How we began
The origins of the UPCS
by Elena Mirano
Mom always had a very special place in her heart for children. She was always organizing occasional children’s choirs to sing for her concerts. I have pictures of me in one of them when I was 5 years old. She taught the Pedagogy classes at the Conservatory of Music, supervised the music student teachers at the nearby UP Elementary School and ran the piano recitals for kids who took extramural classes at the College. In the 60’s, she would organize groups of little boys (including my brother Mike, Joel Navarro and Ryan Cayabyab) to sing as part of the ecumenical concerts of the Diliman Choral Guild.
The UP Cherubim and Seraphim, circa 1970s
In the summer of 1971, Mom having just come back from a world tour as manager for the Madrigal Singers, had taken a little hiatus from conducting and was serving as adviser to the U.P. Chanteclaire, a small choir of Filipino-Chinese students. She joined the group on a 3-week concert tour of Taiwan. Newly graduated from college, I had been conscripted into the soprano section. One day, Larry Chan, our tour manager/impresario informed us we were going to spend the late afternoon with the Taipei Children’s choir. Arriving early, we found ourselves in a large rehearsal hall and equally large foyer. The building was quiet, but not for long. Soon the hall filled up, with children rushing in after class, some walking from school, some riding their bikes, some delivered by school bus. The air was filled with their noise and happy chatter. Then, they went into formation and began to sing. I saw Mom’s eyes light up, transfixed at the sight of happy children making music. She mentioned to me later that their entire repertoire was Taiwanese. I think she was not the same after that.
Returning to Manila on fire with ideas, her two BFF’s – Andrea “Tita Andy” Veneracion and Ella “Auntie Ella” Cabreza – egged her on to organize a standing special choir whose aim was to study the characteristics of the Filipino child’s voice and to work for the creation of a special repertoire for Filipino children by leading Philippine composers. They enlisted the services of enthusiastic Music Ed students, Fe Nera and Josefina Tech to help recruit kids from the Saturday Extension Classes of the College. She gave her friend, Lucio San Pedro a Tagalog Bible and asked him to compose sacred music for the kids. She enlisted the services of young composers - her former students, Antonio Regalario to arrange folk songs and Ramon Santos, then a very young faculty member to create new music based on Filipino poems she gave him. And so, on that fateful Saturday of September 21, 1971, we held our first rehearsal. The rest is history.
The UP Cherubim and Seraphim, 1974
