Adventist University of the Philippines Ambassadors

The Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP) Ambassadors Chorale Arts Society was born in 1957 as a male chorus under the American missionary to the Philippines, Elton Wallace. The group became a mixed chorus under the directorship of Professor Minerva Arit-Penaranda, and has been to this date the official choral group of the Adventist University of the Philippines.

The AUP Ambassadors has been one of the most active choirs in the Philippine music setting, performing at major venues all throughout the Philippines and outside the country including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Thailand and major cities in the US and Canada. The group often performs on PTV 4's Concert at the Park Series, numerous Cultural Center of the Philippines productions and the San Agustin Museum International Music Festivals. Its credits include: Handel's Messiah and John Rutter's Gloria and Magnificat for the San Agustin Museum International Music Festivals, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) Concert Series and Mozart's Requiem when they were chosen as the choir to represent the Philippines in the internationally simultaneous commemorative performance of the 9-11 New York tragedy, all of which were major collaborations with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Italian conductor Ruggiero Barbieri. AUP Ambassadors is under the Music Department of AUP and under its present conductor, Dante Oblimar.

Awards

The Chorale has won local and international awards making them one of the country's notable choral groups. They have placed twice in the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) in 1993 as 3rd place and 1996 as 2nd place during the final competition. The group also won 1st place in the 1994 AILM Choral Competition sponsored by the Lamoiyan Corporation. In 2006, the chorale group won their first international award in the 2006 World Choir Games held in Xiamen, China. The AUP Ambassadors entered 3 categories namely Musica Sacra, Mixed Chamber, and Gospel and Spiritual category from which they won silver medal, gold medal and Champion of the World for Gospel and Spiritual respectively. The group is included in the World Ranking List of Musica Mundi which organizes the World Choir Games.

Recordings

AUP Ambassadors Chorale Arts Society released several recordings starting from the 1970s entitled My Eternal King which was recorded on an LP album format. In Praise of God was recorded in 1994 under the directorship of Naomi Cabahug-Tanada, following this is All to the Glory of God under Dante Oblimar. Under the current director Ramon Lijauco Jr., the group recorded the following: AUP Ambassadors (2000), Listen to the Lambs (2005), In Love (2006), We Sing as One (2008) and Way Down in My Soul (2010).

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  Aup Ambassadors during the 4th World Choir Games in Xiamen, China

Currently, the Chorale group will be having a North American Tour starting on July til October 2010. For more than 50 years now, the group has been giving concerts and choral clinic where ever the group visits as part of their outreach and of their aim in promoting choral music and excellence, giving all to the Glory of God.

References

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1. "Welcome - International choir competitions & festivals". interkultur.com. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
2. "Southern Asia-Pacific Division || News Archive". Ssd.org. 2006-08-11. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
3. "| Adventist University of the Philippines". Aup.edu.ph. Retrieved 2011-09-19.