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Aldaba Recital hall re-launches to the public
UPD campus architect’s Art Deco exhibit opens on the same day.

  
Office of the Campus Architect director Dr. Gerard Rey Lico, Dr.
Prosperidad Luis, former dean of the College of Architecture,
UPD Chancellor Sergio S. Cao and Office for Initiatives in
Culture and the Arts and the University Theater headed by
Professor Rubén D.F. Defeo led the ribbon-cutting during the
Aldaba Recital Hall re-launch.

Guests were in for a triple treat two days before Valentine’s Day, February 12, at the Aldaba Recital Hall, a small but elegant theater within the University Theater, as it was re-launched to the public along with the opening of the Deco Decadence: Philippine Art Deco Architecture exhibit, with Office of the Campus Architect director Dr. Gerard Rey Lico as curator.

Previously unknown to most members of the UP community because of its unnoticeable façade, visitors will now see an elegant but cozy recital hall, thanks to the donation of the Office of Senator Edgardo J. Angara and the efforts of the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts and the University Theater headed by Professor Rubén D.F. Defeo.

The public can now easily distinguish the Aldaba Recital Hall from the University Theater with its new silver-plated marker.

Inside the recital hall, visitors are welcomed by its flight of steps decorated with flower-designed glossy tiles, a red chandelier hanging above the stairs’ landing, a comfortable lobby with soft lighting fixtures, and its red-carpeted auditorium.

At the re-launch, Lico delivered the welcome remarks and led the ribbon-cutting together with UPD Chancellor Sergio S. Cao, Prof. Defeo; and Dr. Prosperidad Luis, former dean of the College of Architecture.

  
 Office of the Campus Architect director and Deco
 Decadence: Philippine Art Deco Architecture exhibit
 curator Dr. Gerard Rey Lico delivers the welcome remarks
 at the exhibit opening and re-launch of the Aldaba
 Recital Hall.

Guests relaxed while enjoying their cocktails as they view the exhibit featuring works of renowned Filipino architects who embraced the art deco style, a form of stylization mediating the traditional and the avant-garde. Architects Andres Luna de San Pedro, Pablo Antonio, Fernando Ocampo, and Juan F. Nakpil were the so-called second generation of Filipino architects who spurred a decadent new style in late 1920s.

A musical performance by Jeffrey Hidalgo and the Jazzmates Quintet, a jazz band from the College of Music, culminated the evening’s program with the rendition of the classical songs Someone to Watch Over Me, Kissing a Fool, Misty, My Funny Valentine, Stevie Wonder Medley, For Once in My Life, Kailangan Kita, Till there was You and Sway.

The Aldaba Recital Hall was named after Dalisay J. Aldaba, a Filipino opera singer (also known as the great little butterfly in the Philippines) who founded the Opera Guild of the Philippines on December 22, 1969.


—Haidee C. Pineda