A diplomatic affair with Philippine Consul General to Xiamen Maria Antonina Mendoza-Oblena on the piano and Althur Bliss Works first prize winner Jing Yang on the viola
LULLABIES AND LOVE SONGS Five-string violist Jing Yang and Philippine Consul General to Xiamen Antonina Mendoza- Oblena on the piano. (Xiamen PCG photo)
It’s not every day that a diplomat speaks the language of harmony between nations in hymns and melodies, but that was exactly what happened when the Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen hosted an online gig to celebrate a milestone in Philippine history, the 124th anniversary of our independence.
In “Harmony: Philippines-China Friendship in Love Songs and Lullabies,” Philippine Consul General to Xiamen Maria Antonina Mendoza-Oblena played the piano, alongside world-class Chinese violist Jing Yang. With such beautiful music occupying the spaces between them, it did not seem possible that there could be any more room for conflict, tension, or distress.
Xiamen is in Fujian province, home to the ancestors of most Filipino-Chinese, such as Philippine hero Jose Rizal and Philippine presidents like Cory Aquino and her son Noynoy.
Xiamen is in Fujian province, home to the ancestors of most Filipino-Chinese, such as Philippine hero Jose Rizal and Philippine presidents like Cory Aquino and her son Noynoy.
The shared history between the peoples of the Philippines and China dates back millennia. In the 13th century, Western scholars found Zhao Rugua’s 13th-century Zhua Fan Zhi, roughly translated as “Records of Foreign People” or unjustly (by the West) as “A
Description of Barbarians.” Included in it were specimens of Philippine weapons, implements, and instruments. There is no denying that, centuries before the West made it to the Philippines, we have had a lot in common with our Chinese neighbors in terms of values, culture, and traits, which governed our attitudes and actions toward family, friendship, music, and love.
All these were celebrated when Oblena and Yang performed together a repertoire of Filipino, Chinese, and western classical pieces.
One of Gulangyu Island’s three most famous musicians, Yang played at the 41st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to celebrate the inscription of Gulangyu as a World Cultural Heritage site. She is multi-awarded, having won in recent years the first prize at the Althur Bliss Works Competition in England, the second prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in Austria, and the third prize at the Bled Viola International Competition in Slovenia. At the International Bodensee Music Competition, her work was honored with the distinction “Best Interpretation of a Contemporary Work.”
While she chose to focus on a career in diplomacy, Oblena has under her belt two Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Education and Piano (both cum laude) at the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas (1992 and 1993, respectively).