STUDENTS and faculty members from the Conservatory of Music delighted concertgoers with soundtracks and theme songs of novelty video games and hit TV series in the 33rd “Sampung Mga Daliri,” an annual concert meant to highlight the piano’s collaborative qualities, at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines last March 17.
Joining the 10 mainstay grand pianos on stage were various ensembles from the Conservatory including the UST Symphony Orchestra, UST Percussion Ensemble, UST Guitar Ensemble, UST Yellow Jackets and UST Drumline.
The show opened with Conservatory of Music Dean Antonio Africa’s arrangement of “Laru-Laro,” with Reynato Resureccion as conductor. It was followed by a suite based on New World Computing’s Heroes of Might and Magic, which was a hit strategy role playing game (RPG) in 1997.
Twenty pianists, led by faculty member Timothy Sosmeña, gave the crowd a nostalgia-inducing performance of soundtracks from novelty video games such as Mario Brothers, Pokemon and other games from 1970 to 1999. This was followed by a medley of theme songs from Square’s RPG Final Fantasy, arranged by professor Alberto Mesa, featuring the UST Guitar Ensemble.
Popular films and TV series were also part of the repertoire as the UST String Orchestra performed Jonathan Gutierrez’s arrangement of HBO’s Game of Throne’s theme song with Arnold Josue conducting.
UST Symphony Orchestra immediately followed with a grand arrangement of the Hunger Games soundtrack featuring the Conservatory’s choirs Coro Tomasino, Liturgikon Vocal Ensemble and several chorus classes.
The orchestra ended with Beethoven’s 5th symphony arranged by Sosmeña, and David Foster’s “Winter Games/Piano Concerto in G” arranged by Naldy Rodriguez.
The show’s grand finale was titled “Champion’s Medley,” which was composed of Call of Champions by American film- and video game-scorers John Williams and Winifred Philips, “Nessun Dorma” by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini, and “We Are the Champions” by Queen front man Freddie Mercury.
Although this year’s repertoire was quite radical, the treatment of the music was still very classical, Africa said.
“With the hope of developing the audience that will appreciate the genre that they thought are for the selected few… Let this be the beginning so that we do not perform anymore to a half-filled hall,” he said.
