Skip to main content

Coro San Nicoleño Triumphs in Vietnam



The Coro San Nicoleño bags two Gold Diplomas - Gold III for B2/All Male Choir Category and Gold IV for the Sacred Music Category. The completion was held in Hoi An, Vietnam on April 29-May 2. This is the first International Choir Competition where the Coro San Nicoleño participated. (Doms dela Cruz)


By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter

Vietnam—Coro San Nicoleño (CSN), the all-male choral ensemble of the Municipality and Catholic Parish of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte was awarded Golden-Level III Diploma to win the Male Choir Category (B2), a Golden-Level IV Diploma for the Sacred Music (MS) category and the Conductor’s Prize for CSN Conductor, Sherberk Cabrales who bested more than 40 other conductors in the recently concluded 4th Vietnam International Choir Competition held in the Heritage City of Hoi An on May 2, 2015.

About 1,500 local and foreign singers of more than 45 choirs from 15 countries and territories including Australia, Finland, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam competed in the four day event which opened on April 30. The contestants were divided into 6 groups and performed in the 13 categories: Male Choirs. Female Choirs, Mixed Choirs, Chamber Choirs, Youth Choirs, Children’s Choir, Folk Song Choirs, and Hymn Choirs.

The festival is one of the 12 international competitions held by Interkultur, a non-profit organization based in Germany.

10 choirs from Philippines
Ten choral groups from the Philippines competed in the event but only two qualified for the Grand Prix—Himig Roseña of Makati City and CSN which was described by one of the judges, Filipina Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng, as the most impressive group from the Philippines.

“The other judges and I could not believe that this is your first time to compete internationally,” added Ms. Cheng.

In December 2013, CSN joined the Sing n’ Joy Manila International Competition and grabbed a Silver IX Diploma.

The Hoi An Choir Prize 2015 went to PSM Unpor Tabela Harati from Indonesia. The Jury also honored outstanding achievements of conductors with a special prize: Vimzenz Weiscenburger and CSN conductors, Ferdinand Tolentino and Sherberk Cabrales.

Church and community-based
CSN was organized by the then Parish Pastoral Council President, Dr. Alfredo P. Valdez Jr., in December 2000 as one of the Catholic Parish and for 15 years now, they religiously lead the music ministry in Sunday masses, fiestas and holidays of obligation.

Composed of young professionals and students, the group has been invited to perform not only in the municipality and province but also in national events. It is presently under tutelage of multi-awarded conductor Sherberk Cabrales and Architect Ferdinand Tolentino. The choir has also been adopted by the LGU of San Nicolas as one of the special bodies under the San Nicolas Cultural Programs.

Fund-raising Activities
Aside from functions in the church and the municipality, CSN has extended its services in fund-raising activities with four concerts o their credit. In July 12, 2014, the CSN joined the UP Concert Chorus in their concert “UPCC in San Nicolas” held in the SN Catholic Church. This was followed by a series of concerts dated August 23, 2014, and February 17 & 24, 2015 held at Casino Filipino 365 Plaza to raise funds for the San Nicolas Express Bin-I Foundations-Ilocos Norte Inc., a scholarship foundation, pet project of the municipality.


“We’ve come a long way extending our services beyond our function as lead singers in church and in the municipality. Our participation in charitable events gives us incomparable pride. We will continue to serve,” Mr. Valdez said.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

PIDS expert says income tax cuts justified; warns gov’t of revenue loss

Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified. However, these proposals should include measures that will allow government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of state think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said at a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Senate, that government should look for new revenue measures to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Currently, there are several income tax reform proposals pending in both houses of Congress. All of them, according to Dr. Manasan, have the same objective of addressing the phenomenon of bracket creep, which results from “non-indexation to inflation of personal income tax brackets”. Simply put, bracket creep occurs when employees’ income increases over time as a result of inflation. Th

PGIN honors Ilocano heroes of past, present through Heroes Walk

SPO1 Allan Lampitoc Franco of Banna, Ilocos Norte and PO2 Jovalyn D. Lozano of Adams, Ilocos Norte receive a resolution of commendation, a certificate of college scholarship grant to their family members and a P20,000 cash incentive each from the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte represented by Governor Imee R. Marcos and Vice Governor Angelo M. Barba in recognition of their bravery and heroic acts in the Mamasapano clash in Maguindanao on January 25. Mr. Franco and Mr. Lozano were recognized on March 10 in time for the unveiling of the second batch of Ilocano heroes at the Heroes Walk located along the Sirib Mile in Laoag City.  (Lei Adriano) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO In honor of the heroes who brought freedom, fame and glory to the province as well as to the country in the past century, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Education Department and Sirib Youth Office launched the second batch of Ilocano Heroes Walk on March 10, 2015.