As live performances (including concerts) still prohibited due to the ongoing pandemic, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra launches a new series devoted to chamber music and small ensemble performances.
Billed as the PPO Chamber Concert Series, the first concert will stream online on October 30, 2020, 8:00 PM at the Facebook page of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Facebook page and YouTube channel of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
This upcoming series, to be shot on location at the CCP, will feature a selection of chamber music curated by the PPO's music director/principal conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura to be performed by members of the PPO.
The inaugural concert on October 30, 2020, will focus on string instruments with PPO concertmaster and violinist Dino Akira Decena and cellist Giancarlo Gonzales performing Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Duet for Violin and Cello in C Major, Op. 6 No. 1. The program will also consist of Gioachino Rossini’s Sonata for 2 Violins, Cello, and Double Bass No. 2 in A Major to be performed by violinists Jose Carlo Tuazon and Berny Dulce Payte, cellist Giuseppe Diestro, and double bassist Ariston Payte III.
The next installment of the series, streaming online on November 27, 2020, switches its focus towards the wind instruments. Program will include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade for 3 Clarinets No. 1 K. Anh. 229/KV 439b performed by clarinettists Ariel Sta. Ana, Jayson Rivera, and Hernan Manalastas. It will be followed by Georgina Sánchez's Pregón de Danza for Clarinet and Cello to be performed by clarinettist Jayson Rivera and cellist Gerry Graham Gonzales.
The rest of the program includes Gioachino Rossini's Woodwind Quartet No. 4 in B flat Major featuring flutist Rosemarie Poblete, clarinettist Ariel Sta. Ana, bassoonist Frenvee Andra, and French horn player Ernani Pascual and will conclude with a performance of Ney Rosauro's Two Pieces for Flute and Marimba Op. 39 with flutist Hercules Santiago and marimba player Aimee De la Cruz.
As the series will be shot at the CCP, the change in scenery is a welcome change from all the housebound, lockdown/quarantine performances that has flooded the web ever since the pandemic began.
Lastly, chamber music performances have been overshadowed by full orchestra concerts for years now. It is a bitter pill to swallow that it has taken a pandemic and its subsequent restrictions to turn the spotlight on smaller ensembles. May this upcoming series provide the jump start, however unconventional it might be, for more chamber music performances once things go back to normal.
