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UP Cebu's Official Choral Group

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The once-probie Serenates, now with sablays resting on their shoulders. 🌻🎤

Still waiting to cross the stage, but already looking back with grateful hearts. If these years have taught us anything, it’s that the most enduring things we take from a place are rarely the ones we first came for. They found us instead—in friendships that steadied us, music that carried us through changing seasons, mentors that guided us, and moments that turned this university into home. For these, and for the people we’ve become, we are deeply grateful.

Thank you, UP, for holding some of the most defining years of our lives. ❤️💚

photo by: @nixpitix & @yza.xe

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𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 | 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗮 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

Night settles over Cebu with the kind of heaviness that follows calamity.

Just months earlier, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook the island awake, leaving homes cracked and families unsettled. Aftershocks lingered like unwelcome reminders of how suddenly life can break. Then came Typhoon Tino, swelling rivers and flooding barangays still trying to recover. People carried what they could; many lost what they couldn’t.

Woven through these disasters is the long-running storm of corruption, weakening systems long before any rainfall arrives. Failed flood control projects. Mismanaged funds. Neglect that reveals itself most brutally during disaster response.

And yet, in these failures, something steadier emerged. Communities held one another closer. They shared food, floors, and grief that was never meant to be carried alone. On a smaller and more intimate scale, that same spirit of connection took shape one December evening at the University of the Philippines Cebu.

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Words by Allen Troy Martinez
Layout by Sophia Barrameda
Photos by Dessa Daculan, Blessy Padillo, and Elisha Villaflores

#UPCebu
#UPSymphonyOrchestra
#DuyogSaPasko

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Better late than never. #taiwan, you were amazing.
Been craving Ay-Chung flour rice noodles since we left 🥹

Also, a huge thank you to @upserenata for making my birthday even better by gracing me with their lovely voices and huge thank you to @chimken_nuggets_ for taking pics of me as well.

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IN PHOTOS | UP Symphony Orchestra serenades Cebu in concert for hope, solidarity against corruption

The UP Symphony Orchestra (UPSO) once again serenaded UP Cebu on December 3, bringing holiday spirit in their special holiday concert, “Duyog sa Pasko Kagahapon ug Karon: A Music for Healing & Hope.” The performance at UP Cebu followed a show the previous day at the Pacific Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino.

The evening began with a ceremonial Christmas tree lighting, marking a moment oeflection before the concert. Held in the wake of recent calamities that struck Cebu, the event offered moving and uplifting performances that celebrate the spirit of the season and the UP community’s collective hopes.

Reflecting on the concert’s role in serving the community, Maestro Josefino Chino Toledo, UPSO’s founding director and conductor, shared, “Walang silbi ang musika kung hindi para sa bayan. For us, ito’y isang paraan para maramdaman at maipakita namin yung kaya naming gawin sa musika para sa pagtulong sa bayan… Laging ganoon, wala naman talagang silbi ang musika kung hindi natin gagawin para sa bayan.”

(Music has no purpose if it is not for the people. For us, this is a way to feel and show what we can do through music in service of the nation.. It has always been that way; music means nothing if we do not make it for the people.)

Under Toledo’s baton, the orchestra opened with two festive, high-spirited pieces—Robert Sheldon’s A Most Wonderful Christmas and Les Toreadors from the Carmen overture. They later followed with Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches Nos. 2 and 4, Krogstad’s The Bells of Christmas, the lively Tico-Tico no Fubá, John Ottman’s Superman Returns suite, and Leroy Anderson’s Christmas Festival medley.

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Report by Kian Razonable
Photos by Dessa Daculan and Elisha Villaflores

#UPCebu
#UPSymphonyOrchestra
#DuyogSaPasko

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An evening of light, artistry, and shared purpose unfolded last December 2, 2025, as the UP Symphony Orchestra filled the Pacific Grand Ballroom of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino with music that spoke to both memory and hope. Eighteen carefully chosen works shaped a program meant to accompany Cebuano communities through this season of rebuilding, each performance a gesture of solidarity.

Read more: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Acy8tXHN7/?mibextid=wwXIfr

#UPCebu

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WATCH | The UP Symphony Orchestra (UPSO) and UP Serenata perform a Cebuano rendition of the UP Naming Mahal hymn.

The performance capped the “Duyog Sa Pasko Kagahapon ug Karon” concert, held for the benefit of Cebu communities affected by recent calamities.

To close the night, the UP community united in a final chant, reaffirming calls for justice and accountability amid widespread corruption in government.

Video by Zhyreen Toledo

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A glimpse into tonight’s rehearsals shows the @upsymphonyorch in full preparation, refining each passage with Maestro Josefino “Chino” Toledo, together with guest artists soprano Bianca Lopez, horn soloist Gerald Calma, and the @upserenata.

Their collective artistry sets the stage for “Duyog sa Pasko, Kagahapon ug Karon: A Music for Healing & Hope,” happening tomorrow, December 2, at 7:00 PM at the Pacific Grand Ballroom, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino.

Tickets may still be purchased at the venue on the day of the concert.

Join us as music becomes a shared offering of warmth, community, and hope.

#UPCebu #UPSymphonyOrchestra #OrkestraNgBayan #DuyogSaPasko #BangonCebu

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Usahay with Serenata loves at📍Xiziwan Tunnel, Gushan District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 🇹🇼 #UPSerenata #choirlife #choralsinging #UPSerenataSaTaiwan

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I’m unsure of how to live in a world without a Mommy Charo in it, but promise po Mommy, I will try my very best to live everything you have taught me. A piece of my heart has been taken away with you as well, and life will never ever be the same without you. I will miss everything about you, Mommy. Thank you for everything. We will never forget you. I love you forever!

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Started the weekend as part of the audience, attended a workshop on a Saturday and capped the weekend as a performer. All of this with the Philippine Madrigal Singers. 😊

Ever since I started my journey as a chorister with UP Serenata, I have always been and will always be looking up to them. Hearing them sing live is already enough but being able to perform with them (along with other choirs) is something that I can’t describe. I can say that I have ticked off a few things on my bucket list over the weekend.

To more surreal and eargasmic moments with UP Serenata and the Philippine Madrigal Singers. 🧡

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Incredibly honored to have attended a workshop conducted by the world-renowned Philippine Madrigal Singers, while getting to meet new friends from the choral community. 💖💖💖

(Also had the most nerve-wracking two minutes of my life, when the Madz arrived and sat directly in front of the stage just when we were about to get up to perform a short number for the GTKY🥲🥲🥲)

#Musikaalam2022

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#LakbayMusika

On the Cebu leg of our Visayan Tour last 2017,we performed with UP Serenata in a grand concert titled UPSA in the Queen City.

UP Serenata, led by Dr. Cathy Rodel, was also our host in Cebu. Our choirs have become great friends since then 💖

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