New instruments and old
The cornetto, a new pipe organ, and the old St. Joseph church organ will be played at this year’s Bamboo Organ Festival
FOR 42 YEARS, the Bamboo Organ in the St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas City has been the focus of the country’s longest running international music festival, and this year is no different. But in addition to the well-preserved bamboo organ, the International Bamboo Organ Festival — which will be running from Feb. 16 to 22 — will feature the new pipe organ of the San Ezequiel Moreno Oratory in the same city.
Aside from the new pipe organ (whose pipes were made from metal and wood — no bamboo) which was built by the Diego Cera Organ Builders, this year’s festival will showcase the music of a 17th century wind instrument, the cornetto, in keeping with the festival’s theme of “German, Spanish and Latin American Baroque music.”
“[For music lovers and students] it’s a must to hear the cornetto... [ not hearing it] is a vacuum in your education,” said Leo Renier, executive director of the Bamboo Organ Foundation, Inc. (BOFI) during a press conference on Feb. 3 at the Manila Hotel.
The cornetto will be played by Lambert Colson from France.
Aside from Mr. Colson, Caster Linck from Germany will be playing the guitar accompanying the Villancico Vocal Ensemble under the baton of Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng, Raphael Leone from Austria will be playing the flute, while Luc Ponet from Belgium returns to the festival after his stints in 2005 and 2011 as guest organist.
Also performing at the festival concerts are: Austrian organist Johann Trummer, cellist Renato Lucas, soprano Stephanie Quintin, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Hermie Nahera, the Las Piñas Boys Choir, and Musika Sophia.
The festival, whose gala night on Feb. 16 will showcase “motets by relatives of J.S. Bach and villancicos (a poetic and musical form from the Iberian Peninsula, loosely translated as Christmas carols),” according to the festival program, will also be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Prof. Armando Salarza as the titular organist of the bamboo organ.
Mr. Salarza will be playing both the 19th century bamboo organ and the harpsichord during the gala night, and the new pipe organ during the closing concert on Feb. 22.
Conductor-composer Eudenice V. Palaruan has made an arrangement of the Filipino villancico, “Parvulus filius,” to be performed at the festival.
“A bamboo organ needs a festival, not a museum... [as] it speaks in its own way,” said Mr. Renier before adding that since the festival has been consistently drawing 2,000 people every year ( half of whom are foreigners) for 42 years, almost 42,000 Filipinos have heard the bamboo organ.
“Imagine how many more festivals we have to do to make the entire Metro Manila hear the bamboo organ,” he noted.
Tickets for the International Bamboo Organ Festival range from P200 to P600, while students with IDs can get their tickets for P100 at the gate. The festival runs from Feb. 16-22 at the St. Joseph Parish Church and at the San Ezequiel Moreno Oratory, both in Las Piñas City.
For more information, visit www.bambooorgan.or call 825-7190 or 820- 0795. —