From Anton Dvorak to Gary Valenciano: PPO to hold online ‘pocket concerts’

WHEN you cannot go out of your house to attend a concert, the concert’s performers will come to your home. Virtually.

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) will be holding “pocket concerts” starting this week in an attempt to uplift the minds and hearts of Filipinos during lockdown. The concerts will be viewable on the website of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

Dubbed “Music for Healing: PPO in Quarantine,” the pocket concerts will consist of three performances: PPO by Your Bedside, PPO in Your Workplaces, and PPO in Your Living Room. Each one will run between 35 to 40 minutes and will feature 10 to 12 solo and ensemble performances by the orchestra members from their homes.

The performances, which feature a mix of classical pieces and popular music, are dedicated to the “sick who are recuperating either in the hospitals or in their homes, front liners who tirelessly take care of their sick countrymen, and the rest of the Filipinos staying in their homes living and coping with the new normal way of life in the pandemic stricken Philippine society,” according to a press statement from the CCP.

All three pocket concerts will be streamed simultaneously on July 3, 8 p.m., while new performances will subsequently be uploaded every Friday of July.

The first of the series, PPO by Your Bedside, will include Antonin Dvorak’s 4 Romantic Pieces op. 75 no. 1- Allegro Moderato to be performed by violinist Berny Payte, Ennio Morricone’s “Gabriel’s Oboe,” to be played by oboist Jappy Bautista, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s song “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” to be performed by violinist Dino Decena and pianist Jascha Decena.

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” will be performed by viola player Joven Edward Aquisap, and Rico J. Puno’s “May Bukas Pa,” which will be played by cellist Roland Guerrero, will also be featured in the first pocket concert session.

The second concert, called PPO in Your Living Room, will feature Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” which will be played by contrabassist Aris Payte III, Consuelo Velazquez’s “Besame Mucho” will be played by trumpetist Melvin Miranda, Lucio San Pedro’s “Sa Ugoy ng Duyan” which will be performed by violinist Christian Tan and cellist Giancarlo Gonzales, and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” to be performed by clarinetist Hernan Manalastas and contrabassist Abner Cruz, among others.

Finally, PPO in Your Workplaces will feature Gary Valenciano’s “Lead Me Lord,” to be performed by trombone player Ricson Poonin, and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air on the G string, to be played by string ensemble players Jose Carlo Tuazon, Berny Dulce Payte, Joy Allan Dela Cruz, Giuseppe Diestro, and Aris Payte III, among other pieces including a repeat of some of the pieces performed in the other pocket concerts such as Dvorak’s 4 Romantic Pieces op. 75 no. 1 and Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

The PPO pocket concerts will be streamed live on July 3, 8 p.m., on the CCP Website. Performances will then be uploaded every Friday of July. — Z.B. Chua