1. The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra remains in top form, the patrons still there for its season concerts and its musicians still enjoying government subsidy. With the demise of the San Miguel Philharmonic and the season concerts of the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra abruptly coming to an end for economic reasons, only two other orchestras, the Manila Symphony Orchestra and the Metro Manila Community Orchestra still manage to come up with occasional concerts that liven up Manila’s music scene.

2. Opera—always threatened with extinction these past years—lives on, as proven by two excellent productions at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, namely, “Die Fledermaus” (mounted by the UST Conservatory of Music under Dean Raul Sunico) and “La Boheme” (staged by the Philippine Opera Company headed by Karla Gutierrez.) Other music schools have managed to come up with good school productions like the “La Traviata” at the UP School of Music with Alegria Ferrer as Violetta and Eric Ferrer as Alfredo. The other operas produced by the UP College of Music were Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” with Ma. Cristina Joaquin as Hansel , Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” with Gabriela Francisco as Norina and Agrifino Jonaf del Fierro in the title role and Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” with Janet Aracama as Dido.

With the economic crunch this year making opera sponsorship virtually impossible, here’s hoping the local movers of opera will persist in 2009.

3. The country’s stable of classical singers continues to be in demand both locally and internationally. Rachelle Gerodias made her European debut as Liu in “Turandot” in Vienna and reprised the same role in Singapore. Tenor Lemuel de la Cruz was Gaston in the Singapore production of “La Traviata” and sang the role of Pong in a recent production of “Turandot.” Tenor Gary del Rosario came home to sing Rodolfo in “La Boheme” and still makes waves at the Seattle Opera. Sopranos Jennifer Uy and Elaine Lee also came home for “La Boheme” (for the roles of Mimi and Musetta respectively) and made auspicious debuts in the parts. Baritone Noel Azcona remained the busiest baritone during the year as he sang Dr. Falke in “Die Fledermaus” and Belcore in the UP production of “L’Elisir d’Amore.” He was a soloist in Handel’s Messiah in the Baguio Cathedral concert under American conductor Jerome Hoberman. The rest of his time he spends as conductor of the UST Singers, which toured Spain, Germany, France, Belgium and Italy in August this year.

4. Filipino artists continue to shine here and abroad as witnessed by the acclaimed concerts of pianist Cecile Licad in Manila and the provinces. Licad even managed to outshine a Russian artist in another performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Germany, where she debuted in Gershwin’s Concerto in F, also to great acclaim.

5. The cello—long eclipsed by violin and piano—is keeping a good fight and has in fact increased its following. This year’s homecoming recital of Victor Michael Coo with Taiwanese pianist Ya-Hsin Wu at the BDO Francisco Santiago Hall eclipsed other chamber music events outside the BDO music hall. Coo was the same prize-winning cellist who figured in a historic, unaccompanied cello recital last year in the same venue and got a standing ovation (he had played without the benefit of an assisting artist). Three years ago, the young cellist debuted with the Manila Philharmonic under Rodel Colmenar through the Dvorak concerto and got an ovation a cellist hardly gets in this country.

6. Private concert presentors are not giving up, even if the cost of producing concerts has soared and getting sponsors is almost impossible. The MCO Foundation is still alive and continues to present a season of concerts at the BDO Francisco Santiago Hall. Concertus, a new production outfit, was born during the year and presented the sold-out concert of “Britain’s Got Talent” winner Paul Potts, who sang on the same stage Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras used in their Manila debut some years back. The head of the Philippine Opera Company, Karla Gutierez, for one, believes that Filipino singers are worth dying for. Same for the Philippine Youth Symphonic Band under Irene Araneta and the Pundaquit Virtuosi, which remain as good training ground for young artists.

7. Music missionaries continue to thrive and they travel to the countryside to offer classical music to those who cannot afford it. I am referring to the tandem of pianists Reynaldo Reyes and Ingrid Sala Santamaria whose Romantic Piano Concerto Journey series has logged a total of 320 concerts, offering the piano concertos of Schumann, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, among others.

8. New talents continue to be discovered and they are indeed highly promising as seen in the latest 2008 edition of the National Music Competition for Young Artists, under program director Ramon Acoymo and the Piano Teachers Guild Competition under Fr. Manuel Maramba.

9. Music educators and pedagogues continue to leave their legacy to the new generation of musicians. National Artist Lucrecia R. Kasilag, conductor-violinist Basilo Manalo, pianist Stella Brimo and piano pedagogue Mercedes Isleta (head of the Kodaly Society of the Philippnes) all passed away this year, yet they left a wealth of legacy in the field of music.

10. The year witnessed the excellent recordings of Filipino artists and their works, the most outstanding of which were the CD of kundiman recorded by baritone Jonathan Zaens and the series of orchestral works of Lucio San Pedro and Angel Pena recorded by conductor Gerald Salonga and his Global Orchestra.

11. Corporate entities and cultural institutions continue to give cultural grants that allow cultural workers to mount their productions at no cost to their pockets. I am referring to the regular music grants of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the venue grants of the Philamlife company and the venue grant of BDO and MCO Foundation. The year also witnessed the completion of a new concert venue in Angeles City, the Holy Angels Auditorium, which is at par with CCP and the Philamlife Theaters in terms of acoustics.

12. Concert audiences remain enthusiastic during the year and it has resulted in the sold-out concert of Cecile Licad, the SRO crowd in the recital of cellist Victor Michael Coo and full patronage of “Die Fledermaus” and “La Boheme” at the CCP Main Theater.