FRANCISCO FELICIANO

Francisco Feliciano (19 February 1941 – 19 September 2014) was a Filipino conductor and song
composer. He was declared as National Artist for Music in 2014. He was one of the country's leading
composers and known as an exponent of liturgical music. Among his major works were ‘’Missa Mysterium’’
and ‘’Sikhay sa Kabila ng Paalam’’.

Early life and education

Feliciano was born on 19 February 1942 in Morong, Rizal. His father Maximiano Feliciano exposed him to
their band “Morriz Band” and their genre of music.

He started his music career when he joined a band in high school and played cymbals and the clarinet. He
studied at the University of the Philippines (UP) and attained a Masters degree in Music Composition.

He was the choir conductor and instructor in music fundamentals at St. Andrews Seminary. He obtained a
diploma in Music Composition from Hochschule der Kuenste in Berlin, Germany. He graduated in Yale
University School of Music with Master of Musical Arts and gained a doctorate in Musical Arts Composition.
His teachers in conducting were Arthur Weisberg and Martin Behrmann. He also studied composition under
Jacob Druckman, Isang Yun, H.W. Zimmerman, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Feliciano was born in 1941, in Morong, Rizal.[2]

Francisco Feliciano graduated from the University of the Philippines with a Masters in Music
Composition. He went to the Hochschule der Kuenste in Berlin, Germany to obtain a diploma in
Music Composition. He later attended Yale University School of Music and graduated with a
Master of Musical Arts and a Doctorate in Musical Arts, Composition. His teachers in conducting
were Arthur Weisberg and Martin Behrmann, while he studied composition under Jacob
Druckman, Isang Yun, H.W. Zimmerman and Krzysztof Penderecki

Career
In 2014, Feliciano was named one of 12 National Artists of the Philippines, together with eleven
other persons.[1]

Among Feliciano's works and arrangements were Buksan mo ang aming mga labi, Mass of Saint
Andrew, Pamugun choral, with soprano solo, Pokpok alimpako chorus, and Three Visayan folksongs: for
high voice.
He has composed more than 30 major works including operas and music dramas like La Loba
Negra, Ashen Wings, Sikhay sa Kabila ng Paalam, and the Life of Wartime Filipino Hero, Jose Abad
Santos. His large works were Transfiguration and Missa Mysterium for orchestra and large chorus, the
ballet Yerma, and several prize winning compositions including Pokpok Alimpako, a favorite piece of choirs
in international choral competitions, and Salimbayan. Umiinog, Walang Tinag (Perpetuum Immobile) was
premiered in New York City at the ISCM Festival. His latest choral works, Pamugún and Restless, has
been performed by Filipino choirs in various choral festivals in Europe. Dr. Feliciano was given a John D.
Rockefeller III Award in Music Composition in 1977.

He has created several of liturgical pieces, mass settings, hymns, and songs for worship. He supervised
the publication of a new Asian hymnal containing mostly works of Asian composers at the Asian Institute
for Liturgy and Music, a school for church musicians he founded 20 years ago. His works were published
worldwide in hymnals and worship books of various churches. He was an active clinician, having conducted
workshops on creative music writing in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hongkong, Australia,
Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.

Dr. Feliciano was invited to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow State Symphony
and also in some orchestras in Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Japan.

He was the former president of the Samba-Likhaan Foundation: The Asian School of Music, Worship and
the Arts, an organization located in Quezon City. Devoted to the promotion of Asian music and arts, its goal
is to put music and art in the context of worship.

Awards

Feliciano was given the following awards: Music Promotion Foundation Scholarship in Composition, 1958
to 1962; First Prize, Composition Contest, University of the Philippines, 1962; Purita Ponce-Enrile
scholarship in Composition, 1962-64; and First Prize Winner, Hymn Writing Contest, Archdiocese of
Manila, 1970.

 -2014 - National Artist for Music

Death

He died on 19 September 2014 at the age of 73 because of cancer. A necrological service was held on 24
September at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). His remains lie at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

List of works
Works and arrangements include for example:

 Buksan mo ang aming mga labi (published 1982) [3]

 Mass of Saint Andrew (published 1981) [4]
 Pamugun (choral, with soprano solo. published 2002) [5]
 Pokpok alimpako (chorus. published 2002) [6]
 Three Visayan folksongs : for high voice (published 1998) [7]

Francisco Feliciano’s corpus of creative work attests to the exceptional talent of the
Filipino as an artist. His lifetime conscientiousness in bringing out the “Asianness” in
his music, whether as a composer, conductor, or educator, contributed to bringing
the awareness of people all over the world to view the Asian culture as a rich source
of inspiration and a celebration of our ethnicity, particularly the Philippines. He
brought out the unique sounds of our indigenous music in compositions that have
high technical demands equal to the compositions of masters in the western world.
By his numerous creative outputs, he has elevated the Filipino artistry into one that is
highly esteemed by the people all over the world.

Many of his choral compositions have been performed by the best choirs in the
country, such as the world renowned Philippines Madrigal Singers, UST Singers and
the Novo Concertante Manila, and have won for them numerous awards in
international choral competitions. The technical requirement of his choral pieces are
almost at the tip of the scale that many who listen to their rendition are awed,
especially because he incorporates the many subtleties of rhythmic vitality and
intricate interweaving of lines inspired from the songs of our indigenous tribes. He
not only borrows these musical lines, albeit he quotes them and transforms them into
completely energetic fusions of sound and culture that does nothing less than
celebrate our various ethnicities.

His operas and orchestral works also showcase the masterful treatment of a musical
language that is unique and carries with it a contemporary style that allows for the
use of modal scales, Feliciano’s preferred tonality. The influence of bringing out the
indigenous culture, particularly in sound, is strongly evident in La Loba Negra, Ashen
Wings and Yerma. In his modest hymns, Feliciano was able to bring out the Filipino
mysticism in the simple harmonies that is able to captivate and charm his audiences.
It is his matchless genius in choosing to state his ideas in their simplest state but
producing a haunting and long lasting impact on the listening soul that makes his
music extraordinarily sublime.
ALICE REYES

The name Alice Reyes has become a significant part of Philippine dance parlance.
As a dancer, choreographer, teacher and director, she has made a lasting impact on
the development and promotion of contemporary dance in the Philippines. Her dance
legacy is evident in the dance companies, teachers, choreographers and the exciting
Filipino modern dance repertoire of our country today.

Reyes’ dance training started at an early age with classical ballet under the tutelage
of Rosalia Merino Santos. She subsequently trained in folk dance under the
Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company and pursued modern dance and jazz
education and training in the United States. Since then, during a professional dance
career that spanned over two decades, her innovative artistic vision, firm leadership
and passion for dance have made a lasting mark on Philippine dance.

Perhaps the biggest contribution of Alice Reyes to Philippine dance is the

development of a distinctly Filipino modern dance idiom. Utilizing inherently Filipino
materials and subject matters expressed through a combination of movements and
styles from Philippine indigenous dance, modern dance and classical ballet she has
successfully created a contemporary dance language that is uniquely Filipino. From
her early masterpiece Amada to the modern dance classic Itim-Asu, to her last major
work Bayanihan Remembered which she staged for Ballet Philippines, she utilized
this idiom to promote unique facets of Philippine arts, culture and heritage.

By introducing the first modern dance concert at the CCP Main Theater in February
1970 featuring an all contemporary dance repertoire and by promoting it successfully
to a wide audience, she initiated the popularization of modern dance in the country.
She followed this up by programs that developed modern dancers, teachers,
choreographers and audiences. By organizing outreach tours to many provinces,
lecture-demonstrations in schools, television promotions, a subscription season and
children’s matinee series, she slowly helped build an audience base for Ballet
Philippines and modern dance in the country.

Alice Reyes is the visionary founder of ballet.ph/devilippines who propelled the company into a
national arts institution we can all be proud of. In the Philippines, she established regular season
concerts, professionalized dance as a career, and played a major role in the phenomenal
development of dance in the country.

Reyes began her dance training at an early age and it continued undiminished even while she
worked for a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Foreign Service at the Maryknoll College and did
postgraduate studies at the Ateneo University.

With a background in ballet, folkdancing and jazz, Reyes ventured into the challenging and exciting
realm of modern dance. She went through an extensive training period in the United States at the
Colorado College under a Hanya Holm scholarship and earned a Master of Arts in Dance from the
Sarah Lawrence College under its scholarship program. She was subsequently awarded two other
grants from the John D. Rockefeller III Fund and the Music Promotion Foundation of the Philippines,
which enabled her to study further under leading exponents of the medium.

Upon her return in 1969, she staged her first modern dance concert at the CCP. Its success made her
decide to remain in the Philippines and develop the great potential of dance in the country. Since
then, her outstanding performances on stage have provided artists an

enriching example to emulate. The sheer diversity of her choreographic talent has produced highly
acclaimed works ranging from the classics like “Cinderella” and “Romeo and Juliet”, to Filipino
modern works like “Amada”, “Itim-Asu”, “Bayanihan Remembered” and “Mga Babae”. Through her
efforts, dance has become among the country’s respected careers and distinguished professions.
The Filipino dancers have emerged as an indispensable part of our cultural heritage.

Biography [ edit ]
Alice Reyes was born on October 14, 1942. She is the oldest of five children of Adoracion Garcia
and Ricardo Reyes . Her two parents were trained musicians at the University of the
Philippines . Mother Adoracion was a vocal teacher and taught Imelda Romualdez . Father
Ricardo is known as "Mr. Philippine Folk Dance". After her middle and middle school education
at Maryknoll College, Alice started dancing at Bayanihan Dance Company , where she and her
father drew the country to give dance performances. In the sixties she studied at Maryknoll
College where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts diploma in 1964 . Subsequently, she studied in
theUnited States , where she obtained her Master's degree in Sarah Lawrence College in
1969 . She also followed training and education by prominent dancers and choreographers such
as Bessie Schoenberg , Hanya Holm , Alwin Nikolais , Murray Louis , Merce
Cunningham , Henry Danton , Robert Joffrey .
Back in the Philippines in 1969, she asked Lucrecia Kasilag , the artistic director of the recently
opened Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), to make a dance show. It agreed and arranged
budget. The first modern dance show of Alice Reyes Modern Dance Company in 1970 in
collaboration with artists Ray Albano and Lee Aguinaldo was a great success. Reyes decided to
teach in the USA at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts next to him and stay in the
Philippines. With help from Kaslig, Eddie Elejar and CCP President Jaime Zobel de Ayalashe
started the CCP Dance Workshop Company, which was later renamed CCP Dance
Company. This became later Ballet Philippine (BP). For over twenty years, she was the driving
force behind Ballet philippines and she had the artistic leadership. During that period, BP grew
into the most prestigious ballet institute of the Philippines. In 1989 she stopped at Ballet
Philippines. The artistic leadership about Ballet Philippines was taken over by her sister Edna
Vida in 1989 and later, in 1991 by her other sister Denisa Reyes .
Reyes started working as a designer in the United States at Ballet Philippines . Later she started
her own design agency called Chrysara. In 2014, Reyes was nominated by President Benigno
Aquino III as a national artist of the Philippines in the category of dance. [1]

Private life [ edit ]

Alice Reyes was married to American Richard Upton from 1972 to 1982. Together they got two
children, a boy and a girl. Afterwards Reyes married the American Theodore Van Dorn.