The Madz in Arezzo, the best in the world
Moy Ortiz is a singer, songwriter, record producer, vocal arranger and a lot of other things musical, plus mainly founding frontman of the premier vocal group The CompanY. He recently called attention to the plight of the Filipino chorister in his congratulatory post on Facebook for the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
The Madz won the Grand Prix and other prizes at the LXIV International Choral Competition
Polifonico Guido d’Arezzo held in Arezzo, Italy last Aug. 28. The contest brings the best choirs in the world to the town in the Tuscany region where the Benedictine monk named Guido invented the musical notation, you know the do re mi fa sol, we use today, in 1025. So you can see why the Guido competition is taken really seriously.
Ortiz wrote: “For decades, we’ve been declaring that the Filipino Chorister is just as important and precious as a Filipino Olympian. The Filipino Chorister has brought home the Gold Medal and Gran Prix many, many times. Our Philippine Madrigal Singers just won the Grand Prix of the extremely prestigious Fondazione
Guido d’Arezzo (Choral Olympics). “It is about time that the country and corporate sponsors give the same, or even more support to the Filipino Chorister as to the Filipino Olympian/athlete. The Filipino Chorister is one of the best ambassadors of our land.”
His remarks are most heartening and hopefully fell on open, generous ears. The Madz is fortunate to have the support of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) as one of its resident companies but just the same, like most choirs in the Philippines it mainly lives a hand to mouth existence fueled by a passion for singing and sustained by the occasional concerts, tours, weddings and other engagements. Those who can help usually look the other way, preferring to be generous with athletes or beauty queens.
And when you have to compete in something as big as the Arezzo, a choir can use all the help possible to put its members at their performing best through this most grueling of contests. This means being able to give hours and hours to rehearsals and not have to think about transportation fares, lodging, meals and other items typically required on foreign trips. Ortiz compared the Arezzo to the Olympics. He was so right. That is indeed what it is.
For five days from Aug. 24 to 28, the Madz, led by conductor Mark Anthony Carpio, faced eight of the best choirs in the world in seven different events. Their songs ranged from old Palestrina to an Ama Namin in Bicolano to Whitney Houston’s
Queen of The Night and others. There was only one goal for every performance, perfection. Despite exhaustion traveling and performing around Europe these past six months to finance their participation, the Madz won big and qualified for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing that will be held in Tolosa, Spain next year.
They will also bring home the first prizes in the Compulsory Program, in Sacred Music and in the Monographic Program. They were the Listening Committee’s Choice in the Folk Music section and also the Listening Committee’s Choice and the Premio del Publico Choice at the Canto Populare category. They were named for Best Performance of a Renaissance Piece and then the biggest plum of all, the Arezzo Grand Prix which comes with a trophy by the renowned Italian artist Alessandro Marrone.
Established in 1963 by National Artist Professor Andrea Veneracion, the Philippine Madrigal Singers is one of the most awarded choirs in the world. They have, in fact, won the top prizes in the most prestigious choral competitions. From what the group’s official bio shows, these are: Concorso Polifonico Guido d’Arezzo, which they have now won twice; the Concorso e Festival Internatiozionale Di Canto Chorale or the Seghizzi in Gorizia, Italy; the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany; the International Chorwettbewerb in Spittal, Austria;
the Festival Choral International de Neuchatel in Switzerland; the Florilege Vocal de Tours in France;
the International May Choir Competition Prof. G. Dimitrov in
Varna, Bulgaria; the Bela Bartok International Choir Competition in
Debrecen, Hungary; the Festival Internacional de Musica de Cantonigros in Spain; the Certamen Coral de Tolosa in Basque Country, Spain; and the Certamen Internaccional de Habaneras y Polifonia in Torrevieja, Spain.
The Madz also holds the distinction of being the first choir in the world to win the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing twice. These were in 1997 and 2007. Hopefully, they will become the first to win thrice come 2017 in Tolosa.