BROWN Academy of Music presented its third major concert of the year, titled BAM! POP! at Ayala Terraces at Ayala Center Cebu last Oct 8. The show featured 70 students and 10 faculty members from the school performing a variety of pop music from the 1960s to current hits. This batch of students has been enrolled since June of this year and included voice, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums, violin and saxophone. The students ranged in age from six years old and up, even including a mother of one of the students. The mother, Janelle Taft, had been waiting with the other parents as her son, JP, took keyboard lessons when she decided to enroll herself in the voice program last summer. BAM! POP! was her second concert with BAM.
The concert included songs in English, Bisaya and Tagalog, and from such artists as Simon and Garfunkel and The Beatles to Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. Near the end of the show two BAM students who are active in the Cebu music scene, Von Saw (MOR Pinoy Music Award winner and lead actor in the hit Bisaya musical Gugmang Giatay) and Emmy Corpus (Viva Recording Artist) joined teacher Jacky Chang for a performance of her single Pero Atik Ra, a MOR music charts hit single. Another crowd favorite were visually impaired twins Christopher and Christian Faelner, who not only sang but played guitar and keyboard as well. The show closed with all 70 students joining on stage and singing along together.
BAM has been open since January of this year and in that time has taught over 400 students. The school has recently expanded an additional 60 square meters at their location in Banilad, adding a large rehearsal space, an additional teaching room, a faculty work room, and additional waiting area for students and parents. Last June, the school also launched its Elite BAMStars, a by-audition group that is directed and produced by BAM owner Anna Fegi-Brown. In just their first few months in existence, the group has opened for or performed in shows along with artists such as Gerald Anderson, Bea Alonzo, Bailey May, Donna Cruz, Marissa Sanchez, Matteo Guidicelli and Anna Fegi-Brown.
Enrollment is currently open for students for its Christmas batch. This batch will have a culminating Christmas show in December. Those interested may call 410-7580 for more information or visit BAM on the second floor of the Northgate Centre in Banilad along Gov. M Cuenco Avenue, Cebu City. (PR)