Saringhimig Singers:
Voices with wings

THERE'S a little party with pansit and adobo, occasionally a Thai dish or pasta, most Saturdays at George Hernandez's house in San Francisco. There are no special occasions but George knows the food is hard to resist so he hosts the eat-overs as an incentive for 24 of the Bay Area's best singers to stay and rehearse with him. These are the typical rehearsal days for the members of the multi-awarded, internationally recognized choral group The Saringhimig Singers.

"It's very Filipino. Everybody likes to eat first," Hernandez told me in a recent interview. It does seem to be a rather well accepted custom among Filipinos, even those who have lived in the United States for a long time, to start and end any event with a handaan (feast).

"We start at 5 p.m. and end at 9 p.m.," says Hernandez. "Most of the time, the members stay on until 10 or 11 p.m. to eat some more or to catch up with some musical meetings, business updates, and just to also talk and visit." They take turns bringing food to eat at the rehearsals. "With the good food and lively conversations, you can just imagine how time flies. It gives a good balance to the intense musical rehearsals that we have," adds Hernandez.

This is not to say that the food is the only thing these dedicated Saringhimig members come for. After all, they have given their time and their own money for the pure love of music, for Saringhimig to become a reality. Saringhimig currently receives no regular funding from any individual, corporation, or government agency. To finance the group's trips abroad to attend international choral festivals or competitions, it has held fund-raising concerts to supplement each member's out-of-pocket expenses for airfare, hotel, costumes, and other incidentals.

Hernandez, the Bay Area-based Saringhimig's founder and music director, is the driving force behind the group's energy and commitment. He believes that with proper training and discipline, Filipino classical singers can be on par with others internationally. He dreams of a time when Filipinos will be as well known for their talents in classical music as they are for mimicking Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley.

Hernandez's vision is already beginning to take shape, judging from the number of international awards Saringhimig has reaped over the years. The most recent of these -- being voted best choir -- was won earlier this year in Puebla, Mexico at the Fourth World Choir Festival, a by-invitation-only event. As a group, Saringhimig has represented the Philippines in choir competitions and festivals in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In Europe, the group received rave reviews from other choir masters as well as from cultural reviewers, as quoted in their local papers. Saringhimig is again gearing up for another choral competition in Europe in 2004.

Founded as a chamber chorus at the University of the Philippines in 1974 by Hernandez and other fellow College of Music students, Saringhimig quickly became a major Philippine choir, touring North America and Europe for concerts and winning major awards at international competitions. In 1983, Saringhimig debuted at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, performing under the name "Camerata Singers."

But as a university-based group with student members who soon graduated and went their separate ways, Saringhimig eventually lost its structure. It reemerged eight years later, in 1991, in San Francisco as the Saringhimig Society for the Performing Arts under the leadership of Hernandez.

Today, Saringhimig has 25 active members coming from all over the Bay Area, mostly middle-aged professionals who share a love for singing. The group has nine sopranos, five altos, five tenors, and five basses. Hernandez serves as conductor, trainer, cheerleader, and inspiration to the members that take precious time out of their personal and professional lives to sing.

This time around, Saringhimig benefits from the lengthy academic and professional experience Hernandez has accumulated since his days as a music student at the University of the Philippines. In San Francisco, Hernandez owns and runs his own school, the San Francisco Music Academy, which has about 200 students, some of whom have gone on to win awards in opera, Broadway, and pop music.

Recently, Hernandez was awarded the California Pamana Arts Legacy Awards in music in San Francisco. His long list of awards covers not only the field of conducting but also piano and vocals, an impressive feat not always achieved by all musicians. His awards include first prizes in 1989 and 1990 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Abramovitsch Lieder Vocal Competition. In 1986, he won second prize at the Franz Liszt Centennial Piano Competition held at the San Francisco State University. In 2000, he was a bass soloist in the concert version of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," performing with the Redwood Symphony in Redwood, California. He has performed numerous operatic roles, including Simone in Mozart's La Finta Simplice at the San Francisco Conservatory Opera Theatre in 1989, and, more recently, as Bonzo in Puccini's Madame Butterfly with the West Bay Opera, in Palo Alto, California in 2000.

On December 6 at 7 p.m., the Bay Area will have a rare opportunity to hear the world-class music of Hernandez and his Saringhimig Singers when they perform at the Lakeside Presbyterian Church at 201 Eucalyptus Drive in San Francisco. As the group's website defines it, "Saringhimig" was coined from "saring, which means magical wings, and himig, which means song." It will be a treat to hear these voices take flight once more.

For more information about the "Love, Peace, and Joy: Christmas with Saringhimig" concert, call +650 7660788 or +415 5853377.

Romina Saha is a fulltime mom and freelance writer and copy editor based in San Jose, California. She may be reached at ConnectionsRS@aol.com.