THE dream to have a rondalla orchestra may become a reality soon.
A two-week program in Baguio City has trained the best 100 rondalla players in the country by National Artist for Music, Ramon Santos.
Culminating the event is a concert featuring a 12 piece classical, baroque, romantic, traditional, and contemporary music arranged and composed for the rondalla conducted by conductors all over the country.
Conductors, Ryan Manzanares (Tayabas West Central School Rondalla, Tayabas, Quezon)Reynaldo De Ocampo (A.O. Floirendo Elementary School Rondalla, Davao del Norte)Reynan Ayento (Aniweng na Cuerdas Rondalla, Mangatarem, Pangasinan) Ma. Theresa Serilo (Naga Central School Rondalla, Naga City)Rolly Gulay (Xavier University Rondalla, Cagayan de Oro City)Abel Llemos (Olongapo City Youth Rondalla, Olongapo City) Noli Rodriguez (PWU JASMS Rondalla, Manila) Slavsky Ybanes (City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy Rondalla, Cebu), Jegger C. Anjao (Kabataang Silay Rondalla Ensemble, Silay City, Negros Occidental), Nelson Polvoriza (University of Baguio Rondalla, Baguio City), Lea Olmos (Cayetano Arellano High School Rondalla, Sta Cruz, Manila), Alma Vida Gallardo (Benguet State University Rondalla, Baguio City) gave the audience a glimpse of the grandeur and majesty of sound the rondalla offers.
The camp, a first in the country, is envisioned to train rondalla artists for the creation of a National Rondalla Orchestra.
The project is in tandem with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts through the National Music Competitions for Young Artists, and the Musicological Society of the Philippines in partnership with the University of the Philippines Baguio-Office of the Chancellor, and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda.
The two-week camp was an intensive training for 99 musicians and 26 conductors selected from all over the country.
During the camp, participants were trained on instruments’ playing techniques for bandurria, octavina, guitar, bass, and percussion (given by the top rondalla performers in the Philippines) and music theory given by music professors from the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas.
The camp offered conductors courses on music history, analysis, advanced music theory, conducting and writing for the rondalla. (Maria Elena Catajan)