2nd European Union Chorale Competition

My desire to expand the scope of music performances that I see led me to the Far Eastern University campus once again this time to see the 2nd European Union Choral Competition. The atmosphere for this one was a lot different from the other performances that I’ve seen since there was the tension, drama and excitement inherent during competitions.

I was glad that I came there not connected to any of the competing choirs so not rooting for anyone made me a muched relaxed audience member. And this enabled me to watch more attentively not just the choirs but how the audience inside the FEU Auditorium reacted as well.

There were nine competing choirs and in the order of performance, they were:

PUP Bagong Himig Serenata
Conductor: Mr. Emil Cruz

Coro San Benildo
Conductor: Mr. Lorenzo Gealogo

University of the Philippines Medicine Choir
Conductor: Mr. Ginoo Karlo Galvez Tan

First Asia Minstrels
Conductor: Mr. Eric Kalaw

University of Asia and the Pacific Chorale
Conductor: Mr. Danny Monte

Mapua Institute of Technology - Cardinal Chamber Singers
Conductor: Prof. Angelito Ayran Jr.

University of the Philippines Los Baños Chorale Ensemble
Conductor: Mr. Vonn Lomarda

Tarlac State University Chorale
Conductor: Mr. Aris Madrid

De La Salle University (Dasmariñas) Chorale
Conductor: Mr. Vell Luis Litan

The choirs were required to perform two songs. One was a piece composed by someone who came from a member country of the European Union. And other piece had to be by a Filipino composer and it didn’t matter if the lyrics to that piece were in another language like Latin or Japanese.

A non-competing highschool choir, the Cavite Institute Chorale, performed as a breather from the competition after the first five choirs performed. And they definitely pleased the crowd since they sang popular tunes Isang Bangka by the Dawn and Tatsulok by Bamboo. And while the judges were conferring to come up with the winners, all of the choirs performed on stage a medley of pop songs and show tunes.

The song Jaglied by Joseph von Einchendorff was a popular song choice since the last three choirs had it as their European Union song piece. And there were more than just whispers coming from the audience when they kept on recognizing the tune. I don’t know how the other choirs can handle that kind of pressure knowing that others were performing the same song.

The 2nd runner up was the De La Salle University (Dasmariñas) Chorale. Their conductor Vell Luis Litan also bagged the best conductor prize. The 1st runner up prize went to Tarlac State University Chorale. And the winner of the 2nd European Union Chorale Competition was University of the Philippines Los Baños Chorale Ensemble. It pleased me a lot when this choir won since I thought that they were the forerunners right after they finished their performance.

2nd European Union Chorale Competition Grand Champion
University of the Philippines Los Baños Chorale Ensemble

It was not only a delight to watch this choral competition but I was also able to see again some of the kids that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing during the open rehearsal of the Israeli pianists about a month before this. I guess that I’ll be seeing them a lot more in months to come since FEU has quite a number of music/cultural events lined up.