The 46th International Bamboo Organ Festival will be held online due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the organizer said.
The event is scheduled from March 5 to 7 at 8 p.m. and the program will be available on https://www.facebook.com/ibof46online so that people from around the world can watch regardless of their time zones.
Through the camera, there will be a unique view on the keyboard of the Bamboo Organ to be played by Armando Salarza, an international concert organist and has been the titular organist of the Bamboo Organ for 28 years.
Salarza, currently the artistic director of the International Bamboo Organ Festival, will also introduce the pipe organ of the San Scholastica College of Music and the organ at the San Ezekiel Moreno Oratory.
Aside from Salarza, the event will also feature Luc Ponet (Belgium), Guy Bovet (Switzerland), and a Filipina based in New York, Jennifer Pascual (St. Patrick’s Cathedral, NYC), who will be playing Filipino tunes using their own grand pipe organ.
Each program will be closed with a rendition of a short motet by the Villancico Vocal Ensemble, the festival’s resident choir who will also be celebrating their 10th anniversary and it will be directed by Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng.
Juvy Quinay, a staff of the Bamboo Organ Foundation, said that their performing artists are seriously affected by the pandemic and are now facing an uncertain future. She added that the foundation is asking for support for their “musical frontliners.”
She said that as of press time, the foundation is supporting three scholars at the St. Scholastica College, College of Music at the University of Sto. Tomas, and one from Manila.
Because of the pandemic, the tour activity at the Bamboo Organ museum halted causing their funds to suffer.
Quinay said since the restoration of the Bamboo Organ in 1975, they have been celebrating the gift of the instrument that gives recognition to Las Piñas as the home of the Bamboo Organ in St. Joseph Parish Church.
The Bamboo Organ foundation is hoping to reach many people and since there will be no tickets to be sold, they are only depending on their sponsors and donors for them to cover the expenses incurred for this production and to continue on with the tradition.
Donations may be sent to the following accounts: BDO La Huerta Branch with Account Number: 005268009149 under Bamboo Organ Foundation, Inc; PayPal at [email protected]; Give2Asia Link at www.give2asia.org/bambooorganfoundation; GCASH Account Number: 09662058807 under the name of Robert Lao – Treasure; and PayMaya with Account Number 09615187783.