Arts festival at Casa San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines - The Pundaquit Festival is the community arts program of Casa San Miguel (creative alternatives for social action in San Miguel)designed to develop the local fishing community through various programs including long- and short-term residencies for visiting artists, performances, workshops and exhibits. Its 17th season “r/evolution” program aims to foster excellence and empowerment through enlightenment and direct mentorship.

Resident artists for season 17 are photographer Paolo Piccones, painters Brendale Tadeo and Carlo Gabuco for visual arts, violinist Olga Elloso and cellist Robert Tismo for music, and the Pinoypoets and Yaki Lerer for creative writing.

Resident artists mentor 120 local talents yearlong in music, visual arts, film, and creative writing in preparation for performances and exhibits during the season as well as scholarships to specialty high schools, conservatories, and colleges.

Workshops reach fever pitch during summer camp (May 1 to 28) culminating on June 14 with a grand showcase of the year-long efforts of the 120 local scholars chosen after rigorous testing for talent and capability, as well as recent works of the resident artists themselves.

The performance series at the newly-renovated Ramon l. Corpus hall of Casa San Miguel features a series of intimate chamber music concerts featuring Casa San Miguel founder Coke Bolipata, with the Pundaquit Virtuosi (the chamber group of local talents he trains) with guest artists David Eggar and the Philippine Madrigal Singers.

Concerts begin on Feb. 26 with a program entitled “BACHBACHAN: Back-to-back Bach” featuring the Concerto for harpsichord in F minor with guest pianist Jourdann Petalver, the Concerto for violin and oboe with guest oboist Franz Ramirez, and the Brandenburg Concerto.

This is followed by the world-acclaimed Philippine Madrigal Singers on March 11 and 12 in celebration of Casa San Miguel’s 17th foundation day.

On March 27, a concert entitled “DRAMA’t EMO” revives highlights of the Romantic period including Dvorak’s American string quartet, Beethoven’s string quartet op. 18, Brahms string sextet in B-flat major and Mendelssohn’s octet in E-flat major.

Cellist David Eggar, 2011 Grammy-nominated artist for his arrangement of Itsbynne Reel, a track on his Kingston blues album, serves his week-long residency in April culminating with a concert on April 15 with the Pundaquit Virtuosi and Aeta tribes from Botolan.

For Holy Week, the festival mounts its annual offering on Good Friday (April 22) of the monumental “Seven Last Words of Christ” by Joseph Haydn and a lighter Easter concert on April 24 featuring the Minstrels of Hope.

The series ends on May 28 with Soloists’ Night with the Pundaquit Virtuosi under the batons of Olga Elloso and Jourdann Petalver featuring 14-year-old Miguel Estrada in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, 10-year-old Julian Duque in Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs, 14-year-old Yvonne Madarang in Mozart’s Violin Concerto in D major, 15-year-old Joven Aquisap in Telleman’s Viola Concerto, and 19-year-old cellist Nehemiah Lipana in Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in G major.

Concert tickets are priced at P1000 each, and include entrance to the galleries, cocktails before the show and post concert dinner with featured artists and resident artists of Casa San Miguel. Activities for the season are made possible primarily by Starbucks and D & L Industries in partnership with Sony, Lyric Pianos, The Philippine STAR, Jollibee Foundation and dzFE-fm 98.7. For more information, call tel 681-8304.