Music for the People

When officials of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) were offered a concert by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the answer should have been an immediate and enthusiastic yes. But, after doing the arithmetic, things seemed a little shaky and the "yes" became a tentative "maybe". The Philharmonic, CCP officials were told, would be visiting Manila in October for a one-night invitational concert under the auspices of Citigroup, the global financial services company which is sponsoring the orchestra’s 2002 Asian Tour. If CCP agreed, the Philharmonic could play a second night.

Having suffered a drastic budget slash–from P188 million to P95 million early this year–things haven’t exactly been easy for the center by the bay. Taking on the New York Philharmonic was definitely a high cost project and obviously, one that the CCP shouldn’t even be thinking about. "The New York Philharmonic 2002 Citigroup Asian Tour presented us with a wonderful opportunity to raise funds for the CCP’s Arts for the People Program. But we were not sure we would even make enough money to cover the costs," CCP President Nestor Jardin reveals.

Fortunately, lady luck intervened and YES, the New York Philharmonic will play in a second concert–a gala concert for the benefit of the CCP’s Arts for the People Program on October 19 at the CCP Main Theater.

The New York Philharmonic is America’s oldest orchestra; it is also one of the world’s greatest orchestras. Adding to the attraction of listening to this great orchestra is the brilliant 20-year-old Chinese pianist Lang Lang who is the featured soloist on the Philharmonic’s Asian Tour. In Manila, Lang Lang will perform only on the October 19th Gala Concert. This tour is the first under the baton of the Philharmonic’s new music director Lorin Maazel, one of the world’s most eminent conductors.

Lady Luck came in the person of Nedy Tantoco, newest member of the CCP Board of Trustees who has been an ardent supporter of arts and culture in the country. She invited Mariter J. Macapagal to chair the gala committee that would raise funds for the project. With the gala committee in place and at work, Citigroup shouldering a big part of the expenses and Makati Shangri-La offering wonderful room rates for the orchestra members, things began falling into place.

"It’s a sad reality that whenever the government wants to cut the budget of the country, among the very first areas that get the axe is arts and culture," Tantoco says. "Knowing the dedication and commitment that CCP officers Baltazar Endriga and Nestor Jardin have for the CCP programs and learning from them how much their budget was cut, it was not difficult for me to decide to help the CCP organize the New York Philharmonic concert as a fundraiser to boost their budget, especially for the Arts for the People Program.

"The performance of the New York Philharmonic was ‘manna from heaven’. Here is one of the oldest, most funded, most professionally run and best trained orchestras in the world. Their fame reached its highest point when their conductor and musical director was the legendary Leonard Bernstein. I learned that the featured pianist is the young prodigy Lang Lang whose name was all over the world news after his successful performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London last year. To think that he will play the same piano concerto that he played in London here at CCP during the October 19 concert–Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2– was enough to inspire all of us in the Gala Committee to work hard and do our best.

If CCP had to pay all the costs of bringing 135 members of the New York Philharmonic orchestra to the Philippines, there would be no way such a project could be realized. "Fortunately, Citibank sponsored the trip of the New York Philharmonic here in the Philippines while they are on an Asian Tour. Citibank shared the opportunity with the CCP to have their own concert night," reveals Tantoco. "We believe that the concert will sell itself. The challenge for us in the Gala Committee is getting corporate sponsors, because we hope they will donate much more than just the value of a regular ticket. Arriving at a win-win situation is the key."

Tantoco is president of Rustan’s Marketing Corporation, Stores Specialists Inc. and Rustan’s Marketing Specialists, Inc., one of the country’s leading retail groups. She is also an untiring supporter of civic and cultural projects, lending her business acumen and impeccable international connections to causes she finds worthwhile. Her biggest project, in 2001, raised P5-million and at the same time brought the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra on their first European tour. This project, Tantoco recounts, involved bringing 70 Filipino musicians, Music Director and Principal Conductor Ruggero Barbieri, the production staff and two tons of musical instruments to Madrid, Spain, Klagenfurt, Austria and Prague, Czech Republic.

"It was in the course of my involvement in fundraising activities which brought me closer to the arts. I get very inspired to work with people with such a passion for their work. Maestro Barbieri of the ppo was such a person and it was extremely difficult not to help in his efforts to promote the talent of our national orchestra. One successful event leads to another and this is how my involvement in projects that promote the arts became deeper and deeper."

Heading the Gala Committee is Mariter Jalandoni-Macapagal, sister-in-law of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A senior professor at Miriam College where she teaches at the graduate level and administrator of the Cupertino Center for Special Children, Macapagal isn’t at all daunted by the task of fundraising, something that’s very hard to do these days.

"My husband said I didn’t know what I was getting into," she says. "I’m new to all these things. In fact, I prefer to keep a low profile. But when I heard that this was going to be for the benefit of the Arts for the People Project, I said why not? It’s a very good program. I was very surprised to hear that the CCP was doing this kind of thing. And when I was asked to head the committee, I thought that maybe I could help. I’ve always wanted to help the President in her work and I was able to help her when she was Vice President. This fundraising project for the CCP Arts for the People is a worthy project which I thought could be my way of helping. Fundraising is tough but one of the projects under the Arts for the People which benefits streetchildren, in particular, attracted me and sealed my decision to get involved in this fundraising project."

So far, so good, she says. "We’re doing well. We have tapped the big companies, of course, the taipans and we’ve gotten good response so far." To name a few, Macapagal’s yes list includes Rustan’s Group of Companies, Petron, Toyota Motor Philippines, Welding Industries of the Phils., ABS-CBN Publishing, Mega Magazine, International Container Terminal Services, Imelda O. Cojuangco, Ayala Corporation, Anflocor, Friends of Cultural Concerns, Nestle Phils., SGV, Ralph Wines & Spirits and the Manila Peninsula.

The cost of the Gala Concert will run to between P4.6- to P4.8-million. Ticket sales, Jardin says, must cover the costs so that sponsorships can all go to the Arts for the People Program. According to Jardin, many projects of the Arts for the People Program have either been reduced or are on hold due to the budget cut.

The Arts for the People Program is the flagship program of the CCP, a five-year program aligned with Pres. Arroyo’s pro-poor and poverty alleviation policies. It aims to use arts as a tool for moral transformation and national development. It seeks to democratize the arts through popular approaches that will bring the arts closer to the ordinary Filipino. It also seeks to re-establish and strengthen the arts and culture approach in public and private education. It includes national outreach and community projects in depressed areas; livelihood projects for artists and cultural workers; productions that will promote Filipino values and development projects for artists and cultural practitioners from all over the country.

Projects include the performance tour in government agencies of Anatomiya ng Korupsiyon, an eye-opening play about corruption in a government office; Dangal ng Lahi, a multi-media production tour honoring the National Artists; Sining at Paglikha, a community arts and crafts program; the PPO Music Scholarships for Underprivileged Youth; Buklurang Sining, a program with the Malate and Leveriza communities as initial focus areas, comprised of various workshops, performances and training programs aimed at developing professionalism among artists and cultural workers and to develop an audience for the arts. The program also covers community training programs involving street children and other under-served sectors of society.

The Arts for the People Program, according to Tantoco, is the vehicle through which the CCP complies with the presidential directive to be involved in alleviating the life of the poor. "It is said that music or the arts is food for the soul," Tantoco says. "If this concert is successful in raising funds needed to implement the CCP’s Arts for the People Program, food for their souls will reach the poor. While other government agencies are tasked to take care of other aspects, it is the CCP that is tasked to take care of the soul in the artistic sense."

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For ticket information, call the CCP Marketing Dept. at 832-3681or Ticketworld at 891-5610.