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National Performing Arts Company for Choral Music
Recognized by UNESCO as Artists for Peace for “putting their fame and influence to promote cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and a culture of peace,” the Philippine Madrigal Singers is one of the most awarded choral groups in the world, having won all the top prizes in most of the world’s prestigious choral competitions, including the Grand Prix in the 2016 Concurso Internazionale di Guido d’ Arezzo, Arezzo, Italy. They hold the distinction of being the first choir in the world to win the prestigious European Grand Prix for Choral Singing twice (1997 and 2007) and the first Asian choir to be accorded the BrandLaureate Premiere Award by the Asia Pacific Brands Foundation (2012).
The group’s virtuosity across a vast repertoire range, its continuing promotion of Filipino choral works, and the rousing and deeply emotional impact that each performance has on all audiences the world over as they sing in the distinctive set-up of sitting in a semi-circle without a conductor, have established their reputation as a pioneering force in choral music and an inspirational role model for other choirs.
Founded in 1963, as the U.P. Madrigal Singers, by National Artist for Music Prof. Andrea O. Veneracion, The Philippine Madrigal Singers, now under designated successor Prof. Mark Anthony Carpio, demonstrate that choral music can be socially relevant and transformational. They have continued to touch hearts and souls of those who come to their performances, and carried on various programs to nurture and develop future generations of conductors and choral singers all over the world.
The Philippine Madrigal Singers has also been designated the National Performing Arts Company for Choral Music under Republic Act 11392 in 2024.
Prof. Mark Anthony A. Carpio
Artistic Director and Choirmaster
Mark Anthony Carpio is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines College of Music and one of Southeast Asia’s leading choral conductors and music educators. He is Choirmaster and Artistic Director of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, Artistic Director of the Madz Schola Cantorum, and Artistic Director and Conductor of the Sing Philippines Youth Choir. He is also founder of the Kilyawan Consortium of Voices and performs as a countertenor.
As successor to the artistic leadership of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, he has sustained the ensemble’s international presence through performance, recording, and education. Under his direction, the group won the Grand Prix at the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (2007) and the Grand Prix at the Concorso Internazionale di Guido d’Arezzo (2016), and has been recognized by UNESCO as Artists for Peace.
He has championed Filipino choral literature through recordings of works by Ruben Federizon, Nilo Alcala II, Ily Matthew Maniano, and Eudenice Palaruan. He has appeared as conductor with leading Philippine orchestras including the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Manila Symphony Orchestra in symphonic-choral works.
In the Philippines, he regularly collaborates with the Philippine Choral Directors Association, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, for music and choral education programs.
He heads the Andrea O. Veneracion Sing Philippines Foundation, which spearheads choral music development initiatives including the Sing Philippines Youth Choir, whose singers come from all over the country. Mark has adjudicated in different choral festivals and competitions around the world, including Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Italy and Latvia. Locally, he has been the chairman of the board of jurors of the biennial Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival which is part of the Asia Choral Grand Prix. He has also been invited as guest conductor of the Crystal Children’s Choir (Taiwan), Taipei Ladies Singers, Taipei Philharmonic Youth Choir and the 1st Indonesia Youth Choir. Carpio holds degrees in Piano and Choral Conducting from the University of the Philippines College of Music, graduating cum laude, and is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting.
Prof. Andrea O. Veneracion
Founding Choirmaster and National Artist for Music
Andrea O. Veneracion, or Ma'am OA – who was born and raised in Manila on July 11, 1928 – is highly esteemed for her achievements as Choirmaster, recognized as an authority on choral music and performance, and as adjudicator in international music competitions. Two of her indispensable contributions to culture and the arts include the founding of the Philippine Madrigal Singers and the spearheading of the development of Philippine choral music. A former faculty member of the UP College of Music and honorary chair of the Philippine Federation of Choral Music, she organized a cultural outreach program to provide music education and exposure in several provinces.
She earned her Bachelor of Music degrees in Piano and Voice at the University of the Philippines Diliman graduating Cum Laude. Aside from being a lyric soprano soloist in various oratorios and operas, she was also a very accomplished pianist and was the accompanist of National Artist for Music Jovita Fuentes for a number of years. Apart from being an extraordinary musician, she was also an exceptional athlete, a competitive swimmer, who was part of the Philippine Swimming team that first competed internationally in Hong Kong.
She later pursued her Master's Degree in Voice as a Fulbright scholar at the Indiana University School of Music - Bloomington where she encountered the Indiana University Madrigal Singers, which then inspired her to create a similar singing group upon her return to the Philippines in 1963. Officially called the University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers, also known later as the Philippine Madrigal Singers or the Madz, this group was initially exclusive to UP faculty members and students. She established a tradition for which the group became known for: performing seated in a semicircular formation without a conductor. The choirmaster sits at the leftmost end of the formation.
Under her direction, the Philippine Madrigal Singers won major awards in international choral competitions: Spittal, Austria; Arezzo and Gorizia, Italy; Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Debrecen, Hungary; Varna, Bulgaria; Tolosa and Cantonigros, Spain; and Marktoberdorf, Germany. In 1996, she led the Madz to its victory in the 1996 International Choral Competition in Tolosa, Spain. This made the group eligible to compete for the 1997 European Choral Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Tours, France, in which they eventually emerged as champions. She is also the founder and first conductor of the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music (AILM) Chorale. In 1997, she was awarded the TOFIL (The Outstanding Filipino) Award for Culture and the Arts for her contributions to the development of choral singing in the Philippines; and eventually, in 1999, Ma'am OA was named National Artist for Music, the highest cultural award bestowed by the Philippine government to an individual. In 2001, she retired as Choirmaster of the Madz, selecting Mark Anthony Carpio, her Assistant Choirmaster at that time, to be her successor. The turnover ceremonies were held in a special concert at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, coinciding with the launch of her biography "A Life Shaped By Music" by Marjorie Evasco.