A PROFESSOR from the Conservatory of Music bagged the Alfonso T. Ongpin Prize for Best Book on Art in the 42nd National Book Awards.
Prof. Maria Alexandra Chua, director of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts, and Humanities (RCCAH), was recognized for her work, “Julio Nakpil 1867-1960) Collected Works, Volume II: Band Orchestral Music,” as announced in a Facebook post by the National Book Development Board (NBDB).
This is the second time Chua won the prestigious prize, after winning last year’s edition for the work’s first volume, “Julio Nakpil (1867-1969) Collected Works, Volume I: Piano, Vocal and Chamber Music.”
“The two volumes are connected under one study. [W]e were organizing his (Nakpil’s) music,” Chua told the Varsitarian. “I had to work on the historical context of this music, the changing musical style.”
Both books were published by the UST Publishing House and borne out of the “Julio Nakpil @ 150 Music Project,” a five-year multidisciplinary project on the life and works of the Filipino composer. The project was led by Chua under the auspices of RCCAH.
“The first volume actually is for piano, voice and chamber music. So all of his works for that particular genre are there. So ang natitira is really band and orchestral music,” the music professor said.
Chua first looked into Nakpil’s music when she was studying for her doctorate at the University of the Philippines.
According to Chua, the project allowed her team to do extensive research on Nakpil through a musicological lens.
Chua said she started further research with the goal of releasing it for Nakpil’s 150th birth anniversary.
The project was funded by the Commission of Higher Election and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts through the Salikha Creative Grant.
Due to delays, however, the project was finished after the pandemic.
“Hopefully, now that we have an academic scholarly study of his music […] the next generation can actually look into his story, because his story is really the fight for freedom for our nation,” Chua said.
The 42nd National Book Awards feted over 31 titles with prizes, which were selected out of 326 nominations across 31 categories.
The winners will be awarded in November 2024 in Intramuros, Manila.
The National Book Awards is organized by the NBDB and the Manila Critics Circle. With reports from John Kobe S. Balod
