Lee, UST Singers: Dynamic!/The Voice of Leadership

The University of Sto. Tomas, which will mark its 400th year in 2011, had its conservatory, headed by Dean Raul Sunico, presenting a fascinating concert at the CCP main theater. Featured were the UST Symphony Orchestra under the eminent international Korean conductor Jae-Joon Lee and the world-acclaimed UST Singers under conductor Fidel Calalang Jr.

With Lee wielding the baton, the opening Egmont Overture by Beethoven crystallized the heroic fight of the Flemish army, led by Count Egmont, against the Spaniards as Goethe depicts in a play. The dramatic piece was given a sweeping riveting rendition, concluding with an electrifying performance by the brasses. An orchestra is only as good as its conductor, it has been observed. Under the remarkably dynamic Lee, the UST Symphony Orchestra, consisting predominantly of students with a sprinkling of alumni, outdid itself, demonstrating the strictest discipline in the solid, cohesive and expressive quality of its tones.

In the succeeding number, focus was on the UST Singers, the choral group which romped off, under Calalang, with some of the most prestigious international awards: the “Choir of the World” Grand Prize along with four first prizes at the Llangollen International Music Festival in Wales, UK; the Gran Premio “Cita di Gorizia” and four first prizes in Gorizia, Italy, and the Grand Prize in the Tonen International competition in Munster, Netherlands, along with three First Prizes and the Best Conductor Prize for Prof. Calalang.

Expectedly, the 40-member mixed choir lived up to its distinctions in Karl Jenkins’ profoundly moving Requiem which was interpreted through an interesting combination of strings, percussions and a Japanese flute. The composer, with audacious originality and imagination, employed Oriental (primarily Japanese) elements which created a unique spiritual air as the choir intoned the Introit, Die Irae, Rex tremendae, Confutatis, Lacrimosa, Pie Jesu, Lux aeterna and In Paradisum, singing in vigorous, zestful, greatly urgent voices (Dies Irae); in long, smoothly sustained high notes (Confutatis) or a cappella. Only the women sang in mournful, lambent manner in one brief section, with orchestra and choir finishing Requiem with the glorious, rousing climactic In Paradisum.

The choir exhibited clarity of diction, tonal richness and balance, beauty of phrasing, being alternately passionate or gentle in its appeal. The soloists were Naomi Sison and Thea Perez Prosia, the latter leaving the more vivid impression.

Conductor Lee’s tremendous dynamism shone again in Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 in E Minor (New World). With energetic thrusts of the baton, Lee brought the substance of the music to the fore, brasses and woodwinds, strings and percussions eloquently etching its various descriptive elements, both old (Dvorak’s own) and new (America).

The concert, immensely gratifying, had offered the best from two of the UST Conservatory’s departments: the orchestral and the vocal.

Viking Cars, in pursuit of excellence beyond the sale of Volvo vehicles, will hold the “Voice of Leadership” Competition Grand Finals, the first of its kind in the automotive industry, on Feb. 11, 5:30 p.m. at the RCBC auditorium. Participants will come from Assumption College, Ateneo U., Colegio de San Agustin, De la Salle Santiago Zobel School, La Salle Greenhills, Miriam College, OB Montessori Center, St. Jude Catholic School, St. Paul U., QC, St. Scholastica’s College, UP Integrated School, Xavier School.

Through the program, Volvo hopes to discover powerful voices that can move and inspire, innovate and instigate leadership transformation among the youth. To help hone their skills, the chosen candidates were sent to Volvo’s Voice of Leadership Camp for an intensive two-day workshop where they learned more about elocution skills and speech writing.

The grand champion will receive P50,000; the first runner-up, P40,000; the second, P30,000. Their respective schools will receive the same amount in support of programs that will help propagate leadership among the faculty and staff.

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Please send announcements, invitations, etc. to my Makati residence. I do not report to the STAR offices. — RLO