DOMINICANS and Thomasian talents staged a fundraising performance featuring original compositions on Oct. 14 at Café Inggo 1587 in Quezon City.
The Order of Preachers Musik (OPMusik), the official music ministry of the Dominicans in the Philippines, organized the “OPMusik Night” to raise funds for its social communications ministry.
OPMusik director Fr. Guiseppe Arsciwals, O.P. led the mini-concert, which also featured performances from provincial promoter of vocations Fr. Carlo Canto, O.P., UST psychology alumna Jeanne Calubaquib, the Koro Dominiko, and the Santo Domingo Male Chorale.
“We wanted to create an event to make some noise for OPMusik,” Arsciwals told the Varsitarian. “It’s very timely since everyone’s on social media, so we really needed to do something innovative to reach many people.”
Events like the mini-concert also promote other preaching forms like music, according to the OPMusik director.
“If we really want to preach the word of God, we should not only stop at one way of doing that, but we should always discover many ways [to] reach as many people as possible–music is one way,” Arsciwals added.
Original compositions performed during the event include “Sa Lilim ng Iyong Pagkalinga” by the late UST campus ministry head Richard Pazcoguin.
Also included in the OPMusik Night’s setlist was “Tunghayan Kami, Inay,” composed by former Varsitarian editor in chief Bro. Dominic Aboy, O.P. and former Filipino editor Bro. Joenner Enriquez, O.P.
Aboy said the faithful’s continuous devotion to the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of La Naval de Manila inspired the composition, which was named a finalist in this year’s Catholic Mass Media Awards under the “Best Inspirational Song-Religious” category.
“I was overwhelmed because even if the pandemic is not yet over, during her birthday [on] Sept. 8, there were many people in the Santo Domingo Church,” he said. “The lyrics just came to me, like, ‘See your children who love you so dearly.’”
Aside from OPMusik originals, Arsciwals sang Marian compositions during the fundraising concert.
OPMusik Night was the first live performance of the music ministry since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was held at Café Inggo 1587, a restaurant beside the Santo Domingo Church, whose name was taken from Saint Dominic or Santo Domingo, the founder of the Order of Preachers, and the year the first Dominican missionaries landed in the Philippines. Sheila May S. Balagan
