SAN ANTONIO, ZAMBALES—For 32 years, Casa San Miguel, an arts and culture sanctuary in this coastal town, has marked Good Friday with an unconventional Lenten tradition: a stirring rendition of Joseph Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ.” 

The event blends live classical music with performance-reading, reimagining the centuries-old masterpiece into a shared experience of reflection, silence, and connection. 

As in the past years, Casa San Miguel founder and artistic director Alfonso “Coke” Bolipata will lead the homegrown Pundaquit Virtuosi chamber orchestra, with members as young as 12 years old. 

“This annual tradition has been a defining mainstay in the center’s history, identity, and legacy that has been performed by generations of Casa artists,” Bolipata says.

The work has become more than just a musical challenge, according to him. “It is a bonding ritual, a contemplative practice, and an artistic pilgrimage that began—humorously, and quite literally—as early as Christmas of 1993,” he quips. “By [Christmas], the melodies start to haunt our halls again, and the young musicians begin humming fragments of the piece alongside Yuletide carols. As I often joke: Christ has just been born, and they want to crucify him already.”  

What makes Casa San Miguel’s “Siete Palabras” different from other Lenten observances in the country is the spirit of community: Zambales’ rural spirit is woven into the fabric of every arts and culture event held there.

“The work has also grown into a pillar of our cultural life in Zambales, not only strengthening the bonds within our musical community but also drawing a devoted audience,” says Bolipata. 

‘Peaceful but powerful’

The production attracts crowds from Zambales, Central Luzon, and Metro Manila, all seeking a Holy Week ritual in which faith and artistry meet.

“It’s peaceful but powerful,” says Cherylle Raguini, a resident of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. “Hearing the music from a dimly lit stage framed by the glass wall showing the thicket of mango trees outside…it’s like God is right there with us.”  

Kaye Nuguid and Mateo Leoncio, the mother-and-son owners of Ricco Renzo, a Makati-based arts services firm, watched the performances prior to the pandemic years. They remember it as “an uplifting experience,” they tell CoverStory.ph.  

“We would come to watch the show in our relaxed attire but you’ll also see ladies in pearls sitting beside fishermen’s kids in tsinelas—it’s like the music erases all lines,” says Nuguid. 

Leoncio points out the big difference: “Other concerts feel stiff, but this…iba ang vibe. You feel Haydn’s pain in the strings, but also the crowd’s hope.” 

Casa San Miguel’s deep ties with Zambales’ communities fuel its year-round cultural programming. Beyond Holy Week, the center celebrates the “Zambulat” arts festival every summer, conducts training workshops for local talents in music, poetry, and visual arts, and hosts such global icons as the pianist Cecile Licad—proving that world-class creativity thrives in provinces far from Manila. 

Meditation on Christ’s suffering 

Haydn wrote “Seven Last Words of Christ” in 1787 as a reflective musical piece based on Jesus’ final sayings before his death. Originally written for a Spanish Lenten service, it has seven slow, sorrowful sections, each capturing the mood of Christ’s every “word.” 

Bolipata describes Haydn’s obra as “a rare piece of music, one that invites stillness.”

“It does not dramatize Christ’s suffering,” he says, “but meditates on it.” 

He goes on in his reflection: “Each sonata evokes a distinct emotional world: grief, forgiveness, abandonment, surrender, peace. The work ends in a dramatic ‘musical earthquake,’ symbolizing the moment of death, yet leaves us with a quiet glimmer of hope.

“Each movement of the piece was carefully crafted—not programmatic, but expressive through pure chamber technique: dynamics, articulation, rhythm. I must admit, in earlier years I had thought of it as somewhat illustrative, even literal.” 

But this 32nd reading brings new discoveries. “I now understand that the absence of text—save for the title—was deliberate. In this stripped-down form, the music speaks directly to the soul, unmediated,” Bolipata says.

He explains it in his program notes: “Haydn drew from a musical lexicon of the time by composer Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, who ascribed emotional qualities to each musical key. These weren’t assigned randomly. Haydn chose them intentionally, aligning them with the emotional weight of Christ’s words. He even employed as many different keys as possible to avoid monotony—ever mindful of his audience’s sustained contemplation in the candlelit stillness of the Cádiz chapel.” 

Arts haven

A world-class violinist, Bolipata turned his family’s old home into an arts haven in 1993, offering free music lessons to the children of Zambales fishers and farmers. 

Since its founding, the creative team of Casa San Miguel has endeavored to produce programs and projects that are “interactive and community-focused.”

Project coordinator Arman Domingo says they expect to draw hundreds this Good Friday. With reasonably priced tickets, the performance offers an accessible entry to Haydn’s sacred masterpiece, blending world-class artistry with Casa San Miguel’s intimate, community-driven spirit—proving that profound cultural experiences need not come at a premium. 

Before the show, Domingo says, visitors may explore the estate’s gallery which has works by local and visiting artists on display. 

For Bolipata, one of Casa San Miguel’s commitments to local culture is passing on traditions like this to the artistic community. “When kids express faith through music, dance, or painting art, it stays alive in the hearts of our community,” he says. 

He remains hopeful: “In rehearsals, amid bowings, fingerings, listening and breathing—and the occasional Jollibee break at the newest Zambales branch, our own claim to cultural significance—something takes root. The music seeps into the hearts of our young players. They begin to understand that the power of art lies not in mastery alone, but in surrender.” 

He says Haydn’s notes are unchanged, “but the hearts that carry them grow deeper each year.”

Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ” will be performed on April 18, Good Friday, starting at 6 p.m. at Casa San Miguel’s Ramon Corpuz Hall. Tickets are priced at P500. To purchase, contact Arman Domingo, 0917 838 2752.