The race to win. It was a competition among the most beautiful sounds on earth, in which the Madz emerged victorious.

Watch this video to find out what the University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers have worked for the past 50 years.

The Madz set milestones in joining festivals and competitions and winning top prizes, being invited in prestigious choral, diplomatic, and institutional events, and reaching farflung communities and venues to share their music to as many audiences as they can reach. Indeed, the Madz are triumphant in all aspects.

My entry to the Madz was perfect timing, and I feel blessed. Sir Mark was already the choirmaster at that time, and three years into his stewardship, he decided on going back to the international competition arena. He was ready to take the challenge with a new set of singers.

I was part of the three competitions! 2004 in Torrevieja, Spain, 2006 in Tours, France, and 2007 in Arezzo, Italy.

!Hola, España!

The year: 2004
The competition: 50th Certamen Coral de Habaneras y Polifonia
The location: Sunny Torrevieja, Spain
The awards: First Prize Habanera Category, First Prize Polyphony Category

Waking up to a beautiful view of the beach every morning for one whole week sure is a treat, but this competition was, for me, the most nerve-wracking. First time jitters, so they say. But this was quite an adventure for everyone.

Since we would only sing for one night, we pretty much got to enjoy the town, hopping on a bus to Alicante during the day for some sight seeing (and window shopping!), and returning in the afternoon, waiting for the evening to watch other competitors, or locking ourselves in one room for sectional rehearsals or the nightly Rosary and prayer brigade. Some took a dip on the nearby beach, ending up with skins one or two shades darker in photos! On that Sunday I went to church, heard Mass in Spanish, and prayed for the wonderful experience we have had during the tour.

Competitions start late in the evening, as Spanish people are known to have long afternoon siestas. Depending on the number of choirs for the evening, competitions would end past 12 midnight.

And with a set of five songs in our repertoire (three were for the Habanera Category and two for the Polyphony Category), we bagged both First Prizes! And Ma’am OA, founder of the Madz, along with some of her family members, was there to witness it. Sweet triumph for Sir Mark and his singers.

Victoire au noble roi François!

The year: 2006
The competition: Florilege Vocal de Tours, France
The location: Cute town of Tours, France
The awards: First prizes in the Vocal Ensemble and Free Program categories, Renaissance program Winner, Grand Prix de la Ville de Tours (which qualified us for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing the following year)

Nope, we did not sing La Guerre by Clement Janequin, but we sure were on our battle form as we entered the competition.

In 2006, we competed for the Florilege for the Mixed Vocal Ensemble, Free Programming, and Renaissance. Winning top prizes in those three eventually won us the Grand Prix de la Ville de Tours, thus gave us a slot for the following year’s European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Arezzo, Italy.

Before the tour, we all stayed for a week at the Executive House of the National Arts Center in Mt. Makiling, Laguna. It was a refreshing (literally, as we woke up in fresh air and a swimming pool!) retreat for all of us, but hard work of course as we had rehearsal sessions and quartet exams, from sunup to sundown.

Bravissimo!

The competition: European Grand Prix for Choral Singing
The location: Arezzo, Italy
The award: The pinnacle of it all, the 2007 European Grand Prix for Choral Singing!

Five songs. Those were our tickets to winning the EGP. We used to rehearse the competition set during the concerts before the competition, so we pretty much had mastered the repertoire by heart already.

This blogpost I wrote told our EGP story. It was overwhelming, surprising, and humbling, that after a long concert tour that year in Europe, we will get the Grand Prix. That very next day, we traveled home and was welcomed by our families and friends at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, our artistic residence. We stayed for a week in the Philippines before we traveled to the US for another six-week long concert tour.

I was just so lucky to be able to take part in the three competitions under Sir Mark’s wings. After these, the Madz have not yet participated in any competitions, but were awarded the UNESCO Artists for Peace in 2009, Guidoneum Award from Arezzo, Italy in 2010, and the Brand Laureate Award in 2012. Winners, still, and forever will be. Such a great blessing from the Lord.

Madz Trainee. That’s how we call aspiring Madz singers who are seated behind the magic semi-circle during rehearsals. That is how you get to really know if the Madz is really your calling or not.

Exactly ten years ago around this month, I auditioned for the Madz. I knew right there that this is what I want to do for the next few precious years of my life!

As trainees, we had to attend all rehearsals at UP. We had to be ready to sing for engagements if we are called to. My first engagement was the conducting recital of the choirmaster himself, who, at that time, was enrolled at the university taking a masters degree. That was also the time I started to bring home tons and tons of music sheets, choral music sheets that is.

As trainees, members will challenge your knowledge of the repertoire, especially the standard Madz repertoire for masses and concerts. We welcomed the challenge and learned our music before rehearsal starts. We studied our pieces together. Eventually, members bid farewell to their seats, so trainees prepare themselves to get a spot inside the semicircle.

After a few months I was rehearsing inside the semicircle. But not too quick, I am still considered a trainee. In Madz standards, you are called officially a member when you return to the country from an international tour. The operative word is return, meaning you completed the tour.

My first trip abroad was in 2004. That time, the Madz is going back to the international competition scene. The trainee batch were quite many, six of us–three sopranos, two tenors, and one bass. We were a good bunch, being a group of soloists as well, and that we really bonded together during that trip.

It was also the time that I learned to play guitar, forcibly, but nevertheless, happily! The one who plays the guitar is on a tour with another ensemble and could only join us during the second half of the tour. Since no one had the guts to do so, Sir Mark asked if I can play the guitar accompaniment of some songs in the repertoire. I accepted the challenge and studied the pieces by heart. Luckily, my then boyfriend (now husband and forever choirboy!) knew already or have heard of the pieces so he was able to teach and lend his guitar to me!

Then the Madz members knew I had perfect pitch, so they were always asking me for a reference pitch when we study pieces on our own. This reached Sir Mark, so he asked me to give the pitches for a concert in Germany, taking this burden off his shoulders. And I am proud to have done my task well! Sometimes I would use a pitch fork, but when I forget to bring, I hum the pitch by memory. It was so cool, and I can’t believe I had the ability and that I can put it to good use!

It was all part of the traineeship, and it was all worth it. In 2004, after we returned from our tour, I became a full fledged member of the Madz. And I stayed for four more years. They were some of the best years of my life!

To my co-Madz trainees batch 2004: Liaa, Rhina, Edwin, Nilo, and Enrico, thank you for the bond that we have created then as batchmates. For some of us, it was our first time to be away from our families, and we only had each other, along with the Madz members and Sir Mark, if we feel homesick. It was a long choral journey for us and I’m happy to have been part of this journey with you.

Coincidence had it. Two generations of one of Asia’s most awarded choral group grew up in neighboring compounds.

Andrea Ofilada grew up in the same street where I was born. My grandparents knew their family. She was married to dentist Dr. Felipe Veneracion in the same nearby parish church where my parents got married and where I was baptised.

I found out about it when I became part of the Philippine Madrigal Singers in 2003. I told my grandparents about Prof. Andrea O. Veneracion, and they knew it was their former neighbor.

Ma’am OA, as her legion of singers call her, is one of the forerunners of Philippine choral music, and brought it to far-flung communities in the Philippines and abroad.

Through her guiding and nurturing care, the University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers established itself as one of the most recognized choral groups in the world. The group has been invited to numerous choral festivals and won top prizes in the most prestigious international choral competitions in Europe, one of which is the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing which they first won in 1997 under her stewardship.

Through her vision of a Singing Philippines, the Madz et al was born. Alumni and members of the Madz started to propagate what Ma’am OA started by building choirs of their own, or giving workshops to starting groups. To date, the said network of choral groups from all over the country had for themselves established their own stature in similar festivals and competitions that the Madz had joined.

In 2001, she passed on the baton as choirmaster of the Madz to someone she personally chose, Mark Carpio. Through Ma’am OA’s inspiration, the Madz’ tradition of discipline, humility, and excellence remain in the group, which reaped awards for the group when the Madz under Sir Mark returned to the competition scene in 2004.

That same year was my first international tour with the Madz. And it was also my first close encounter with the fine lady they dearly address as Ma’am OA.

I had but a few moments with Ma’am OA. At that time, I was a shy newbie in this group of talented singers. I remember during the crucial quartet exams, she was part of the panel who will choose the tour cast. I could remember how nervous I was when it was my turn to sing. Sir Mark mentioned to me that one of Ma’am OA’s recommendations was that I should vocalise everyday to develop my voice more. Which I did. And through the years of singing with the Madz, my voice was trained to sing with increased volume and strength. Likewise, I got so much better in sight singing and developed my musicality more.

Ma’am OA joined us on the latter half of that European tour. And she witnessed how we, the new breed of singers under Sir Mark, bagged the first international victory in Torrevieja, Spain. Sweet victory, indeed.

She started one of the Madz traditions of praying with crossed hands, right over left, forming a circle. I remember before that competition, she led us in prayer, and each singer was given a chance to say a short prayer also. God must have heard that storm of prayers and gave us top prizes!

Dearest Ma’am OA,

From the hundreds of choral groups that were inspired by you, Maraming Salamat Po!

An international choral competition, another milestone for our choral history, shall be staged in honor of Prof. Veneracion. Check out this link for complete information.