Written by: Ate Charmain Tan, Vice President External
It was a festive holiday season as we headed to Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) for the final performance of Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) for the year. Bright lights, colorful lanterns, and a huge Christmas tree filled the 62-hectare complex. Established in 1966 during the Marcos era, CCP remains as one of the most famous structures in the country. Focusing on the arts, it has been a venue for local and international productions as well as art exhibits. It is also the home of the PPO.
Before the start of the show we invited the children of UNO to for an early dinner at a nearby establishment near the theater. These children live in Barangay Leveriza. Headed by Ate Lilet, the always so energetic children excitedly said their hellos as they arrived at the restaurant. Our partnership with UNO started five years ago and I have seen some of the kids when they were little. Now some of them are already in college and way taller than me. The other kids have grown up as well as they are now in fifth grade. As we enjoyed our dinner we played a Christmas Trivia game. In line with the holiday season I asked several questions and the one who answered first got to pick gift items from the prize table. Some kids were competitive as they kept giving the right answers. The others were also trying their best as they were excited to get prizes. I also asked them to name the instruments used in the orchestra and they were all thinking hard to name as much as they could. We also gave gifts to the kids as they excitedly opened them at once. After the fun dinner we walked across and headed over to CCP.
The 35th Concert Season for 2017-2018 opened this September under the conductor Maestro Yoshikazu Fukumura. Miss Lei Ganaden has been inviting us for the last couple of years to enjoy the performances. For the fourth concert of this season, PPO performed classical music like La Mer by French composer C. Debussy, Fantasia para un Gentilhombre (Fantasia for a Gentleman) by the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo. The other classical performances were Valse nobles et sentimental and Bolero by another French composer Maurice Ravel. There was the guest performance by guitarist Eduardo Fernandez who also did a spectacular solo performance. Towards the end of the performance they played a medley of Christmas songs. When they played Jingle Bells the kids got so excited they started dancing in their seats. They were also singing along with the music. Their guardian kept telling them to keep silent but they were really so adorable as they kept dancing and singing. While playing the Christmas songs PPO did a funny sound mimicking the sound of sheep and everyone laughed so loud. It was amazing that they were able to make some sounds that looked hard to do. The kids kept saying “Ang Galing!!!”
After the show the kids got to enjoy looking around the different art exhibits and sculptures around the area. We also got to take some nice photos with the art pieces. As the adorable kids gave me hugs and said our goodbyes we wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I look forward to see him again soon.
