FROM KORTRIJK, SYMPHONY MUSIC

From Kortrijk, Belgium, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña reports that a conductor from that city will come to Cebu to organize “a symphony.” It’s not clear if it will be an orchestra that will be formed or a symphony concert will be staged by the conductor and what role the local government will have in the project.

There’s a Visayas Symphony Orchestra that performed with the Cebu Normal University Chorale last Jan. 30, 2016 at the SM City Cebu North Wing for the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).

The orchestra had 27 members, mostly from Cebu City and the rest from neighboring areas, when it performed for the IEC delegates and participants. The orchestra was organized in October 2014 with Juliet Kim, a Korean-American violinist, and Reynaldo Abellana (formerly of the Cebu Philharmonic Orchestra) as prime movers.

Tomas and other city officials visited Kortrijk on a sister-city mission.