UPCC Wins Gold Diploma and the Audience Prize in Hungarian Festival

UPCC Asst. Conductor Eman de Leon
and UPCC Conductor Prof. Jai Sabas-Aracama accepting  the Gold Diploma

Brimming with honor and love for country, the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus is proud to take home two awards for the Philippines: the GOLD diploma and the Audience Prize (People's choice award) at the 9th Cantemus International Choir Festival at Nyíregyháza, Hungary held from August 16 to August 20, 2012. A total of 16 choirs from 9 different countries participated in this biennial event.

Under the baton of President and Assistant Conductor Emmanuel P. de Leon, Jr., UPCC performed Ama Namen (John August Pamintuan), Jezus es a Kufarok (Zoltán Kodály), and Ilay Gandangan (Rodolfo Delarmente) during the competition proper of August 19. 

For the folklore concert which was the basis for the Audience Prize, Prof. Janet Sabas-Aracama led the choir in singing Gabaq-An (Ruben Federizon), Pasigin (Eudenice Palaruan), and Kruhay (Beny Castillon). 

The Gala Concert and Awarding ceremony saw the UPCC perform Tribute to the King of Pop (Eman de Leon) to which the Korus received a rousing standing ovation from the audience and festival participants of nearly two thousand people from all over the world.

Here is a video of the UPCC accepting the Gold award:

UPCC wins First Prize - Folk Song Category in Spain Festival

Here is the video of the announcement of the UPCC winning First Prize - Folk Song Category at the 30 Festival Internacional de Musica de Cantonigros 2012.

Happy Birthday Ma'am Jai from your UPCC Family!

Happy Happy Birthday to you Ma'am Jai! We love you!

UPCC feature on Philippine Star

The University of the Philippines Concert Chorus (UPCC), the state university’s official choir, conducted by Prof. Jai Sabas Aracama, recently won two top awards at the 30th anniversary of the Festival Internacional de Música de Cantonigròs in Catalonia, Spain.

The UPCC bested 16 other international choirs to win the first prize in the Mixed Choirs, Folk Music category, and second prize in the Mixed Choirs category, being edged out of the top slot by a mere fraction of a point by Norway’s Grex Vocalis. This is UPCC’s triumphant return to Cantonigròs, after it also won top prizes in the same categories in 1994, with the late Dean Rey T. Paguio as conductor.
 Read the full feature article on Philippine Star here: "UPCC top winner in Spain fest"