FOUR students from the Conservatory of Music won awards in the online marching band competition dubbed “Asian Virtual Championships” last Dec. 29.
Hosted by the Asian Marching Band Confederation, the competition gathered 377 participants from 10 countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Maldives, China and Vietnam. The competition had 83 categories.
Music education major Lord Maurice Lagartera bagged first place in the Oboe Open category with the piece “Concerto for Oboe” by Joseph Haydn.
Lagartera also won third place in the Flute Open category with “Veloce” from the “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano” trio by Claude Bolling.
Trombone major Emilio Alumno Jr. won second place in the Trombone Open category, where he played the “First Movement of the Concerto for Trombone” in E-flat Major by Ferdinand David.
Alumno said that the online setup was a challenge, particularly in getting sound across to the listeners.
“‘Yong mga challenges, cinoconsider ko as positive dahil nasa bahay naman tayo so mas safe at mas maraming oras para mag-practice, at malapit kami sa pamilya namin,” Alumno told the Varsitarian.
Alumnus Paulo John Rubio, an awardee of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists, won first place in the Tuba Open category with “Carnival of Venice theme” by Herbert L. Clarke.
Joseph Martin San Miguel, a trumpet major, won second place with the same piece.
Alumnus Linwell Lalic placed third in the Horn Open category with “Le Basque” by Marin Marais.
With a total of 15 platinum medals, the Philippines had the highest number of platinum-level wins. A. N. Cruz
