Despite three years of inactivity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the University of Baguio’s Voices Chorale looks sharp and is quite ready to face the world anew and add more accolades to its stacked up resume after another performance at the UB Centennial Hall Thursday.
The 40-member ensemble led by tenor and now UB maestro John Glenn Gaerlan showcased 15 songs mostly from Disney animated films and musicals to the delight of relatives, friends and classmates during the Some Enchanted Moments performance last Thursday and Friday.
The nearly two hour performance saw the musical group belt out a medley from the musical “It’s a Grand Night of Singing” as an opener, followed by the very popular “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” from Disney’s Lion King, the highest grossing animated film in history.
From there, they performed From Now On from the Hugh Jackman starrer The Greatest Showman followed by True Colors, an Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake take on Cyndi Lauper’s 80s classic from the movie Trolls.
The members then each showed their vocal range with Solo where they sang classics from Disney and Broadway Musicals.
Then it was a Disney inspired performances for the next five songs starting with What Else Can I Do from Encanto and performed by Angelina Oreiro & Aster Laigo followed by Surface Pressure and Columbia, Mi Encanto and We Don’’t Talk About Bruno, all from the same animated film.
With When She Loved Me, the group practically brought Woody and Buzz Lightyear from the Disney blockbuster Toy Story to life.
Better Than I from Joseph, King of Dreams transported the audience to Egypt were they got a glimpse of the fate of the sons of Israel.
Then it was back to Simba the Lion King with Elton John’s Circle of Life. The musical group then tackled When You Believe from Disney’s The Prince of Egypt and capped the show with The Greatest Showman’s This is Me.
Gaerlan then thanked the audience in watching and hearing the ensemble perform as he looks forward to a busy schedule of his wards. The National Music Competition for Young Artist (NAMCYA) winner in 1980, 1982, and 1986 will have his wards compete this year in the Andrea Veneracion Chorale Competition, the NAMCYA and to compete in Thailand this August.
The Voices is founded 60 years ago and is composed of student scholars from the different college programs of UB. In 2016, the ensemble were hailed as Hall of Famer at the MBC National Competition after achieving three consecutive wins.
It was also the Grand Prix Winner at the 2nd North Sumatra International Choral Competition in 2017. And before the Covid-19 pandemic In 2020, the Voices bagged the High Silver at the Rimini International Choral Competition.
Earlier tis month, Gaerlan with five of the Voices members facilitated the workshop in singing in the Baguio Educational Arts Festival at the Baguio City National High School. Pigeon Lobien
