MSO OPENS EXCITING 99TH SEASON WITH MUSIC FOR PEACE

Who would think that with World War II still raging in 1945, the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) was actually organizing a concert?

- RICKY TOLEDO & CHITO VIJANDRE

Who would think that with World War II still raging in 1945, the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) was actually organizing a concert? Herbert Zipper, the conductor, had been imprisoned earlier by the Japanese but after his release, with the arrival of the American forces in Luzon, he began to reconstitute his disbanded orchestra which was able to perform in the ruins of Santa Cruz Church, a poignant moment for the city's music lovers who had suffered through all the devastation. "It was big news all over the world because why on earth would you want to even put up an orchestra at this time?" said Jeffrey Solares, MSO executive director, during a preview at their rehearsal hall.

It was the belief in the power of music that kept the orchestra going since its founding in 1926, making it one of the oldest in Asia, participating in the country's milestones including resistance during the war when it declined to perform for the Japanese. Zipper, who had been an inmate at the Dachau concentration camp in the late 1930s, had vowed to one day celebrate the downfall of the Nazi regime with the performance of Beethoven's 3rd symphony, Eroica, the musical score of which he held on to throughout the Battle of Manila.