the seventh San Agustin International Music Festival set for Nov. 22 to 24 at San Agustin Church, famed Barcelona-based organist Luis Echechipia will take center stage.

On opening night, Nov. 22, he leads the roster of distinguished Filipino artists in baroque pieces specially composed for the 18th century pipe organ. Reynato Resurreccion Jr., PPO principal oboist, will render a duo with him.

On Nov. 23, Echechipia and Resurreccion will interpret other classical compositions for organ and oboe. Later, the Philippine Children’s Choir from Mandaluyong under Sebastian Trinidad will premiere sacred works by Filipino composer Alejandro Consolacion.

After intermission on opening night, the internationally acclaimed and awarded UST singers under Prof. Fidel Calalang will render works by Edward Grieg (edited by John Rutter), Franz Biebl, Morten Laurisden, Z. Randall Stroope, Hubertus Weimer, Filipino composer Ryan Cayabyab and two Negro spirituals by Moses Hogan.

The festival ends on Nov. 24 with Echechipia on the organ, followed by the Ateneo College Glee Club and the MSO Chamber Orchestra under Prof. Alou Hermo rendering Rutter’s "Magnificat" as an advance celebration of Yuletide. Outstanding Filipino soprano Katrina Saporsantos will be the featured soloist.

Fr. Pedro Galende, San Agustin Museum director, started the Music Festival in 1998 to highlight the magnificence of the small "realejo" 18th century baroque organ from Spain.

Herewith, Fr. Galende gives an interesting background of the historic organ:

The organ in San Agustin Church can be traced back to 1762 when two small "realejos" were destroyed during the British invasion. Another one was installed shortly afterwards and enlarged, incorporating the usable parts of the old one, from 1810 to 1813.

A document found in Valladolid, Spain, states that the construction materials were basically of native origin so we can proudly say this pipe organ is of Spanish-Filipino make with Filipino materials by Filipino artisans. The organ was modeled after Spanish baroque organs.

For centuries, the pipe organ endured many natural and human calamities. In 1976, and effort to change the mechanical transmission into an electrical one exacerbated the condition of the organ and eventually it became unplayable. It was fully restored to its antique form in 1998.

The inaugural concert of the San Agustin International Music Festival was held on November 3, 1998 and since then, beautiful music can now be heard from the organ.

According to Patron Federico Acitores, it is "an exceptional piece" for its baroque Spanish style, workmanship and location. In spite of restorations and repairs, this antique model still preserves much of the original elements whereby we can feel the breath of its spirit. The restoration therefore, was "more than a good idea, a caprice or a luxury, a must and a cultural necessity."

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On Nov. 25 at 8 p.m., Canada-based Filipino soprano Eleanor Calbes will give a recital at the Philamlife auditorium. Internationally acclaimed concert pianist Raul Sunico will be her assisting artist.

Joining Calbes will be flutist GJ Herman Gomez and baritone Noel Azcuna who will sing with her duets from Porgy and Bess and Ricoletto. Manila has heard Calbes in Bizet’s Pearl Fishers and in F. Feliciano’s La Loba Negra. She has been soloist with the Toronto Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the PPO.

On Nov. 22, Calbes interprets works by Kurt Kaiser, R. Strauss, Charpentier, Donizetti and Kasilag.