The newly born ABS CBN Philharmonic Orchestra (ACPO) under Gerard Salonga  wowed a select media crowd recently with classical, film and Filipino OPM music. It called to mind the long running TV drama series when it ended with a superb rendition of an orchestral arrangement of Maalaala Mo Kaya.

            It turned out that even before Salonga came into the picture, the TV network was already considering having a full time orchestra for the network.

            When Salonga played in a corporate show for the First Philippine Holdings’ (FPH) 50^th anniversary, he got to meet its chairman,  Federico Lopez who turned out to be a music lover himself. “We started talking about my orchestra (the Filharmonika) which at that time had already disbanded. I was at that time searching for funding sources for the orchestra.  We talked about the challenges facing professional orchestras around the world, in terms of programming and funding.  I was quite amazed with how much Mr.Lopez knew. I think we clicked on the subject of the musicians of Venezuela, and the miracle there that is El Sistema.”

            For those who have not heard of El Sistema, it is actually a state foundation which watches over Venezuela's 125 youth orchestras and the instrumental training programs which make them possible. The organization has 31 symphony orchestras, and between 310,000 to 370,000 children attend its music schools.  Some 70 to 90 percent of the students come from poor socio-economic backgrounds.

            Among the film documentaries  devoted on El Sistema were “Tocar y Luchar (Play and Fight,” a documentary film produced in 2004  and  it  won several awards, including "Best Documentary" at both the 2007 Cine Las Americas International Film Festival and also the CineMás Albuquerque Latino Film Festival; “ El Sistema,” a 2008 documentary made by Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier. It won the  "Best Documentary Feature Award" at the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival in 2010 and "Best Documentary" at the Orlando Hispanic Film Festival in 2009.

            And so the subject of El Sistema became the topic of Salonga’s few Sunday night dinners with Lopez   who even gave him a copy of the latest El Sistema book and DVD. Then they seriously discussed how this could all work.

            The informal dinners soon turned into afternoon meetings with Charo Santos-Concio and Gabby Lopez in the FPH boardroom.

Salonga continued: “Later I gave a little keynote presentation and spoke from my heart.  In that meeting, it was confirmed that ABS-CBN had already been thinking about forming its own orchestra. Ms. Concio asked Mickey Muñoz (formerly head of ABS special projects, creative genius and music lover with whom I had worked on many occasions) to work with me to explore this thing more. After going back and forth with Mickey via Skype and e-mail, he gave me one of the most amazing phone calls of my life when he said we got the green light, we can tell people about it, and I had to provide an audition schedule.  The green light had also been given for the formation of a youth orchestra and training program modeled on Venezuela's El Sistema.  I received the call in the parking lot of the CCP right before my rehearsal of The Legends and the Classics.  That's why Cecile Licad was one of the first to know about this.”   

            For now, Salonga’s rehearsal and performance venue is the Dolphy Theater within the TV network compound.

The good news is that the orchestra will not be limited to corporate work with the network and its sister company, Star Cinema. “We aim to bring live orchestral performance closer to the Filipinos and give them an option of what to listen to,” Salonga added.

            Now with a new home and a new orchestra, Salonga marvels at the huge influence of a TV network which can help bring music to wider audiences. It took a lot from production budget to have anything classical aired on TV and out of the blue, classical music found a new home in that same big network. “I'll take the ‘philosophical’ route and say, ‘Why not a TV orchestra? Everyone here knows the reach of ABS-CBN.  Think about it, how many times would we have to fill up a concert hall to be seen by the same number of people who'd see us on one TV appearance? The power of this network to make this orchestra known to people is something I'm still trying to fathom.”

            Salonga said the network has approved his outreach programs that will give both kids and adults a chance to experience a medium not easily accessible to all.  The preview outreach concert will be held on September 2 at the Meralco Theater.

            What is in store for the newly recruited musicians in this new orchestra?

            For one, the wage for musicians at ABS CBN orchestra is decent and second, they were given very good rehearsal space.

            He elaborates: “The acoustics of the Dolphy Theater were designed by Mike Pedero, and it has that scoring-stage feel to it and at the same time, it is perfect for rehearsal, not too reverberant.  So far, every rehearsal has been targeted at a performance.  One of the goals is to not have rehearsals that are not directly aimed at a specific performing event.  The result?  Concentration is higher, and we feel that anxiety that all musicians need, and can only get when preparing for a performance.  In September we'll have a new office here with rehearsal and practice rooms.  The musicians are looking forward to that.”

            Salonga admits he has learned a lot from the preview season concert of his former orchestra including working with Cecile Licad. “For Cecile, I learned to go with the flow, and that you can't force a leaf to fall from a tree in the manner, tempo, and intensity in a way other the way it just wants to fall. Another lesson I learned from her is that music has  to come from inside, and screw those on the outside.  She has hugely influenced the way I listen to music, the way I perceive it, and the way I perform it.  I'll never be able to repay her for that, not even to mention all the encouragement and support she has given me.”

            (The ABS CBN Philharmonic Orchestra  will pay a musical tribute to John Williams in a special concert at the Meralco  Theater on September 2, 6 p.m.  For ticket inquiries, call  Tinky Cruz - 0915 194 97 60 or  Chris Graham - 586 67 32.)

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine