Requiem and Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday is a big day at the Church of the Risen Lord at the UP  campus in Diliman, Quezon City. The garden on the side of the church is full of worshippers who troop there at the break of dawn,  some still groggy from broken sleep, to celebrate and  declare in happy unison, “Christ is risen!” 

CRL is an ecumenical chaplaincy ministry under the direct guidance of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines which is independent from any denomination. It is an autonomous chaplaincy with a worshipping congregation that reaches out to the UP Diliman population. The ministry began with the organization in 1947  of the UP Christian Youth Movement (UPCYM) led by  a group of Protestant UP students that aimed to make a “relevant Christian presence” in the campus.

As is the practice in CRL, the chair of the church council delivers the homily on Easter Sunday. Last Sunday, the honor belonged to Rosella Jean Puno, who spoke about Jesus’  resurrection’s “proclaiming to all men in no uncertain terms that God is the living God, that He is the God of all the living.”

The worship service closed with   the senior chaplain, Bishop Jessie S. Suarez giving the benediction, and the CRL Choir performing the powerful “Hallelujah Chorus” from Frideric Handel’s  â€œJudas Maccabaeus.” Then the congregation partook of an “agape meal,” a supot  of  pandesal sandwiches, banana and an egg prepared by the church women’s organization.  

The choir’s beautiful rendition of the Hallelujah chorus brought to mind its magnificent  performance of Mozart’s “Requiem” at the sanctuary on Good Friday. The number of performers  was rather  large: 52 singers and 21 instrumentalists, rendering Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s mass for the dead.

The CRL choir, the church’s pride and joy, is composed of professionals, housewives, church workers, managers, academicians and students from various fields. Most of them had no formal music training, but are driven to sing, as they put it, “for the glory of God.”  Part of the choir performs at the Tagalog service on Sundays, another at Vespers, and the whole choir  at the 10 o’clock service. Last Sunday, finely honed instrumentalists who are members of  the church,  joined the choir in rendering Mozart’s Requiem.

Presently, the conductor is Christopher Arceo, who finished his bachelor of music degree, major in choral performance,  at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, USA in 2010. He is  currently  enrolled at the UP College of Music, for a master  of music degree in choral conducting. He is also the conductor of an award-winning all-male choir, Aleron and Vox,  at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health. He has dabbled in various musicals, oratorios and opera productions, among them master works of Brahms,  Felipe de Leon, Handel, Mozart, and  Giacomo Puccini.

The CRL choir evolved from the UPCYM choir  into what it is now through the choral discipline and training started by Flora Arco Rivera, Louise Palm, Alice Andaya Jalipa, Elena Rivera Mirano, Pixie Roa,  Gamaliel Viray, Luningning San Jose, Dean Rey Pagiuo, Danny Monte, Malou Hermo, Benjie Dia, and Joshibiah de Juan. It has had training from such  choral greats as Jeffrey Ching, Joel Navarro, Jonathan Velasco, Montet Acomo, Ligaya Quinitio,  and Jai Sabas Aracama among others.

Aside from singing at the regular worship service and special celebrations like the church’s anniversary month, Carols by Candlelight in December,  and the Good Friday concert, the choir maintains four to five scholars per school year at the UP College of Music. Its past scholars include Katrina Saporsantos, Deeda Barredo, Joy Abalon, Dondie Ong,  and Sheen Sanchez. One of its present scholars, Stefanie Quintin,  is graduating this month.

The CRL Choir is also involved in outreach activities which aim to minister to others through music. It has gone to Davao, Roxas City, Cebu, Bacolod, Tagbilaran, Isabela, Baler, Quezon and in many churches in Manila and Quezon City. An Evangelistic Musical Experiencing God has been performed in Roxas, Isabela, Bacolod and Tagbilaran.

Alexander C. Cortez has been serving the CRL Choir as music ministry director for almost four years now, although he has been with the choir since his college days.  He was in charge of selecting the choir’s repertoire for all the worship services and assisting the conductors in selecting the pieces. The choir, Alex told me, has a very varied repertoire, and the church library boasts of a wide selection of choral pieces which he researches in the Internet and during his travels abroad.

Presently, Alex, who has a doctorate in music, teaches theater courses such as acting, directing, management,  voice for the theater and special projects at  the U.P. Department  of Speech Communication and Teacher Arts. He is also artistic director  of Dulaang UP, the official  theater arm of  the state university.  He also directs events and concerts for the UP, UST and CCP.

An indispensable part of the choir is the pianist, Sara Matsuura. Just as important are choir  presidents Lou del Rosario (for the English choir) and Peter Lazarte (for the Pilipino choir). For a long time,  Dr. Mildred S. Ganaden was the choir’s organist.

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Email: [email protected]