GMA awards achievers/ Yatco’s career lauded

Upon the recommendation of Cecile G. Alvarez, Presidential Adviser on Culture, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo recently gave awards to select outstanding indigenous leaders and artists in performance, literature, visual arts and media at a special recognition ceremony in Malacañang’s Rizal Ceremonial Hall.

The event was under the auspices of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), with Ambeth Ocampo as chairman and Cecile Alvarez as executive director, in cooperation with the Office of the PA on Culture.

Recipients were Karen Davila, "UNICEF Child Rights Award" for her feature on "Batang Preso" (Juvenile Prisoners) in The Correspondents.

Rhea Santos, "Gold Camera Award" for Community Development at the 38th US International Film and Video Festival for GMA-7 At Your Service Episode under Sea Special on Coral Reef Reforestation.

Awardees in the "Search for Outstanding Indigenous People’s Leadership were: 1) Cecile Cariño Afable (Baguio) – Education and Media; 2) Romulo C. Caballero (Iloilo) – Arts and Culture; 3) Inocencio G. Carganilla (Pangasinan) – Business/Entrepreneurship/Livelihood; 4) William F. Chaver (Mt. Province) – Peace, Human Rights and Environment; 5) Justino Tiban Awid (Zamboanga) – Public Service/Community Leadership.

Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA) – Special Prize for Arts and Culture from the Japanese government through the Japan Foundation; Malou Jacob – Seawrite Award, Asia’s Best Known Literary Prize; Romulo Galicano – Grand Prize in the 2005 International Portrait Competition hosted by the Portrait Society of America in Washington, D.C.; Gero Cantabile – Club UNESCO Citation in the 7th Multi-Ethnic Cultural Festival in Greece; Shirley Halili-Cruz School of Ballet – winner of 67 awards in the Asia Pacific Dance Competition in Singapore, and named "Most Outstanding Ballet School in Asia Pacific".

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I inadvertently committed an inaccuracy by reporting that Oscar C. Yatco would be wielding the baton over the PPO at the CCP main theater on Nov. 22. On that date, Yatco will actually be conducting the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra at the Philamlife auditorium.

He will showcase Angel Peña’s Igorot Rhapsody, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with prodigy Joaquin’s "Chino" Gutierrez as soloist, and Dvorax’s Symphony No. 9 "From the New World".

After the concert, "Ode to the Maestro" will be read in celebration of Yatco’s 75th birthday. It will cite his prodigious and protean musical career, stress his significant contribution to the deepening of Filipino appreciation for symphonic music through the PPO and the old Manila Symphony Orchestra of which Yatco was the first Filipino conductor, and his strengthening of RP-German cultural ties through his distinguished teaching tenure and brilliant performances in Germany.

Ambassador Axel Weishaupt and members of entities involved in Yatco’s various music-making activities with the MSO and the PPO, among others, are expected to be present at the concert.

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UST Conservatory dean and internationally acclaimed concertist Raul Sunico, the most sought after pianist by other pianists and chamber groups, as also the most in-demand assisting artist by singers, will play on Thursday, Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. in a fund-raising concert for the Museum Foundation of the Philippines. Venue will be the Santuario de San Antonio in Makati. It will be Sunico’s fourth performance in a row this month.

Appearing with him are soprano Rachelle Gerodias, tenor Lemuel de la Cruz, and the UST Wind Orchestra under Conductor Herminigildo G. Ranera. Sunico’s own numbers are Gould’s "Jericho Rhapsody" and "Rachmaninoff Medley". Ranera will conduct "Fanfare from the New Era" by James Curnow, "Symphonic Movements" by Vaclav Helhybel, "Abelardo Medley" arranged by H. Ranera, "Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral" by Wagner and "Christmas Medley" arranged by Ranera.

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On Dec. 13, the FEU will hold a Choral Fest featuring the Manila Children’s Choir, an All-Female Chorale and a Mixed Choir. Performances will be at 10:45 a.m. and at 3:15 p.m., both at the FEU auditorium. The event will be presented through the President’s Committee on Culture headed by its executive director Dr. Rustica Carpio.

The Francisco Buencamino Foundation has come out for the first time with an exclusive CD of 12 of Cecile Licad’s widely-ranging favorite piano solos: Schubert’s Impromptu No. 1 in F Minor, E. Granados’ La Maja y el Ruiseñor from Goyescas, Debussy’s Jardin Seus La Pluie, Faure’s Nocturne No. 3 in A Flat Major, Raven’s Alborada del Gracioso, Chopin’s Scuerzo No. 1 in B Minor, Liszt’s Au berd d’une source, Ferdinand Morton’s Finger Buster, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in B Flat Major, Kreisler-Rachmaninoff’s Liebesfreud (Love’s Joy), F. Buencamino’s Ang Larawan, and Chopin’s Etudes Op. 10, No. 3 in E Major (Tristesse), No. 12 in C Minor (Revolutionary Etude), No. 2 in C Sharp Minor and No. 5 (Black Key Etude).

Foundation president Amelita Guevara believes the CD will make an ideal Yuletide gift for music lovers. Proceeds will go to scholarships. Interested parties may contact her, tel. 8103245; Rosario B. Licad, 7233006; Rosario B. Pardo, 8818098.

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The book of short stories "Something to Crow About" by National Artist for Literature Alejandro R. Roces was relaunched sometime ago. It has been bruited about that when Roces wrote the stories, he had not even been to a cockpit. True or not, the highly praised book by the literati has stood the test of time: It is now a classic.

At a later date, the BSP launched "The Bangko Sentral and the Philippine Economy" and the coffee table book "Tanaw: Perspectives on the BSP Painting Collection". Both books were designed by Joe and Marily Orosa’s Studio 5.