To mark Buwan ng Wika in August, “Opera at Kundiman: The Legacy of Maestra Conching Rosal” will be presented on Aug. 29 by the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) Foundation Inc. and Standard Insurance, co-presented by EastWest Bank, ACMobility, and BYD, and in partnership with Far Eastern University (FEU) under “In Pursuit of Excellence: Celebration—The MSO...
Category: Music
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Portraits in Jazz: The joys of being Junji Delfino
(Twenty-seventh of a series) Junji Delfino was singing before she could remember not singing—at 4 years old, already finding melodies, and by 10, slipping into Manila’s jazz clubs with a father who wouldn’t have known how to keep her away even if he tried. Before she even turned 10, Junji recalls, her father Bert Delfino...
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Portraits in Jazz: For Mon David, jazz is always
(Twenty-sixth of a series) Mon David is, above all, a life force. To many, he is an animating principle—a presence that effortlessly shifts the energetic field around him. Whether channeled as prana, qi, or the Bergsonian élan vital, space itself transforms when Mon enters it, always leaving people and places better than they were before....
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When playing with your heart is all
This was one grand summer recital I wasn’t about to pass up. I knew no one from the children and teens who were having their culminating activity with The Aller School of Music at the Forest Wing, part of the John Hay Hotels in Baguio City. Yet I wanted to see them bare their souls....
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Portraits in Jazz: Winston Raval’s lifelong jazz journey
(Twenty-fifth of a series) After weeks of debating the best way to (re)introduce Winston Raval, Filipino jazz pianist, arranger, and composer, to 21st-century readers and jazz fans, I settled on this fun bit of history from writer and music critic Eric Caruncho in a piece he wrote for the Inquirer in February 2019. Eric rightly...
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Portraits in Jazz: Charito Vergara makes music happen
(Twenty-fourth of a series) I was obviously late to the Charito Vergara party, having caught her on stage only earlier this year when she was in Manila for a visit. But there’d been quite the buzz about the shows and workshops she held in Manila, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro over the last several years....
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Portraits in Jazz: Bobby Basa, guitar soloist and conversationalist
Twenty-third of a series Summer’s here, and with it the tautening grip of Fernweh — the German “farsickness” that describes a bone-deep yearning for exploring places elsewhere. Unfortunately, the war triggered by the US-Israel attack on Iran has stranded many of us at the “weh” station: that uniquely Filipino intersection of disbelief and skepticism and,...
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BTS is so back!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that BTS is officially back after nearly four years of absence from the public eye. Their long-awaited return is nothing short of monumental, marked by the release of a new album and a world tour that will run until March 2027. “Arirang,” the group’s 10th...
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Portraits in Jazz: One Night with the Lisa Sung Trio
Twenty-second of a series It was a night unlike many others in the city’s jazz haven at Tago. Headlining the Valentine weekend was a visiting Korean American pianist—a slight gentlewoman who brimmed more with the energy of a college senior than a mother of six. The Lisa Sung Trio—featuring Lisa on keys, Andrew Bishop on...
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When Cup of Joe came home
BAGUIO CITY—In the intimate venue of University of Baguio’s multipurpose hall early this month, I joined the youthful crowd in watching Cup of Joe, a local act and homegrown favorite. A technical delay tested our patience but when the five members of the band—Gian Bernardino, Rapha Ridao, CJ Fernandez, Gabriel Fernandez, and Xen Gareza—finally appeared,...