Renowned ethnomusicologist Priscilla Magdamo will hold a lecture on “The Art of the Visayan Song” in the Albert Faurot Lecture Series for Culture and the Arts, at the College of Performing and Visual Arts Music Sala in Silliman University, Dumaguete City. 10 a.m. December 1.

The lecture series is a regular offering of the SU Cultural Affairs Committee, and is open to the public for free.

Magdamo completed Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Music at Silliman, and her Masters in Voice and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. She is a Certified McClosky voice technician, a press release from Silliman said.

An active professional musician, she has performed, recorded, and toured nationally and internationally with professional choral and chamber ensembles, such as The Gregg Smith Singers, The New York Vocal Ensemble, and the John Biggs Consort, and various other groups.

Her extensive collection of Visayan folk songs and traditional music of ethnic groups of southern Philippines is a source for performers, composers, and arrangers.

She introduced this music and Philippine folk tales and myths to schoolchildren in the United States and other countries, and her arrangements of folk songs have been included in the international touring repertoire of several Philippine choral ensembles.

She and husband, Frederick Abraham, live in Vermont where she teaches privately, continues to arrange Visayan songs, and occasionally performs traditional music at schools and community gatherings.*JFP/PR

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