Category: News

Ovation Productions, in cooperation with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, presents the Vienna Boys’ Choir live in Manila on April 26 and 27 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Newport World Resorts. This special performance was arranged through the Austrian Embassy in Manila.

The Vienna Boys’ Choir is a group of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best-known boys’ choirs in the world. For a century, they have been touring the world and  touching audiences with their music. What began in 1926 with a first tour to Germany and Switzerland has grown into a tradition that connects generations. In 2026, the Vienna Boys’ Choir is celebrating their 100 years of touring.

There are currently 97 active boy choristers, divided into four boys’ choirs, which all perform as “Vienna Boys Choir”: Brucknerchor (Choirmaster Manolo Cagnin), Haydnchor (Choirmaster Jimmy Chiang), Mozartchor (Choirmaster Manuel Huber), and Schubertchor (Choirmaster Niccolò Morello). The four choirs share concerts, tours, sound recordings and filming equally. Between them, they perform up to 300 concerts per year, with almost half a million people attending. Since 1924, the choirs have completed more than 1000 tours in 100 different countries, clocking up a staggering 29,000 concerts. The choir’s first visit to the Philippines took place in 1967; their last was in 2016.

Maestro Cagnin has been one of the Vienna Boys Choir’s four touring choirs since 2008. Since then, he has led the choir on numerous tours around the world. In addition to conducting the choir’s own concerts, he prepares the music for the Sunday services with the Vienna Chapel Imperial (Wiener Hofmusikkapelle) and for performances at Vienna’s opera houses, as well as for audio and video recordings. He also coaches the boys for performances with renowned orchestras, such as the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna Symphony, the Wiener Akademie, the Staatskapelle Dresden, or the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductors he has worked with include Alain Altinoglu, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, Lorenzo Viotti, and Simone Young. 

The upcoming concerts of the Vienna Boys’ Choir is in partnership with Blast TV as the official media partner. Blast TV, the total entertainment streaming app that provides top-rated blockbuster movies, TV series, live TV, Anime, K-Dramas, live sports, and more.

 Tickets to the concerts are priced at 8500, 7500, 6500, 4500, 3500, and 1500  inclusive of ticketing fees via smtickets.com. For more details and updates about the concert please check the official website and Facebook Page of Ovation Productions at ovation.ph.

Rap icon Gloc-9 is re-introducing himself as Aristotle Pollisco, poet.

On March 12, 2026, at the Philippine Book Festival in SM Megamall, Gloc-9, going by his real name Aristotle Pollisco, will be launching seven poetry chapbooks under the omnibus title Makata Sa Pinas — a hashtag he has been using the past decade.

While Gloc-9 previously released the poetry book Akin Lang Naman in 2017 with ABS-CBN Publishing, this new project offers a different approach to presenting his work as poetry. This time, Gloc-9 envisioned a series of slimmer volumes—a concept that became the starting point of the project.

In collaboration with the small press Everything’s Fine, the idea grew into a deeper reexamination of his entire discography. By revisiting the recurring themes and subject matter that consistently surface throughout his music, seven chapbooks were developed, each shaped around these enduring ideas and reflections.

The first three chapbooks are personal. “Pagkatao” tracks his development as a poet, talking about his roots in Binangonan, Rizal, and how this formed him into the rapper that we now know as Gloc-9. “Pangarap” includes all the poems about his dreams of becoming a songwriter and a rapper, reaching those aspirations, and reassessing what that means to him. “Pursigi” talks about the kind of hard work and persistence that reaching one’s ambitions demands, the clarity of one’s goals, and the importance of holding on to one’s values.

From the personal, the next two chapbooks slowly shift to Gloc-9’s storytelling through poetry. “Pagibig” speaks of love — from the familial to the romantic, and to the ones that unravel and end painfully. “Komunidad” tells the stories of the people that exist in our local neighborhoods — the people we talk to, the ones we care for, the ones we rarely see.

The final two chapbooks turn to the more political dimensions of Gloc-9’s poetry. “Lipunan” reflects on the kind of society we have collectively—and often unconsciously—built, shaped by who we have become as people and by the hate and compassion we choose to nurture within it. “Bayan” is composed of the stories of our nation that few popular songwriters speak of, from the perspective of the struggling majority who suffer in the hands of the wealthy and powerful few. 

In totality, the seven chapbooks of Makata Sa Pinas capture the 28 years of Aristotle Pollisco as the poet of the nation. It also reminds us of how much more he can continue to do, given where he comes from, who he has become, and the legacy he has continued to build.

Gloc-9 will be at the Makata Sa Pinas book launch on March 12, 2026, 5PM to 7PM, at the Philippine Book Festival 2026, Megatrade Hall, 5th Level, SM Megamall. Admission is free.

About the books

Makata Sa Pinas: Mga Tula ni Aristotle Pollisco is a collection of seven poetry chapbooks by Gloc-9, whose real name is Aristotle Pollisco. The works draw inspiration from the themes and stories found throughout his 28-year discography as one of the Philippines’ most influential rapper-songwriters.

The seven chapbooks present Pollisco’s poetry as an evolving journey—beginning with reflections on the personal self, expanding into the life of the community, and ultimately engaging with the broader socio-political realities of the nation.

Each chapbook stands on its own through its distinct themes and subject matter. Taken together, however, they invite readers to reflect more deeply on their identity, their place within their communities, the roles they play in society, and the importance of remaining aware of and engaged with issues that shape the nation.
To pre-order, click https://bit.ly/EFpreorderMSP