(Eagle News) – The University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors (UPSA) bagged more prestigious awards in Europe again on Saturday, July 28, 2018, as the choral group was declared the first prize winner of the Habaneras and Polyphony categories in the 64th Certamen Internacional de Habaneras y Polifonia Torrevieja in Spain.
UPSA led by its renowned conductor and founder Ed Manguiat also received the Prize of the Public in the competition in Torrevieja, bringing pride to Filipinos once more.
These awards in Spain for UPSA came a few weeks after it bagged the Grand Prize in the Sing! Berlin International Choir Competition in Germany.
“We are happy to share that we have bagged another victory for the university and the country! UPSA is the first prize winner of the Habaneras and Polyphony categories of the 64th Certamen Internacional de Habaneras y Polifonia Torrevieja! UPSA also received the Prize of the Public,” UPSA posted on its Facebook page.
The International Contest of Habaneras and Polyphony of Torrevieja takes place every summer, particularly in the month of July, and is declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest .
It takes place in the port area of the Eras de la Sal.
In Berlin, aside from the Grand Prize, UPSA was also declared the category winner of the Sacred Music and Mixed Choirs competition.
The Sing! Berlin International Choir Competition was held last July 4 to 7, and also featured groups from the United States, Germany, and Sweden.
“We dedicate this victory to all the people who supported us in this musical journey! We promise to continue working hard in our endless pursuit for excellence. Para sa Diyos at Lupang Hinirang!” UPSA said in a Facebook post then.
After the group won in Berlin, UPSA, on July 12 2018, held a concert entitled “The Reason We Sing”, as part of their three-month Europe tour, in Wiesbaden, the capital of the state Hessen in Germany.
UPSA led by its conductor Ed Maguiat, wowed the crowd in Wiesbaden, amazing the audience with a two hour concert consisting of German and Latin classical compositions, as well as English hits and traditional and modern Filipino music.
Organized by the Filipino community, the Wiesbaden concert was another way for the UPSA to take their countrymen living abroad find connection to home. Also lending support were the members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) congregation in Wiesbaden who helped the group with accommodation and coordination.
UPSA Conductor Ed Manguiat founded the group in 1980 as a freshman dormitory choir at the State University.
Manguiat has already won various international conductor’s awards in choral competitions.
-UPSA to represent PHL in prestigious Polifonico Internazionale Guido d’Arezzo in Italy –
Manguiat, in an earlier interview with Eagle Broadcasting Corporation’s Europe correspondent Malou Francisco said that after Torrevieja, the group will go next to Florence, and then to Arezzo in Italy to participate in what is yet the most prestigious choral competition that they will perform in their latest tour in Europe.
“We’re going to Florence, and then the highlight of our tour is the presentation and we’re representing our country in Arezzo, Italy considered as the most prestigious of the top six choral competitions in the world,” he said.
The UPSA conductor, who is a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, said that in all their competitions abroad he always makes it a point to attend worship services of the INC wherever in the world they may be. He and some of the UPSA choral group members who are INC members, said they always seek God’s help in all their undertakings; thus, whenever their group wins in prestigious choral competitions abroad, they consider this as part of God’s guidance and blessings, Manguiat said.
In August 2012, UPSA also bagged the top awards in Arezzo, Italy at the LX Concorso Polifonico Internazionale Guido d’Arezzo, particularly the the 1st Prize in the Romantic Period Music, the first prize in the Folklore Music Festival / Prize of the Public, and the second prize in the Mixed Choirs category.
UPSA had already won various prestigious prizes and awards in competitions in Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Wales, Hungary and Switzerland.
After Italy, UPSA will travel to Switzerland, Belgium and France for various concerts, as well as for outreach work, and a book launch.
(with reports from EBC Europe Bureau correspondent Malou Francisco in Bonn, and contributor Camille Gonzales in Wiesbaden, Germany, Eagle News Service)