Manila, Philippines.  Brainstorming for the choir started about a year ago when over their usual dinner and bellini, Robert Delgado and John Pamintuan thought of forming an elite group of singers that would go beyond the usual thrust of competitions by amateur choirs.

Things even got better when Dean Acoymo of the UP College of Music suggested that the mandate of the group be: to constantly output new Filipino and Asian choral works, not only to edify Asian choral literature but also to present the ever-changing paradigm of Filipino compositions which always set a trend in the international stage.  It would then be the group's aim to create a strong movement beginning in Southeast Asia affecting the whole world.

And so The Chamber Choir of Asia is born, with much interest and eagerness coming from the invited singers, comprising the creme de la creme of the Philippines' choral music scene.  Once a month, internationally prominent Filipino conductors, composers and singers come together for two hours and sight-sing through the most terribly challenging and demanding choral music ever written and share with each other their musical intelligence, energy and soul.

"It was as if the gods decided to take a break and go down to earth, and play frisbee while singing their music," said an observer.  And of course, the night is not complete without a scrumptious fare care of the group's dear partners Clawdaddy and Crustasia, through the support of Red Crab Managing Partner, Raymund Magdaluyo, himself a choral enthusiast having sung with the Ateneo College Glee Club.  If music be the bond of our souls, let food be the bond of our hearts.

The group munches about 17 new pieces over the short rehearsal and would have digested a total of about 50 new titles by  John Pamintuan and new arrangements of Asian folksongs by Robert Delgado until the launching concert on the opening night of the Philippine Choral Directors' Association (PCDA) National Convention in April 2010. 

As Artistic Director Jonathan Velasco so aptly puts it, "life without music is a mistake; resistance is futile."

our proud partner from the Red Crab group, located at the 6th level Shangrila Mall, and at the High Street Fort Bonifacio

Conservatorio
Udal
Musika Eskola
Leioa


Two of our principal lines of work throughout all these years have been, on the one hand, the direct contact with composers of different styles and countries in order to enrich our repertoire, and on the other, acquiring a commitment with the creation of new musical piece for children's choir.


We sum up next the most notable orders of our aims carried out by some excellent persons of the world in composition, owing to the different realized recordings, tours or other important moments
in the life of the choir.


click here to redirect
to website in Spanish



COMMISSIONED COMPOSERS:

LAMINAK. Albert Alcaraz. Alicante 1978
NON DEGUN, NON? Junkal Guerrero. Euskadi 1968
DONA NOBIS PACEM. Francisco Ibáñez-Iribarria. Euskadi 1965
IRATXOA. Eva Ugalde. Euskadi 1973
DIZDIZKA ZERUAN. Eva Ugalde. Euskadi 1973
TRES VILLANCICOS DEL PERÚ. Dante Andreo. Argentina 1949
MISA DE LEIOA. Dante Andreo. Argentina 1949
CON TOMILLO Y ROMERO. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970
PELAGRIA. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970
AVE MARIA. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970
QUANDO CORPUS MORIETUR. Mariano Jiménez. Navarra 1970
AVE JESU. Xabier Sarasola. Euskadi 1960
GIZON ON BAT. Javi Busto. Euskadi 1949
ITSASOA LAINO DAGO. Tone Bianca Dahl. Noruega 1965
HODIE CHRISTUS NATUS EST. Ko Matsushita. Japón 1962
CANÇÓ DE BRESSOL. Xavier Pastrana. Cataluña 1977
ANGELUS. Josu Elberdin. Euskadi 1976
MAGNIFICAT. Josu Elberdin. Euskadi 1976
EN ESTA NOCHE LOS PASTORCITOS. Marcelo Beltrán. Murcia 1967
HIRU ERREGE KANTA. David Azurza. Euskadi, 1968
GAUDETE!/PUER NATUS. Pelle Olofson. Suecia, 1961
PATER NOSTER. Julio Domínguez. Galicia, 1965
TU ES. Vytautas Mishkinis. Lituania, 1954
NOEL/EN BELÉN. Alejandro Yagüe. Burgos, 1947
VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS. Kentaro Sato. Japón, 1981
SANCTUS. Michael McGlynn. Irlanda, 1964
GABON DUT ANUNTZIO! Fernando Velázquez. Euskadi, 1976
LUX AETERNA. John Pamintuan. Filipinas, 1972
DIES IRAE. John Pamintuan. Filipinas, 1972

 

I was looking for a nice rendition of Wildhorn-Bricuse's Someone Like You (from Jekyll and Hyde) on youtube  and found out that Sumi Jo has a recording of the song from her album Only Love.

Sumi Jo is a Korean coloratura soprano who rose to international superstardom with her dazzling portrayal of the Queen of the Night from Mozart's Magic Flute.  There is even a video where Sumi Jo and Cecilia Bartoli audition for Maestro Herbert von Karajan.

What's astounding about Sumi Jo's rendition is that her classical training is very apparent.  You do not only hear the talent, but also the technique in her interpretation.  She sings as if the voice is part of the orchestra, if you can actually do that with the human voice, and as if she is the conductor, shaping the sound of a whole ensemble inside her voice.  I find most broadway singers belting the songs when they perform, singing boldly, soulfully, but not in the right amounts.  TELENOVELIC.

Sumi Jo's employment of vocal and tonal colors in the recording is limitless: she can summon the deepest of emotions with a wide, big, broad, open sound, and the subtlest of turns and phrasing with a strong breath technique holding the voice back in a gradual and painful decrescendo.  The result is a very affective and effective marriage between text and music, music and performer, performer and listener.