JFM Stages 2010 Nihongo Fiesta at Mall of Asia

Immerse yourself into the fascinating world of Japanese culture on February 27, 2010, as the Japan Foundation, Manila (JFM) and SM Mall of Asia, hold the 2010 Nihongo Fiesta at the SM Mall of Asia Cinema and Main Mall Atrium.

The annual festival, which promotes international cultural and arts exchange between Japan and the Philippines, will include a highly-anticipated Nihongo speech contest, a fun and hip Japanese and Filipino Street Fashion Exhibit and Contest, and an exciting J-Rock (Japanese rock) Concert.

Filipino students and professionals who want to show off their linguistic skills in Nihongo are invited to join the 37th Nihongo Speech Contest and get a chance to win an all-expense paid week-long study tour in Japan. In line with JFM’s objective of promoting cultural exchange through Japanese Language Education, participants are required to deliver their own original compositions on a subject of their choice. High School Nihongo beginners, on the other hand, can participate in the 2nd Nihongo Quiz Bee for High School Students to showcase their knowledge in Japanese language and culture. Both contests will be held in Cinema 2 of Mall of Asia; from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Aside from showcasing the Japanese language, the Nihongo Fiesta will also put on display the stylish and edgy characters that descend the streets of Tokyo in the Japanese and Filipino Street Fashion Exhibit and Contest. The trendy Tokyoites are captured in a photo exhibition along with Manila’s very own interpretation of street fashion through the watchful eyes of Filipino fashion designer and style blogger Cecile Zamora Van Straten, and curated by Team Manila. Guests are invited to express their individuality, dress up in their street style best, and turn the hallways of Mall of Asia into urban center catwalks on February 27. Roving “style scouts” will choose the best dressed and the winner will take home a cash prize and Japanese fashion products. The Japanese and Filipino Street Fashion Exhibit and Contest will run from February 22 to 28 in the Main Mall Atrium of SM Mall of Asia.

Finally, cap off the Nihongo Fiesta festivities in the evening with fantastic music and dancing at the J-Rock Concert featuring the influential Japanese punk-pop-rock band Shonen Knife. Fresh from their US tour, the all-female group, which has gained a worldwide cult following, will rock out with the country’s all-male dunk (dance and punk) band, Pedicab in a one-night only free concert at Mall of Asia’s San Miguel by the Bay from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

The 2010 Nihongo Fiesta is supported by the following media partners: Manila Bulletin, NU 107 and ClicktheCity.com.

Admission is free to all 2010 Nihongo Fiesta events. For inquiries, contact the JFM at (632) 811-6155 or email email@jfmo.org.ph or visit their website at www.jfmo.org.ph.

CCP Sets Stage for First Philippine Guitar Fest

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and The Guitar Friends will hold the First Philippine International Guitar Festival 2010 from January 28 to 31 at the CCP in Pasay City. With the objective of promoting the Classical Guitar, the festival offers exciting musical performances by outstanding guitarists from the Philippines and abroad.

Maestro Jose Valdez, who is considered to be one of the best guitar teachers in the country, is the director of the Festival. Maestro Valdez, who has 35 years of teaching experience, is a lecturer and professor at the University of the Philippines, Philippine Women’s University, St. Scholastica’s College, Philippine National University, La Concordia College and St. Paul University. He is a pioneer of all major guitar courses in most schools in the Philippines. The CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts ranks him as one of the pioneers of classical guitar in the country.

Among those performing in the Festival are Mr. Steve Lin, Mr. Michael Dadap, Mr. Jose Valdez, Mr. Perfecto de Castro, Mr. Sixto Roxas, Mr. Kasilag Guitar Trio, Tabs, UP Guitar Orchestra, Fundacion Centro Flamenco and the winners of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists 2009 Guitar Category. More artists and groups, including the Manila Symphony Orchestra, are expected to be added to the list of performers in the Festival. One of the highlights of the Festival will be the concert by a Spanish guitar soloist to be brought in by Instituto Cervantes.

Mr. Steve Lin is a renowned international artist who has concertized throughout the US, Italy, the Philippines and Taiwan. An award winning guitarist and a recording artist, Mr. Lin teaches guitar at the San Jose State University and Northern California School of Music. He has a master’s degree from Yale School of Music and is completing his doctorate at the New England Conservatory under Eliot Fiske.

Mr. Michael Dadap has been artistic/music director and conductor of The Children’s Orchestra Society since 1984. He studied at UP, the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School. As a conductor, he has conducted and collaborated with some of the world’s most renowned concert artists. As an accomplished classical guitarist, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1974 and has since performed in numerous concerts internationally.

Mr. Sixto “Butch” Roxas is a highly respected guitarist currently helping reestablish as well as playing for the UST Jazz Orchestra together with conductor/saxophonist Mr. Tots Tolentino. He studied at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston and took guitar courses in various institutions abroad such as the Schola Cantorum in Paris and in Barcelona, Spain with Maestro Josep Henriquez under a grant from the Agencia Española. He is a faculty member of the UST Conservatory of Music.

Mr. Perfecto de Castro is hailed as one of the best Filipino guitarists. A graduate of PWU School of Music, he studied with Maestro Jose Valdez. The Laudarra, or the Ten String Classical Guitar, is Castro’s instrument of choice. He has collaborated with composers all over the world to add to the repertoire of the Ten String Guitar. He is a founding member of the Kasilag Guitar Quartet.

Fundacion Centro Flamenco is an organization dedicated to the promotion of the art of flamenco music and dance.

The Guitar Friends, which is spearheading the Festival, is composed of guitar aficionados of varying levels of expertise in guitar performance brought together by their love for guitar and their association with Maestro Jose Valdez, the Festival director. The Guitar Friends support the Guitar Immersion Program of Maestro Valdez and conducts activities such as campus concerts and master classes.

The 1st Philippine International Guitar Festival 2010 will offer master classes and lectures on topics such as “Building a Performing Career,” “Flamenco,” “A Guitarist’s Pain,” “Jazz Improvisation,” “Ensemble Playing” and “Musicality, Intelligence and Technique.” The Festival will also feature booths and displays by guitar makers and manufacturers.

The 1st Philippine International Guitar Festival 2010 is sponsored by CCP, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), SMART Communications, Inc., and Rudolf Lietz, Inc.

For details, call (63917) 526-6377, (63920) 498-2720, (63915) 921-3440, e-mail philguitarfest@gmail.com or visit http://philguitarfest.blogspot.com.

Philippine Extreme Sports and Rock Festival Urges Super X-Series for RHB Muziklaban 2009

Muziklaban once more staged another milestone from the usual band concerts it brings! Last December 5, 2009, Muziklaban brought the Philippine Extreme Sports and Rock Festival Urge Super X-Series Xports and Music Tour 2009 to rock with the athletes-on-the-streets.

Aside from the known bands of the generation such as Slapshock and Jeepney Joyride, Skateboarders and BMX Stuntmen gathered together at the Open Parking, (Near Brick Road, Imelda Ave.Entrance), Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall and joined the event that also featured the Grand Finals of Skateboarding and BMX Stunt Park Competition, Best Trick Contest, Big Air Contest, Professional Demonstrations, and Interactive events.

Other bands who joined the event were Chonckeys, Even, More Than Linda, Descant Gott, Live Tilapia, Intolerant, April Morning Skies, COG, Bloodshed, and Hardboiledeggz.

Red Horse Muziklaban is an annual rock band competition that has been held in the Philippines since 1999 and is sponsored by San Miguel Brewery for Red Horse Beer.

The Philippine Extreme Sports and Rock Festival Urge Super X-Series Xports and Music Tour 2009 was sponsored by San Miguel Brewery Inc., Dickies, Daily Tribune, NU 107, The Manila Times, MonsterRadio RX 93.1, Rakista.com, Tonight , and Hotel SOGO.

For more information about the event, do visit the websites www.urgesuperx.com or www.redhorsebeer.com.

CCP Stages PPO 27TH CONCERT SEASON

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) staged the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra's (PPO) 27th Concert Season 2009-2010 billed as The PPO Signature Series: Tour de Force Performances with 8 Maestros last from September 2009 to April 2010 at CCP’s Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater).

The season was a series of unique, original and moving musical experiences highlighting the guest conductors, the individuality of their musical perspectives in collaboration with the PPO. The PPO season began on September 3 featuring Antonin Dvorak’s Carnival Overture Op. 92, Buenaventura’s By The Hillside, Anica Galindo’s For Lambent Isles for String Orchestra, Debussy’s La Mer, and Peter Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F-Minor Op. 36. American conductor Anthony Quartuccio leads the PPO.

Noted conductor Robert Ryker of the USA takes the baton on October 8 with Bach/Rÿker’s Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major (on Sainte-Anne), BWV 552, Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Franz Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Choral), Op. 125.

On November 12, Korean conductor Jae-Joon Lee leads the PPO featuring Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9; Delibes’ Les Filles de Cadix (soprano solo), Verdi’s Tutte le feste al tempio-Piangi from “Rigoletto” (soprano, baritone duet), Giordano’s Come un bel di di maggio from “Andrea Chenier” (tenor solo), Verdi’s E strano!...Sempre libera from “La Traviata” (soprano solo), and Dvorak’s Symphony No.8 in G Major, Op. 88 “The English”. Guest performers are Korean soprano Yun-kyoung Yi, Filipino baritone Noel Azcona and Filipino tenor Randy Gilongo.

Renowned Italian conductor Maestro Ruggero Barbieri wields the baton in a Christmas concert on December 10, featuring Filipino Fredeline Parin, principal trumpet of the PPO. Program consists of Beethoven’s Symphony no.7 in A Major, Op. 92, Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6 no. 8 (Christmas Concerto), and Haydn’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E flat Major, H. VIIe: 1.

The PPO ushered in the New Year on January 14, 2010, with pianist Albert Tiu and Conductor Laureate Oscar C. Yatco at the baton. The evening opens with Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op.11, and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.

On February 11, conductor Agripino Diestro conducts a birthday concert of National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, featuring his works Ang Buwan sa Kabundukan Tone Poem, and Lahing Kayumanggi Symphonic Poem.

Italian conductor Piero Gamba returns to the stage with violinist Joseph Esmilla as guest performer on March 18 featuring Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 1 in D major, Op. 25 “Classical Symphony”, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34.

The PPO had its season finale last April 15, 2010 as conducted by its incoming Music Director.

Ticket prices were sold at P1000/800/500/P350/200, with discounts made available to students, senior citizens and groups. For inquiries, please call the CCP Marketing Department (832-1125 loc. 1806) or the CCP Box Office (832-3704).

Singing the Songs in the Heart of a Child

The Loboc Children’s Choir sang the songs from their album “And a Child’s Heart Sings” to serenade the crowd gathered at the Onstage Cinema 1 at the Ayala Center Cebu last Oct. 24.

Held for the benefit of the San Nicolas Special Education (SPED) Center at Carlock, Cebu, and endorsed by the Philippine Pediatric Society, the concert was presented by Quota International of Metro Cebu, and in cooperation with Ayala Center Cebu, Smart, the Department of Tourism, Club Radio Cebu, Y 101 FM Cebu, and RCTV 36.

“And a Child’s Heart Sings” was sponsored by: Gold Sponsors: dyLA 909, Hotel Pier Cuatro, Ocean Fast Ferries Inc. (Ocean Jet), and the Freeman News; Silver Sponsors: Cebu Daily News, Island Souvenirs, Sun Star Cebu, and Sky Cable; Bronze Sponsors: City Graphics Cebu, Cebu Energy Development Corp., Frasec Ventures Corp., Bioderm, Casino Ethyl Alcohol, Saint Benedict Childhood Education Center, Efficascent Oil, and Little Angels Montessori School.’

Donors included AR Adlawan Construction, Biz Depot at SM, C6 General Merchandise, Café Laguna, Chinggoy and Baby Blanco, Coca Cola, FLC Builders and Developers, Geno and Frances Tritiletti, Homebakers, Jollibee, Mr. Adrian Artista, Paramount Property Ventures, Pink Flora, Postrio Cebu, and the Ravanses Family.

The concert was held at two different times – 3 pm (Matinee) at Php100 for the upper box and Php200 for the lower box and at 6 pm (Gala) at Php200 for the upper box and Php300 for the lower box.

The Loboc Children’s Choir is school-based choir composed of schoolchildren from the Loboc Central Elementary School, in Loboc, Bohol.

For more information, please visit www.lcconcert.tk.

Youth’s Voice for Change

Music is an avenue for expressing ourselves and to voice out our beliefs and desires. This is the inspiration of the biggest gathering of Filipino Youth and Music Artist for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds last October 23, 2010.

Titled “i-change: Voice for a Better Life Music Festival”, the concert is a movement that empowers young people to discuss their problems and find ways to solve them. It also helps the young and the young-at-heart to find their own voice amidst the changing landscape of today’s socio-political milieu.

On the other hand, Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population Development (PLCPD) Director Rom Dongeto stressed that the festival is non-political and there will be no political speeches during the event

The festival, moreover, staged well-known and most favorite bands in the country starting with The Dawn, Sugarfree, Kenyo, Sandwich, The Jerks, Duster, Cambio, Radioactive Sago, Heber Bartolome, Moonstar 88, Imago, Color It Red, Jess Santiago, Paraluman, FMD, 6Cyclemind, Tropical Depression, Kjwan, Chilitees, Peryodiko, Tatsulok, Pedicab, Join the Club, Nico and Carlo, Camerawalls, and Aurora.

Before the jamming begins, the audiences enjoyed in participating booths and symposia. The event was aired on a two-hour TV special on TV5 last November 7.

TJ Besa of CommPulse noted that the festival offered the youth everything that they need from the arts, social service, entrepreneurship, sports and more. It also highlighted the achievements and aspirations of the youth through songs, exhibits, video presentations and other activities.

AIM Presents Annual State of Philippine Competitiveness Conference

The Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center presented the annual State of Philippine Competitiveness (SPC) National Conference last July 13 at the SMX Convention Center.

With this year’s theme of “Infrastructure Gaps and National Competitiveness,” the SPC Conference presented an in-depth analysis of the overall Philippine ranking and focused on critical elements of infrastructure as an area of urgent action.

In 2009, the Philippines slipped down three notches in the record of the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), ranking 43rd out of 57 countries. The roles of the WCY include measuring and ranking the ability of economies to create and maintain an environment conducive to sustaining market competitiveness. The Philippines did not fare much better on other categories, including economic performance and government efficiency, although the country posted a better performance in sub-factors including fiscal prices, societal framework, and labor market.

The SPC discussed the abovementioned factors and related these in shaping and developing approaches to improve and sustain the country’s competitiveness and http://www.policy.aim.edu/spc_2009.asp

Speakers for the program included Federation of Philippine Industries Chairman Meneleo J. Carlos, Jr., AIM Interim President Felipe B. Alfonso, AIM Policy Center Executive Director Ma. Lourdes A. Sereno, and Ateneo de Manila University’s Dr. Joseph Lim. Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Elmer Hernandez gave the government’s response to the presented scenario on behalf of Sec. Peter B. Favila.

Distinguished participants include Director General Lilia de Lima of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Mr. Alberto Lim of the Makati Business Club, Ambassador Alistair Macdonald of the European Commission, and Ambassador Peter Sutter of the Embassy of Switzerland. Representatives from the private sector, government, diplomatic corps, civil society, academe, development organizations, and media also graced the event.

The event was organized by the AIM, together with major sponsors SMX Convention Center, SM Investments Corporation, and Holcim Cement.

Other sponsors are Jollibee, EEI Corporation, and Toyota, as well as media partners Business Mirror and Philippine Star Online.

For confirmations and inquiries, please call 750-1010 locals 2109 or 2112, or send an email to policycenter@aim.edu.

National and College Theater Festival to Open

To highlight the outstanding theater achievements of university-based theater groups, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), through its National Committee on Dramatic Arts, will be holding Tanghal, the fourth National University and College Theater Festival on February 1-5, 2009 as part of the Philippine International Festival (PIAF).

The event will feature a showcase of six exceptional theater performances that will be followed by a conference featuring international guest artists that will tackle the contributions of theater groups in the universities and colleges all over the Philippines in the hopes of forming a National Student Theater Alliance. The fourth Tanghal is aimed at marking the importance of university and college-based theater programs in the Philippine history.

This year’s fourth Tanghal is slated to take place in the National Capital Region (NCR), as the three previous theater festivals were held in the provinces.

The first Tanghal was held in Iloilo City in 2007 and was hosted by the University of San Agustin and the Teatrokon Western Visayas Theater Network. In 2008, Tanghal moved to Zamboanga with the Western Mindanao State University and the local government unit of the City of Zamboanga playing hosts. For the third leg of the theater festival, Tanghal was held at Laguna, hosted by Colegio de San Juan Letran in Calamba in cooperation with the Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog, Inc., Linang Laguna Theater Network and the Lusong Luzon Theater Network.

The PIAF is annually held every February as per the Presidential Proclamation No. 683 signed by former President Corazon Aquino in 1991 and is currently undertaken by NCCA headed by its chairman, Dr. Vilma Labrador and its executive director Cecile Guidote Alvarez. Commissioner Ricardo de Ungria, head of the Subcommission on the Arts, is the festival director of PIAF 2010.

For details, contact the NCCA at (632) 527-2192 loca 612-615, email ncca.paio@gmail.com or log on to www.ncca.gov.ph.