coro – Santuario de San Antonio Parish

As the Coro continues to prepare Theodor Dubois’ Seven Last Words for Good Friday, a leading Filipino Baritone based abroad announced that he would be here for Holy Week. Andrew Fernando will be such a welcome addition to the rendition of this work as he sings the role of Jesus in this work. Our wonderful favorite soloists of the past years will still be here with us: Camille Lopez-Molina, soprano and Ronan Ferrer, tenor. Come and pray with us as we listen and be inspired to follow Christ’s Passion in song. Our three soloists will join the Coro from Holy Thursday up to the Easter Vigil.

ANDREW FERNANDO
Baritone

Andrew is an international Filipino Baritone. He was the First Prize Winner of the prestigious 2003 Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition in the United States and an alumnus of the world renowned San Francisco Opera Merola Program. He was also a prize winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions in the Los Angeles district and in the Pacific region, the Palm Springs Opera Vocal Competition, a recipient of the Opera Buffs Inc. scholarship grant and the Grand Prize winner in the Pasedena Opera Guild Vocal competition in 2004 and a grand finalist in the Licia Albanese Puccini International Vocal Competition held in New York in 2003. He was Opera Pacific’s resident baritone from 1999-2002. Andrew is the 2013 Aliw Awards Winner for Best Classical Male Performer.

CAMILLE LOPEZ MOLINA
Soprano

Camille studied voice at the University of the Philippines College of Music. She obtained her Professional Diploma in Music, majoring in Opera Studies, from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1996. She then proceeded to Vienna, Austria where she studied Gesang until 2001 at the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien under Prof. Marija Sklad-Sauer and Prof. Julia Conwell. Camille is a three-time ALIW AWARDEE (2009, 2010 and 2011) for Best Female Classical Performer.

At present, she is a member of the Voice Faculties of St. Scholastica’s College School of Music and the University of the Philippines College of Music. She is also the musical director and conductor of the SSS Choral Society and the Viva Voce Ensemble, a group composed of young classical singers. She has been a regular guest artist in many special events in Santuario de San Antonio.

RONNAN FERRER
Tenor

Ronan is one of the country’s best tenors. He obtained his Bachelor of Music in Voice Degree from the UST Conservatory of Music and his Master of Music in Voice Performance Degree from the Elizabeth University of Music in Hiroshima, Japan. He is presently the appointed Coordinator of the Voice Department of the UST Conservatory of Music.

He was the official cantor in the concluding mass of the recent papal visit of Pope Francis held last January18, 2015 at the Quirino Grandstand.

On Sunday Nov. 2, on the feast of All Souls Day, the CORO DE SAN ANTONIO would like to honor all its members and their relatives who have died since its inception in 1962.

The CORO has been blessed with members who had, literally, life-long commitments. To prove this, some members have passed on to the next life and received their Creator’s reward “with their boots on”(while still active members of the Coro).

1973 – Our first big emotional loss was (1) Cesing Lopez, who suddenly died a few days before Christmas, and he was the lead tenor at the time. All we could sing then for his funeral were Christmas carols. His wife, Tining Lopez, continued to serve the Coro for many more years after Cesing’s death.

1980 – (2) Diding Panlilio, the power behind the first organized yearly Christmas choir. It was made up of a small group, She was the one that recruited me to conduct the choir in 1962, when she found out I was going to move into the community. After 18 years of service to the Coro, she passed away in July, a month short of when the Coro, through the instigation of Fr. Hugh, became a weekly choir.

1993 – (3) Lita Malixi kept coming until she was too weak to make it to Church. This kindly soul is remembered very deeply by all those who knew her.

1997 – We lost two of our most valuable members:
(4) Enteng Antiporda, our lead baritone, who religiously came all the way from Binan,
Laguna, on March 30 the morning after our Easter Vigil service. He literally accompanied the Resurrected Lord to heaven.

(5) Medong Favis, fondly dubbed as the Coro’s “First Lady.” She suffered through a long period of dialysis and the CORO used to greet her in song every Nov. 22, her birthday, until she passed away, on Sept. 25.

1998 (6) Primo Santos, singlehandedly had built first choir risers in the choir loft. He was already in a wheel chair and still came to choir.

1999 – three more members painfully left us:

(7) Charito Gidaya, who invited us to the inauguration of the Church of the Twin Hearts in Quezon City. She still sang with us at the Fiesta of San Antonio and the special Memorial Mass for Mrs. Eva Macapagal with hardly a premonition that she would pass away so soon after that. She died on Aug. 1.

(8) Ditas Lichauco – Nov. 23. No one could ever guess that this frail looking wheel-chaired lovely lady could sing with such beauty of sound. She could sustain hours of rehearsals week after week. She was involved in many other activities of the Parish, having started the Sunrise Service of St. Francis in October.

(9) Aster Favis, the CORO’s President for life, from the inception of the Coro, until he sank into a coma within the year of the death of his beloved wife, Medong. He died on Dec. 30.

2002 (10) Mario Calasanz, most faithful and reliable tenor, who learned to read notes by just looking at the movement of the musical lines without knowing their names.

2005 (11) Titang del Rosario, sang in the soprano section until she moved to the States to join her daughter, Grace. Died of cancer.

March of 2004 was saddest year for the Coro We lost four members in the same year.

(12) Celing Batungbakal who was faithfully coming to choir in spite of her regular dialysis for a long time. She is responsible for recruiting many members who are still in the Coro today.

(13) Greg Alcaraz, the oldest among the bass section, faithful as he was faithful and loving to his wife, Maggie, alto, who has retired from the Coro due to illness.

(14) Purita Trajano – lovable lady, more concerned in bringing us various things to eat, than being a lawyer.

(15) Arie Samson, who had taken care of all the schedules of the Coro and reminded us of all coming events, including birthdays of each member. She listed down all the activities of the Coro every year, even while undergoing chemo and radiation.

2006 (16) Lourdes Wong fought bravely her illness for several years, coming to choir as long as her health permitted. She would house most of our members who lived far when we need to serve until late at night or early at dawn. She died in September. Her daughter, Judy and son-in-law Eddie are still members of the Coro.

Jan. 30, 2008
(17) Manny Gregorio, who was our first Vocal Coach and soloist, a most valuable asset, way back in the 60’s passed away, after a long bout of diabetes. His wife Lourdes, a pianist and the nations leading harpist, still comes, when needed, to accompany the Coro.

2008 (18) Luz Santos, beloved wife of Primo Santos, who built our first choir risers.

2009 (19) Nori Ongsiako, very talented alto who played her accordion for many events.

July 27, 2010 (20) Arturo Navera, our Prime Tenor soloist for many years, died after a devastating experience during typhoon Ondoy.

Oct. 27 2013 (21) Ginny Abello, one of our most dedicated and reliable sopranos. She still sang at choir the night before she died suddenly. She used to go with her husband (died 2011) to Lourdes, France, faithfully to serve for 22 years.

Jan. 4, 2014 (22) Jana Mora, alto.

Jan. 10, 2014 (23) Fely Guevara, soprano.

The Coro sang at the funerals of all its members and their direct relatives.

1. 2007 – Jess Jalandoni, husband of the oldest member of the Coro, Angelita, age 90, who still comes to sing with the Coro to this day.
2. 2007 – Edgardo Guevara, husband of Coro member Fely and father for several Coro members: Edgardo, Jr. & Letty G. Allado.
3. 2013– Cards Guevara, Husband of Amelita Guevara, conductress of the Coro de San Antonio.

We ask you for prayers for the CORO as we continue in our service to the Lord, to our Parish and to the community. May new members be enticed to join us. All one needs is love for the Lord through song and the commitment to come for weekly rehearsals every Sunday afternoon.

This Nov. 2, 2014, Sunday 6:00 p.m. mass is being offered for our departed Members as well as for all the departed members of our Parish.