Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp.

My family and I watched the Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp. of the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). The main reason: my nephew was part of the Guitar Ensemble. I believe this musical event is staged every two years (except during the pandemic) and this year, it was held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater.

Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp.: Pagdiriwang ng Musikang Pilipino

This was actually a special year because it is the 80th anniversary of the UST Conservatory of Music. The theme: Pagdiriwang ng Musikang Pilipino.

The show included voice faculty, the UST Symphony Orchestra, the UST Wind Orchestra, the UST Jazz Ensemble, the UST Guitar Ensemble (which my nephew was a part of), the UST Rondalla, Coro Tomasino, Liturgikon, the Chorus class, the Music Theatre Ensemble with alumni, and other faculty and students of the UST conservatory of Music.

As always, what I love about Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp. is that it always features a fantastic repertoire. Because this year's theme was Pagdiriwang ng Musikang Pilipino, all the music played was local. One of my favorite segments was "Sa Dating Sinehan" which featured a medley of songs from Filipino movies. I wish there was a recording of it that I could watch again because it was beautiful and the song selection was topnotch.

My nephew was once again a performer at the show. He was also part of the 33rd and 34th shows but this year, he had a bigger role in that he actually performed twice. First, he played guitar together with the UST Guitar Ensemble as they shared the stage with the UST Rondalla to perform a lovely medley of Filipino folk songs. I loved this segment as well, not only because my nephew was performing, but also because I do love Filipino folk songs.

The UST Guitar Ensemble and the UST Rondalla playing Filipino folk songs

He then performed again in the grand finale. Wow! As I had written in past blog posts, he is a member of the Sibol Guitar Octet, which is the core performance group of the UST Conservatory of Music Guitar Ensemble. As such, their group played guitar in the closing segment of the Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp. The grand finale - Patriotic Medley - was very inspiring and uplifting as many artists and musicians shared the stage and performed many nationalistic Filipino songs, including the always powerful and evocative Bayan ko.

I managed to find my nephew among the performers on stage both times. It was really such a proud moment for our family! Not only did we get to enjoy incredible performances and beautiful music from the entire event but we got to appreciate the fact that my nephew was on stage, including at the grand finale. Awesome!

Grand finale: Patriotic medley

The show finished quite late in the evening and by then, almost all restaurants in Newport were closed. Thankfully, Brotzeit was still open. I've eaten at Brotzeit several times in the past but I think everyone else in my family hadn't yet. Thankfully, everyone enjoyed the food and my mom even said that it was great that we got to try German cuisine for a chance.

Congratulations to UST and to my nephew for a very successful ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri!