Serenade for the heart and soul

First posted 07:55:36 (Mla time) December 19, 2005
Mona E. Montevirgen
Inquirer

HEN SERENATA STRINGS STARTED out as a group, it was simply out of sheer pleasure for playing good music.

Except for the free live orchestral music coming from the concert at Luneta Park, fine classical music performed live was then available only to the cultured class which could afford high-priced concert tickets, or to privileged hotel customers regaled by performances in lobby lounges.

The Serenata Strings actually went through this route. Playing nightly at the Manila Peninsula Hotel lobby since 1992, the group's music ranged from romantic classics to contemporary pop-jazz pieces, with a special fondness for Latin music like samba and bossa nova.

Soon the group felt there was something more in store for them than just lounge acts. Together with his violinist teenage son, Lawrence Andrew "LA" Arquero, and two other musicians, Bobby Abadines (flute) and Benny San José (bass), Lorenz Arquero, the band guitarist, worked to get the group playing again after their hotel contract ended.

Celebrations

In the last few years, Serenata Strings has moved from the confines of hotel lobbies to places and gatherings where celebrations take place: wedding rites and receptions, despedidas, debuts and corporate parties.

Of late, the group has been performing live every Thursday at the Vivere Suites in Alabang.

Serenata Strings enjoys a good reputation among its many satisfied clients, who in turn give generous referrals. Orchestral music, especially string quartets or quintets, have become the "in" thing in weddings, somehow giving these important occasions a touch of class, and Serenata Strings is at the forefront of the new trend.

"It's flattering and quite fulfilling to be appreciated and paid for something you actually enjoy doing. It is like having a double treat," says Lorenz.

Elegant, dreamy

At the birthday celebration of Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, Serenata Strings regaled her and her PDI colleagues with classic romantic songs that gave the evening at the office an elegant and dreamy ambience. Some employees couldn't help but move out of their desks just to watch them play on the third floor lobby of the Editorial Department.

Serenata Strings' musicians have an advantage in that many of them started with church music. Lorenz was choirmaster of several choirs and, together with son LA, spent quite a number of years with the Archangels Chorale, one of the choirs of Good Shepherd Parish in Las Piñas City.

The Chorale members' singing talents were honed by almost two decades of intensive vocal training and practice, which Lorenz considers to be important factors in maintaining musical mastery.

Musicians are given little importance, if any, in this country. But for Lorenz, "I am setting my mind to take on the mission of helping really good and gifted musicians pursue their dreams and not give up, while at the same time elevating the people's consciousness and their level of appreciation toward classical music."

Source: Inquirer.net