MSO opens exciting 99th season with music for peace

Who would think that with World War II still raging in 1945, the Manila Symphony Orchestra was actually organizing a concert? Herbert Zipper, the conductor, had been imprisoned earlier by the Japanese but after his release, with the arrival of the American forces in Luzon, he began to reconstitute his disbanded orchestra which was able to perform in the ruins of Santa Cruz Church, a poignant moment for the city’s music lovers who had suffered through all the devastation. “It was big news all over the world because why on earth would you want to even put up an orchestra at this time?” said Jeffrey Solares, MSO executive director, during a preview at their rehearsal hall.

It was the belief in the power of music that kept the orchestra going since its founding in 1926, making it one of the oldest in Asia, participating in the country’s milestones including resistance during the war when it declined to perform for the Japanese. Zipper, who had been an inmate at the Dachau concentration camp in the late 1930s, had vowed to one day celebrate the downfall of the Nazi regime with the performance of Beethoven’s 3rd symphony, Eroica, the musical score of which he held on to throughout the Battle of Manila.

It was a dream come true to conduct it, together with Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9., at that historic event—the first of a series of 150 post-liberation concerts organized from 1945-1946, which will be commemorated on May 24, the first concert of MSO’s 99th season, aptly titled “Music for Peace.” Solares explained that “After 80 years, peace is still a very relevant goal for humanity as we find in the news so many places where it is still elusive.” Its importance cannot be stressed enough as the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, in his first appearance to the world, started his address with the greeting of peace, “the peace of the risen Christ, one that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally.”

It could very well describe the feeling one gets upon hearing the most sublime pieces of orchestral music, as we did at the preview that afternoon when they played excerpts from the coming season. Playing the Largo of Dvorak’s No. 9, one can divine the emotional and spiritual journey of the composer that the crowd at the post-liberation concert must have empathized with as they looked back at how Manila was and looked forward to the promise of a “New World” which the symphony is known by. Marlon Chen, MSO music director, who works with many of the world’s finest orchestras, will conduct the piece together with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61 featuring Berlin-based violin soloist Emanuel John Villarin, a former member of the MSO Junior Orchestra who won a lot of competitions here and abroad including First Prize in the 2021 New York Young Performers Prize. 

As a teaser for “A Night in Hollywood,” the second concert on June 28, Ennio Morricone’s moving score for Cinema Paradiso was played featuring violin soloist Sara Maria Gonzales who performed with such delicacy. The concert will present 10 composers from the Los Angeles Film Composers Intensive (LAFCI), mentored by guest conductor Angel Velez. A highlight will be a cello solo by Zoltan Onczay who was the principal cellist of the Gustav Mahler Youth orchestra led by Claudio Abbado, performing at concerts with artists like Pierre Boulez, Anne Sophie-Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma.