National Federation of Filipino American Associations

NaFFAA Region 8 (Northern CA) and The American Legion Bataan Post 600 are very honored to host the visionaries of New York’s Children’s Orchestra Society, Violinist Yeou-Cheng Ma & Guitarist Michael Dadap. Proceeds will benefit the American Coalition for the Filipino Veterans’ campaign to pass the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill and the Children’s Orchestra Society.

Scroll below for videos.

About Yeou-Cheng Ma

If MA is a family name that sounds familiar, yes, it is a very famous last name, steeped in a family heritage that started in Paris, then on to New York — a rich history and legacy replete with musical milestones. This is indeed a rare occasion for Yeou-Cheng Ma to honor us with a performance in San Francisco, together with her talented guitarist-music director husband, Michael Dadap.

Quoted from Doctor-Musicians: Juggling a Commitment to Medicine and a Passion for Music

…a pediatrician, an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, an accomplished violinist, and the executive director of the Children’s Orchestra in New York, an organization with more than 200 members, 3 orchestras, and 17 chamber music groups. In her pediatrics practice, Yeou-Cheng Ma, M.D., specialized in dealing with children with communication disorders. “I have indeed managed to integrate several of my lives, singing to my patients and engaging them in simple finger play to relax them, and teaching some of my music students to get around some of their ‘blind spots’ in learning their technical skills,” says Dr. Ma.

Recently, Dr. Ma decided to lighten her pediatrics workload in order to concentrate on her music. She now works at a pediatric clinic once a week. “I continue working seven days a week in music, which permeates my existence,” she says. Even when most of her time was dedicated to medicine, music still played an important role. “Music has always been part of my life, even through the most rigorous rotations in medical school and residency training. Music runs almost continuously through my head during exams, while driving, while tending to the dishes and the laundry,” she says.

Click here for the video: In 1962, Yeou-Cheng Ma and Yo-Yo Ma play before President John Kennedy. They both performed with COS, which was founded by their composer-father. Michael and Yeou-Cheng are COS’s current leaders. You will see the precocious Yeou-Cheng Ma playing the piano.

About Michael Dadap

Michael Dadap is so dedicated to his advocacy that he goes to the Philippines once a year to teach children. We know him more as one of NaFFAA’s founders, together with Rodel Rodis, Loida Nicolas-Lewis, and Alex Esclamado.

“I was quite awestruck by Michael’s advocacy work and efforts to make the BANDURRIA a world-class classical instrument. He took the time out to share his thoughts with me a couple of years ago, in such a way that this meeting was indeed memorable. He actually wrote a book, “Complete Method for the Virtuoso Bandurria.” Michael strongly believes that if the youth of the Philippines is properly taught to learn how to play the bandurria (through his methodology) in the provinces, this will spur a greater sense of nationalism and love for country, as well as boost the youth’s self-esteem in the holistic sense — in all areas of empowerment. Filipino-trained musicians are world-class and are definitely people to boast about — and yes, their work can become a source of income when they hone their professional skills. Reading about the COS phenomena makes me more curious to find out how the Dadaps did it.” - Lorna Dietz

Here are home videos that liquidfiregail uploaded to Youtube which illustrate a sample of the classic Michael Dadap style. This is just the tip of the iceberg. For those of us who have Michael Dadap’s CD, it is not only a nostalgic trip to the motherland (Philippines) but a real treat in classical music that rejuvenates and soothes the spirits.

Michael Dadap has been the artistic/music director and conductor of The Children’s Orchestra Society since 1984. Greatly influenced by church, jazz, big bands, and folk music, Mr. Dadap first received his early training in solfège, theory, and composition from his older brother Jerry. After graduating from the University of the Philippines majoring in philosophy, he pursued music studies at Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard School. In collaboration with the COS faculty and staff, Mr. Dadap has initiated and developed teaching and orchestral training programs, including solfège and ear-training for the young, chamber music for all levels, and an emphasis on reading music, which all have become permanent signatures of COS. As a conductor, Mr. Dadap has collaborated with some of the world’s most renowned artists. In reviewing the Young Symphonic Ensemble (YSE) at New York’s Town Hall on May 3, 1993, music critic Bert Wechsler dubbed Michael Dadap a “fine, sensitive musician: who is obviously also a mighty orchestra builder….a teacher. What drive Mr. Dadap’s work is his faith in the children’s capacity to learn and his energy, patience, and special talent in communicating his love for music to the children.”

As an accomplished classical guitarist, he made his Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1974 and has since performed internationally. As part of the Dadap-Ma duo, he has toured the U.S., Europe and Asia. Mr. Dadap’s published solo guitar recordings include Lambingan, (Tenderness) Songs of the Visayans for Voice and Guitar, Himig Ng Puso (Songs from the Heart), Harana (Serenades for Solo Guitar), and Intimate Guitar Classics, which was featured as “album of the month” on WQXR in February 1990.

As a composer and passionate folklorist and advocate of music from his native Phillippines, his composition Handurawan Dance Suite won the Asian-American Alliance for the Arts Award and was premiered by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble in 1988. His Sinulog Suite for Orchestra, commemorating the Philippine centennial, was premiered by the YSE in the 1998 Discovery Concert and given its UK premiere in August of 2005. In March 1999, the Felipe De Leon Foundation at Weill Recital Hall presented a collection of his works including his Four Visayan Serenades for Guitar and Song Cycle for Tenor, Cello, and Piano.

Despite his busy schedule, Mr. Dadap continues to involve himself in his homeland. In 2002, he opened the first International Guitar Festival in the province of Bohol and guest conducted the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. He gives workshops on the Bandurria (a 14-string folk instrument), and continues to serve as a music arranger and consultant with the Iskwelahang Pilipino Rondalla (Philippine School Rondalla) of Boston, a folkloric ensemble he co-founded in 1984. In 2004, he was invited to speak on his new book, The Virtuoso Bandurria at the First International Rondalla Festival in Naga City. He has served as an artistic consultant for the Asia Society and was a featured presenter at Body and Power “The Politics of Culture in Nineteenth-Century Philippines,” a symposium cosponsored by Asia Society and NYU. Currently he serves as a visiting professor of Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Philippines.

Mr. Dadap was named the 2000 “Artist of the Year” by Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts. Last December, Mr. Dadap received from Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the 2006 “Pamana Ng Lahi” Presidential Award, in recognition of his remarkable achievements as a virtuoso musician, composer, educator, and proponent of Philippine traditional music, culture and causes through his work.

COS Through the Years

The Children’s Orchestra Society, founded in 1962 by Dr. H. T. Ma, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to “teaching children the language of music”, and to presenting these young musicians in orchestra and chamber music concerts with their peers and well-established artists. Under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Yeou-Cheng Ma and Music Director Michael Dadap, COS has, since 1984, held a firm belief in a child’s innate capability to learn and develop musical talent of the highest level when nurtured in a supportive environment. With this vision, enormous support of its board members, and the hard work of its talented faculty and staff, COS has grown from an 18-member ensemble to more than 200 members comprising of four orchestras, a chamber music department, musicianship classes, and private lessons in piano, guitar and all orchestral instruments. Its most advanced orchestra, the Young Symphonic Ensemble, has presented annual concerts at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and, in more recent years, Carnegie Hall since the establishment of the Discovery Concert Series in 1994. It has also toured numerous North American cities as well as the Far East and the United Kingdom.

Here’s the COS in action with Michael Dadap, music director, in one of their Asian tours.