The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), through its Cultural Exchange Department (CED) and the Andrea O. Veneracion Sing Philippines Foundation welcome the Sing Philippines Youth Choir (SPYC) Batch 4 composed of 39 choristers from 24 provinces and local communities nationwide.
From July 19 to 23, 2023, the SPYC batch 4 will be in Manila to undergo a week-long music camp under the mentorship of Philippine Madrigal Singers (MADz) choirmaster Mark Anthony Carpio and other choral music experts. They will also have a special participation in the MADz concert as part of the AOV International Choral Festival on July 23 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati City.
First organized and launched in 2014, the first batch of SPYC was participated by fifty (50) choristers from 19 provinces across the country who underwent a professional week-long music camp under Carpio. The Sing Philippines movement brings to life National Artist Andrea O. Veneracion’s vision of a nation singing in harmony and united in songs. The second batch was organized in 2016 which added a new set of 50 singers from 26 provinces, the third batch in 2018 had 51 singers from 37 provinces/cities. In 2019, a tour group that was organized from the first 3 batches competed and won 2nd Prize and Gold Diploma for the Classical Mixed & Equal Category and Gold Diploma in the Ethnic Category in the 2022 Busan International Choral Festival and Competition.
Batch 4, which was organized during the pandemic last year, underwent virtual training and performance. This year, they will finally get the chance to make music together face-to-face. Some of them expressed their excitement for the music making together and what the camp will give them as artists and individuals:
Two things: the appreciation of the value and beauty of discipline, and the joy of creating beautiful pieces of art alongside people with whom I share the same aspirations that facilitate peace, love, and unity.
-Jeannard Ticong, tenor, Baguio City-
Art loses meaning when it does not connect with hearts and souls. This music camp will give me a better view and a richer understanding of this wonderful reality.
-Rene Derek Joseph Inapan, Cebu City, Bass-
The F2F Music Camp and Performance gives a significant privilege of sharing the beauty of actual vibrations. Beyond that, choral singing is honing deeper all the dimensions of man (physical, sociopolitical, emotional, spiritual) especially now that we are giving rebirth after the pandemic the unending quest of developing excellence through music making.
-Alshamir Bryan Arripudin, alto, Zamboanga City-
The daily music camp sessions of the SPYC Batch 4 will be held at the Prajna Hall of the Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple (FGSMT) in Manila. The FGSMT has been an active partner and supporter of CCP especially its outreach and cultural exchange programs. Last 2022, they also hosted the SPYC Tour group before they competed in Korea and the annual Kutitap, multi-arts camp for indigenous children.
To date, the SPYC has 213 singers from 56 local communities all over the country.
