In celebration of National Arts Month, the Cultural Affairs Committee of Silliman University is presenting the Philippines Madrigal Singers in a concert All For Love on Feb. 4 and 5 at the Claire Isabel McGil Luce Auditorium.
The Philippine Madrigal Singers was organized in 1963 by National Artist Prof. Andrea O. Veneracion of the University of the Philippines. The choir is one of the Asia’s most awarded, having consistently won all the top prizes in most of the world’s most prestigious choral competitions: Arezzo and Gorizia in Italy, Marktoberdorf in Germany, Spittal in Austria, Neuchatel in Switzerland, Tours in France, Varna in Bulgaria, Debrecen in Hungary, Cantonigros and Torrevieja in Spain.
They hold the distinction of being the first choir in the world to win the European Grand Prix of Choral Singing twice; first in 1997 and in August 2007.
The ensemble performs a wide repertoire of various styles and forms: renaissance music, classical music, Filipino and international folksongs, contemporary and avant-garde music, opera and popular music.
Their specialization and focus on the madrigal idiom has inspired their unique set-up of singing, while seated in a semi-circle, without a conductor. At present , the group in under the leadership of Mark Anthony Carpio, choirmaster since 2001.
Carpio graduated as a Piano major at the UP College of Music as a scholar of the Music Promotion Foundation and of the Jovita Fuentes MusiCultural Society. After graduating cum laude in 1992, he returned to his Alma Mater as a faculty member of the Piano Department and began to form what is now a long-standing bond with the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
Starting out with the Madz as tenor, Carpio continued to grow in skill and dedication and is currently a faculty member of the College’s Choral Conducting Department.
In a field where one is only as good as his last performance, Carpio has made sure that his solid credentials and considerable experience are in place.
The Madz concert will be on Feb. 4 and 5, gala performance at 8pm at the Luce Auditorium, and on Feb. 5, matinee at 3 pm. Tickets are at P500, 300, 200, and 150, available at the CAC Office at Guy Hall, Rm. 213. For inquiries please call (035) 422-4365.