This amazing news made me incredibly happy. The Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra won 2nd place at the the Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival, String Orchestra Competition Category in Vienna, Austria. Congratulations!
I had written before about unexpectedly catching the free Glorietta concert of the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra (MSJO). It was there that I learned that they would be competing in Austria in July and that they had a proper (paid) concert in Ayala Museum on June 29. I was so amazed at the talent of these young artists that I decided to get a ticket to that concert so that I could watch them perform again.
Their Ayala Museum concert, aptly named The Road to Vienna, featured the actual repertoire that the MSJO would play at the Summa Cum Laude Festival (along with several other pieces to fill the two hour show):
Ondoy-ondoy was composed by Ryan Cayabyab and if I understood correctly, he made a special arrangement for the MSJO since one of the requirements in the competition was one piece of a composer from the ensemble's home country. Jeffrey Solares, the conductor, told us that it would be the first time the orchestra would be performing Ondoy-ondoy in front of an audience so it was such a privilege to have been there.
Seeing the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra twice in a month made me very emotionally invested in their participation in the Summa Cum Laude Festival. Of course, even if they didn't win, it would still have been an incredible, possibly once-in-a-lifetime, experience and the fact that they were selected to perform in this festival was a world-class honor in itself. As such, their second place finish is a truly magnificent and special result. I now really want to see the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra in their next concert in Manila. I am sure that show will be magical.
I had written before about unexpectedly catching the free Glorietta concert of the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra (MSJO). It was there that I learned that they would be competing in Austria in July and that they had a proper (paid) concert in Ayala Museum on June 29. I was so amazed at the talent of these young artists that I decided to get a ticket to that concert so that I could watch them perform again.
Their Ayala Museum concert, aptly named The Road to Vienna, featured the actual repertoire that the MSJO would play at the Summa Cum Laude Festival (along with several other pieces to fill the two hour show):
- Divertimento in D major, KV 136, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Romanian Folk Dances by Bela Bartok
- Ondoy-ondoy by Ryan Cayabyab
- Serenade for Strings (Finale: Tema Russo) by Pyotr Ilytch Tchaikovsky
Ondoy-ondoy was composed by Ryan Cayabyab and if I understood correctly, he made a special arrangement for the MSJO since one of the requirements in the competition was one piece of a composer from the ensemble's home country. Jeffrey Solares, the conductor, told us that it would be the first time the orchestra would be performing Ondoy-ondoy in front of an audience so it was such a privilege to have been there.
Seeing the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra twice in a month made me very emotionally invested in their participation in the Summa Cum Laude Festival. Of course, even if they didn't win, it would still have been an incredible, possibly once-in-a-lifetime, experience and the fact that they were selected to perform in this festival was a world-class honor in itself. As such, their second place finish is a truly magnificent and special result. I now really want to see the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra in their next concert in Manila. I am sure that show will be magical.
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