(Dec. 27) —UP College of Arts and Letters (CAL) professors Pedro “Edru” R. Abraham Jr., Glecy C. Atienza, Banaue Miclat-Janssen and Dexter M. Santos won in various categories at the 2017 Aliw Awards on Dec. 19.
Atienza bagged the Best Production for Children award for “Mga Palaka Sa Balon” produced by Manila Tytana College; Miclat-Janssen won the Best Performance award in the New Concept Production category for her performance at the “Banaue and Kammerchor Manila” (Miclat Arts Foundation) while Santos bagged the Best Director award in the Non-Musical category for Dulaang UP’s (DUP) Angry Christ. Meanwhile, Abraham received the Aliw Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to indigenous music.
Now on its 30th edition, the award is given by the Aliw Awards Foundation, Inc. (AAFI), a non-profit private organization and award giving body for Live Entertainment in the Philippines founded by Alice H. Reyes in 1976. According to the AAFI’s official Facebook page, the foundation recognizes entertainers who perform live in the Philippines and abroad and aims to elevate the standards of Philippine live entertainment through a system of awards and workshops and seminars.
Abraham is the founder and leader of the Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino or Kontra-GaPi, the resident ethnic music and dance ensemble of CAL since 1993. He earned both his BA Speech and Drama and MA Art History at UPD. He taught in UP for 36 years. He retired in 2012, but continues to serve the University as a professorial lecturer at the Department of Art Studies where he teaches performing arts history, visual arts history and Philippine culture and arts studies. In 2000, he received a UP International Award as the “Most Outstanding Artist in the Performing Art.”
Atienza is a performing artist, director, playwright and essayist. She is a professor at the Departmento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas (DFPP) and teaches Philippine literature, playwriting, improvisational theater, creative writing and documentation for the theater locally. She earned her PhD in Filipino (Literature) at UPD. She is a multi-awarded writer of plays, creative non-fiction and scholarly researches. She was a recipient of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Cultural Center of the Philippines Writing Grant for Literature and 2014 Gawad Tsanselor for Natatanging Mananaliksik sa Filipino as its first honoree.
Atienza shares the Aliw Award for “Mga Palaka Sa Balon” with Roberto Mendoza who is a director and musical composer currently taking PhD in Filipino at the DFPP.
Miclat-Janssen is a renowned soloist and soprano. She is an assistant professor at the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) specializing in acting, voice and speech. She obtained her BA Theatre Arts at UP Diliman (UPD) and Master of Fine Arts in Acting at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. In 2015, she won in the same category at the 28th Aliw Awards for her performance in “Ginugunita Kita.” She also received a Best Actress Award for the Metropolitan Opera Getty Awards for Supernumeraries for “Salome” in 2009.
Santos is an assistant professor at the DSCTA. He is DUP’s youngest artistic director and has staged notable plays for the company such as Ang Nawalang Kapatid (February 2014 and July 2014), Collection (2013), Orosman at Zafira (2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012), Rizal X (2011), Ang Kiri (2009) and Lulu (2009). He has also directed a number of events inside and outside the university including the UAAP Season 71 Opening Ceremony and UAAP Season 78 Opening Ceremony among many others. In 2015, he was among the recipient of UP Arts Productivity Award and was ranked Artist II.
The awarding ceremony was held at the Manila Hotel Fiesta Pavillion.