• ANDREW ALTAREJOS

In celebration of the twenty years of the Strings of Unity: International Rondalla/Plucked String Music Festival, the Kuwerdas Filipinas held a concert “Diwang: Musika ng Rondalla, Musika ng Pagkakaisa” at the Natalio G. Velez Sports and Cultural Center in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Tuesday.
The Kuwerdas Filipinas is the first professional symphonic rondalla in the Philippines, established in 2018 by National Artist for Music Dr. Ramon Pagayon Santos. The group was formed similar to an orchestra, with members carefully selected from rondalla groups that have been part of the several Strings of Unity festivals and its activities. Dr. Santos was the founder of the “Strings of Unity: International Rondalla/Plucked String Music Festival, created in 2004.
Twelve original compositions for rondalla were previously performed in the Strings of Unity festivals, form part of the group’s first record album in 2020.
The concert features about 50 of the finest rondalla musicians from all over the Philippines, including some members of the Kabataang Silay Rondalla Ensemble. National Artist for Music, Dr. Ramon Pagayon Santos, and musical director Professor Josefino Chino Toledo conducted the rondalla performances with the special participation from soprano Stefanie Quintin.




This year, it is celebrating its 20th anniversary of Strings of Unity Festival, bringing it a wider audience through a performance tour that features new works written from the group by composers from Philippines, other countries. The group is under the direction of Professor Josefino Chino Toledo, an international composer-conductor and Professor Emeritus at the University of the Philippines.
The concert tour was presented by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Musicological Society of the Philippines (MSP), and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, in partnership with the local government of Silay City, City of Silay Cultural Division and the Silay City Tourism Office.*