In celebration of the rich musical and cultural tradition of Las Piñas City, the Bamboo Organ Foundation celebrates its annual Bamboo Organ Festival from February 16 to 22 at Saint Joseph Parish, Las Piñas.
Now on its 42 year, the festival showcases the musical festivities of local and foreign artists, as well as musical, ancient instruments that reappear in order to give the audience a more authentic version of the music played. One such instrument is the cornetto, a wind instrument that dates back to the medieval, Baroque and renaissance periods.
“The reason we have the festival is we want to expose the people to the sound of the bamboo organ,” Festival Director Leo Renier said. “The difference between this Bamboo Organ Festival from the festivals of year past is that there are now more Filipino artists who are participating, plus we are going to use musical instruments that are unknown to the generation of today.”
The festival also features the exceptional skills as a performer and an accompanist of Prof. Armando Salarza who was once the choirmaster of the Las Piñas Boys Choir and dealt with their voices with the same precision as if dealing with the keyboard of the organ, capturing the first place in an international competition in Graz, Austria, in 2008.
Among its highlights include the Opening Concert on February 16, 17 and 19, which is dedicated to German and Spanish Baroque music, featuring two motets by relatives of Johann Sebastian Bach, a German composer and musician of the Baroque period, and the music of the cornetto, which was played during the 17th and 18th centuries and later replaced by modern instruments and to be played by Lambert Colson from France.
The guest artists this year are the Las Piñas Boys Choir, Musika Sophia, Villancico Vocal Ensemble, organist Jennifer Chou from Australia and Luc Ponet from Belgium; soprano Stefanie Quintin and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few.
Conductress is Dr. Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng, presently an assistant professor of Music at the University of the Philippines, where she teaches conducting and music theory to both graduates and undergraduates.