All Good Things Do Come to an End: Musica FEUROPA, Far Eastern University’s annual choral competition and festival will have its final run this year.
From just four choirs in 2009 mostly from the City of Manila, the number rose to an all-time high of thirty-one choirs hailing from all over the Philippines. What used to be a competition for college choirs expanded to two categories: High School and Open including but not limited to university, church, company, government and other ensembles.
Musica FEUROPA became one of the definitive choral competitions in the Philippines.
Tiffany Liong Gabuya, Station Manager of long-time media partner DZFE wrote: “We are all aware that the classical music tradition… which today is multi-national and multi-generational in its practice and appeal—has European roots. In our work of fostering an appreciation for classical music, DZFE continues to support Musica FEUropa inasmuch as it remains one of the too few initiatives here encouraging the hard labor of studying and performing European repertoire. We have also seen how Musica FEUROPA fosters a spirit of patriotism and pride among the participating local choirs. All in all…, the competition has demonstrated the kind of good that can come of a sustained cross-cultural initiative.”
The key criterion for Musica FEUROPA is that each choir has to sing two songs: one from any EU composer in any EU language and one from a Filipino composer in any Filipino language or dialect.
In the last 13 years, choirs sang songs in different European languages such as Czech, Latvian, English, Basque, Spanish, Italian, Latin, German, Finnish, French, French-Flemish, Flemish, Hungarian, Lithuanian and Filipino languages such as Tagalog, Cebuano, Bisaya, Ifugao, Ilokano, Itneg, Kinaray-a, T’boli, Maguindanaoan, Yakan and Hiligaynon.
Through Musica FEUROPA, Filipino choirs and audiences have become more exposed and appreciative of the works of European and Filipino composers.
The impact of Musica FEUROPA is such that in the last 13 years, it has become one of the significant events in the Philippine choral calendar.
Musica FEUROPA definitely leaves a musical legacy when it ends after 14 years.
Musica FEUROPA 14 takes place from 1:30 – 5 PM on May 27, 2023 at the historic Auditorium of Far Eastern University, Manila.
Tickets are at P100 for members of the FEU community, students in general and seniors and P200 for the general public.
The participating choirs for the final round of Musica FEUropa are the NU Chorale, PNU Chorale, SaSeSi, Kammerchor Manila, Tarlac Mannerchor and the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng San Pablo Chorale.
The adjudicators for this year are internationally recognized stalwarts in the choral industry: Anna Abeleda-Piquero, Arwin Tan, Dr. Ed Manguiat, Jonathan Velasco and Ramon Lijauco, Jr..