Ricardo Abapo Jr., pianist

So happy and proud of my student for getting a Gold Medal from VAYA International Festival based in Vancouver, Canada. 😍❤️

This was really fun! So glad I was able to share this experience with my awesome friends who are thriving and growing here in the US! It was so easy to have fun when you’re in such great company!

I’m so grateful and privileged that 3 of my works had their world premieres on such a beautiful , historic, and intimate hall. The works were well-received and the audience were so sweet and appreciative.

*Usahay, A Nocturne for the Left Hand Alone (solo)
*Ang Mga Maya Sa Kabukiran (Birds of the Countryside) (piano 4-hands)
*Kalesa x Kalesa (original concept version) (piano 6-hands)

This was just the 3rd concert of the concert series we’re doing over the holidays, more to come the next few weeks. I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity and experience Christian Gonzales! Thank you so much!!!!! (echosera haha!)

Sharing this work I wrote for piano 4-hands! It's quite an adventure, and who would expect an aleatoric movement that uses (a futile attempt at) graphical notation in the midst of all the fun? haha!

Sharing a couple of pages and the score video of the work. :)

This is the final version of Ang Mga Maya Sa Kabukiran for piano 4-hands.

The English translation I decided to go with is "Birds of the Countryside", playing on a sociocultural context where we used (and still do?) to refer to some small birds as "Maya". Also, I wanted to have more freedom in playing with "birds" as the main idea of the suite. The work is dedicated to a good friend, Mr. Christian Gonzales, a fellow graduate of Silliman University who is now based in the US.

Another good friend of mine, pianist Gabby Paguirigan, suggested Maya Fantasy as the title, and I actually like that! I don't mind this work being referred to as Maya Fantasy as well.

An earlier version of this work is also available, as some necessary research had to be conducted first to achieve the utmost authenticity I aimed for before creating the final version. I had to reserve a working first version just in case I couldn't find what I needed to confirm, but thankfully, I did! It took me more than a week, I think, before I was finally able to pinpoint this. Thanks to kuya Pol Cariño!

This is a work in 4 connected (attaca) movements.
The work uses various thematic materials from Kundimans which sing about birds, and a folk song about being lonely way up in the mountains. Bird calls and songs of endemic and migratory birds in Valencia also embellish this work in various places.

I - Ang Maya
II - 'Day, Baling Mingawa (dedicated to my piano teacher in college, Dr. Elizabeth Susan Vista-Suarez, and ethnomusicologist Priscilla Magdamo-Abraham)
III - Malungkot Ang Maya
IV - Sa Kabukiran

A reprise of Ang Maya takes the wheel for the finale and ends the work with much bravura.

The 2nd movement is a local folk song here in Valencia, Negros Oriental (where I live). There are many reasons why I chose to use this folk song, and it all boils down to narrative, localization, paying homage, and setting "where" this "kabukiran" (countryside) is. The first time I heard this folk song was when I entered music school in Silliman. It's one of the staple choral works that the ladies of Ating Pamana, under Ma'am Sue, would sing antiphonally. I remember being in such awe the first time I heard it. Mrs. Priscilla Magdamo-Abraham was the one who collected and preserved this folk song for posterity.

There are many easter eggs in this arrangement.
Can you find Saint-Saens? Tchaikovsky-Rachmaninoff?
Schumann? Bach? Liszt? Brahms?
Can you find the two other "bird songs" quoted in this work? One is hidden under a hemiola, while the other is pretty much exposed, I'd say! Hint: think protest! haha!

Speaking of bird songs, I'd say the work is actually a 10-minute "birding" excursion.
Would you be able to identify which birds of Valencia are there? And can you find the afam bird from España? haha!

Happy Birding! 🐦🪿🦆🐦‍⬛🦅🦉🕊️🦢🦜🦤