Two rondalla groups will perform in a rare full day of rondalla performances at Silliman University’s Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium.{{more}} The acclaimed Celso Espejo Rondalla and the La Libertad Children’s Rondalla are slated to do back-to-back performances on 17 July 2010, Saturday.
The Celso Espejo Rondalla, who will give a matinee performance at 3 pm, and a gala performance at 8 pm, is composed of two generations of outstanding rondalla players: the senior members are professionals in their chosen fields while the younger ones are college students. The members were winners in the National Music Competitions for the Young Artists, either as a solo instrumentalist or members of rondalla ensembles.
The group, named after Maestro Celso Espejo, the group’s conductor and one of the pillars of the Philippine Rondalla, was one of the performers in Cuerdas nin Cagabsan: The International Rondalla Festival held in Naga and Legazpi Cities, where they made an outstanding performance of light classics and contemporary Filipino compositions for rondalla. It was also one of the crowd favorites in Cuerdas Sa Panaghiusa: The 2nd International Rondalla Festival held in Dumaguete.
The La Libertad Children’s Rondalla, on the other hand, will perform twice in the morning, at 8:30 and 10 am. The show is part of the SU Cultural Affairs Committee’s outreach program, designed specifically for children.
A fast-rising cultural act from the municipality of La Libertad, the group started when the town became a recipient of a set of rondalla instruments donated by the Provincial Government of Negros Oriental through Board Member Mariant E. Villegas. Then La Libertad Mayor Jocelyn Sy-Limkaichong, now the 1st District Representative of Negros Oriental, initiated the rondalla training program when she invited Ian Encarnacion, a voice major in Silliman University and a member of Kwerdas de Negros, to initiate a musical group in the town of La Libertad. The move sprang from Rep. Limkaichong’s vision to preserve local culture and revive an interest in Filipiniana.
Most of the members of the group are elementary school children, from grade four to five of Pio Banogon Elementary School.
Tickets for the Celso Espejo Rondalla Concert are available at P200 for the matinee and P300 for the gala show. Tickets for the La Libertad Children’s Rondalla are available at P100. For inquiries, please call (035) 422-6002 loc. 520. (Ian Rosales Casocot)
