UST singers wow audience at Frankfurt concert

A concert by the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Singers highlighted the celebration of the 113th Philippine Independence Day in Germany last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday. The DFA said the Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt sponsored the concert at the Maritim Hotel last June 6. “The UST Singers rendered an impressive performance of classic and modern songs ranging from O Magnum Mysterium to Broadway con Brio, and Philippine folk songs such as O Naraniag a Bulan," the DFA said in a statement. The UST Singers are a mixed chorale ensemble founded in 1992. Under the baton of Professor Fidel Calalang Jr., the chorale achieved both national and international recognition as one of the top choirs in the world. In 2010, the group garnered the Grand International Prize at the 56th Festival International de Polofonia y Habaneras de Torrevieja in Alicante (Spain). Also in 2010, the UST Singers made history when they bagged the Choir of the World-Luciano Pavarotti Grand Prize at the 2010 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod — the oldest and most prestigious choir competition in the world. A serenade Following their successful concert in Frankfurt City, the UST Singers visited the capital of the federal state of Hessen to serenade Madame Ursula Bouffier, spouse of Minister-President Volker Bouffier of Hessen. The event took place at the state villa in Wiesbaden. With the UST Singers was Consul General Maria Cleofe Natividad, who introduced the choir with a brief narrative on the practice of “harana" in the Philippines. “Following the choir's performance, Madame Bouffier expressed her sincere appreciation and admiration for the UST Singers whose voices, she said, were like a ‘balsam for the soul’ and of such beauty as to elicit goose bumps," the DFA said. — JE, GMA News