composer, pianist, music educator
I admit that being a composer is not enough for me. Sure, exploring sounds and making "cool" stuff is trendy nowadays. However, I'm not primarily interested in going with that flow. I also think of "cool" as problematic many times, with all its baggages of class privilege, positionality, hegemony, even capitalist machinations...in short, things that [...]
The 3rd Golden Balangay Awards begins hours away as I write this post. Filipino-Canadians have established this award to recognize excellence and impact among the work of individual Filipinos throughout Canada. I've been shortlisted among other nominees for the Excellence Award in Music and Entertainment, and I traveled by train (encompassing 35 hours and thousands [...]
Four weeks passed by in a blur of sweeping events and idyllic moments. Even upon waking up today, my senses are still jeopardized with how disorienting home is just as quick as how bodies and mindsets acclimate to new, temporary environments. Starting an artist residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts at [...]
Typing at 1:50am felt like a chore, and I could have been enjoying the comforts of my bed now after a day of teaching. However, there is this sense of urgency that demands attention to document everything that will happen for the next 4 months. It is worth noting as well that three big things [...]
I haven't been posting news for months due to projects, but I'm finally back on track! It definitely won't be a short update, but I'll try to be quick about it: (1) Time Moves, Straightfoward... Commissioned for the second time by the Art Song Collaborative Project (Toronto), I created an "art song" (in quotes, for [...]
I resolved to ignore the calendar, To deny the passage of space-time, to disfigure Oneself from continuity, from plotted linear Means through point A and point B; shadows blur Pathways and mountain trails where herds of deer Once grazed to escape the wiles of winter As sunsets allowed the nights to draw in closer... “Sagittarian [...]
Social lives are just a game of darts Compelling everyone to call the shots With such brutal force, you have to hit the spots And rely on luck while the hand throws the axe, While calculations work their magic when someone hacks Laptop computers with shiny Facebook accounts And keyboards saying things from no-one's mouths [...]
Dark highways sprawl over surfaces Like veins crawling under obscure spaces Where brown skin and flesh reveals The invisible threads of unyielding forces Talking about multitudes of ancestors, The collision of native lands and colonizers, The concrete slabs and irreversible scars Paid for by governments that vaguely promise Better lives among greener pastures As overseas [...]
It's been a while since their unwavering performance at the MATA Festival in New York, but the ensemble Liminar is now bringing my work Pangkur to Mexican audiences for the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez 2018. Join them on September 22, 2018 (Saturday) at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City! See more information [...]
