Prize-winning Ateneo band to perform June 11
THE 78-YEAR-OLD ATENEO De Zamboanga (AdZU) Concert Band will perform June 11 at the Ateneo de Manila University Henry Lee Irwin Theater.
Proceeds of the concert will go to the AdZU scholarship campaign for the university’s centennial in 2012 and to the AdMU’s dormitory scholarships.
The Ateneo is part of the band’s concert tour to herald AdZU’s centennial in 2012. The tour also marks the Sesquicentennial (150 years) of the return of the Jesuits to the Philippines.
The AdZU concert band has been making great music in Western Mindanao since 1932.
It was a marching and pep band until its director, Apolonio G. Enriquez, transformed it into a concert band in 1991. Enriquez, an AdZU alumnus, is a choir director, arranger, conductor and brass teacher who was a member of the same band when he was in high school and college.
The band has won in the Zamboanga Brass Band competition three times—in 2001, 2002 and 2008—besting the bands of the Southern Military Command (Southcom) and Philippine Air Force that have traditionally dominated the contests.
The 50-member band is composed of 24 college, 20 high school and six grade school students, most of them scholars.
The Atenean value of excellence is instilled in each member. Everyone undergoes a two-year beginner’s training consisting of elementary and intermediatemethod books.
The student then joins the regular band that entitles him/her to a 50-percent discount in tuition fees. After going through the first and second advanced books the member qualifies for full scholarship.
Beginners are mostly Grades 4 and 5 pupils.
Classics and movie themes, as well as beloved Filipino compositions, are included in the repertoire.
On June 11, there will be a matinee at 3:30 p.m. that will feature the Ateneo Grade School Boys Choir as guest performer. The evening show at 7:30 will feature a performance by Henri Ocier. Tickets are priced at P150 (matinee) and P250 (gala). Call the AdMU’s Office of University Development and Alumni Relations at 4266081 to 82.
The AdZU Band concert is sponsored by Cebu Pacific in cooperation with Bank of Singapore, Coca Cola, ING Investment Management Group, BPI Asset Management and Trust Group, Del Monte Philippines, Deutsche Bank, and Uratex.