Zambales youth orchestra wows in Europe
Posted 5 years ago
Photo Credit: wheninmanila.com
MILAN, Italy – A string orchestra from Zambales received a rousing welcome here during their recent performance at the Santa Maria del Carmine Church.
The Pundaquit Virtuosi String Orchestra was greeted by stomping and standing ovations during their performance on June 6, putting premium in the quality of their music. They played classics by Italian composers Vivaldi and Verdi and favorites by Jenkins, Tchaikovsky, and Offenbach.
The orchestra’s 6-week, 8-country concert trip through 17 venues is led by international violin virtuoso Alfonso “Coke” Bolipata.
The youth string group composed of 30 kids aged 11 to 23 completed the first leg of its 2019 European tour as part of the 20th edition of the Ostend Anchor Festival in Brussels, Belgium from May 26 to 28. This was followed by well-received and remarkable performances in the Vatican, Rome, Florence, Bergamo, and Paris.
“The whole objective of the consular diplomacy program was to bring Filipinos to Europe, as well as part of the diaspora is to kind of show the world that Filipinos are good at a lot of things including classical music. So we come to bring that kind of excellence at the same time bring our music at home to the Filipinos here,” Bolipata said.
Pundaquit Virtuosi is the result of 26 years of devoted commitment by Casa San Miguel in Zambales, a remote fishing village, where natural disasters and precarious environmental situations have always made survival difficult.
The volcanic eruptions of Mount Pinatubo, very close to the Zambales town, then irrevocably marked the history of the people.
Seminars, exhibitions of paintings and local works of sculpture, concerts, and filmographic reviews mounted since 1993 enriched the Zambales area, a Central Luzon province naturally inspiring with its exotic landscape.
This was where Bolipata’s art flourished, and since 1993 the maestro has been recruiting and educating young people, mostly fishermen’s children.
Guest conductor Ruggero Barbieri, also principal conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra commanded the programs in Italy with a selection of famous pieces from the classical repertoire and pieces from the traditional Filipino repertoire.
He was first invited to conduct the orchestra last year.
“Personally, finding myself in Manila as music director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra from 1996 to 2005, I listened to these young talents in 1997, at the invitation of Maestro Bolipata, as a spectator,” Barbieri said.
“…[T]he enthusiasm, the talent and the joy in making music of those “little” musicians struck me so much that in May 2018, at the invitation of Ayala Corporation to conduct a concert in Manila with the talents of Pundaquit Virtuosi, I did not hesitate to accept,” said Barbieri
The group is set to have shows in Germany, Austria, Spain, and Portugal until July 4.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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