The University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers (UPMS), also known as the Philippine Madrigal Singers or simply Madz, is one of the major cultural groups based in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Its current conductor and musical director is Mark Anthony Carpio. They are the first choir in the world to win the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing twice (in 1997 and in 2007) The Madz is one of the most awarded choirs in Asia, having consistently won all the prizes in the most prestigious international choral competitions for many years.[citation needed] Because of their impressive track record and musical virtuosity, the Philippine Madrigal Singers is now regarded as one of the world's best choirs. The Philippine Madrigal Singers was organized as the University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers in 1963 by Prof. Andrea Veneracion, proclaimed National Artist for Music in 1999. The group is composed of students, faculty and alumni from the different colleges of the University of the Philippines. Its present choirmaster since 2001 is Mark Anthony Carpio. The group performs different music genres but specializes in the madrigal, a polyphonic and challenging musical style popular during the Renaissance where singers and guests would gather around the table during a banquet to sight-sing and make music together. This served as the inspiration for their unique style of singing—singing seated in a semicircle without a conductor. As Philippine ambassadors of culture and goodwill, the Madz have had the pleasure and privilege of giving command performances for royalty and heads of state. These include Pope Paul VI, United States Presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, Spanish King Juan Carlos de Bourbon and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The influence of the Madrigal Singers on the Philippine and Asian choral scene has been far-reaching. It has graduated more than 200 choral and vocal pedagogues from its ranks, actively involved in organizing and conducting choirs. Its corps of member and alumni composers and choral arrangers which includes (Emmanuel Laureola, Fabian Obispo, Ruben Federizon, Ed Nepomuceno, Annie Nepomuceno, Robert Delgado, Arnold Zamora, Eudenice Palaruan, Christopher Borela, Anna Abeleda Piquero, and Nilo Alcala) continue to produce new compositions and choral settings of Philippine and Asian songs, thus contributing to the growth of choral literature in Asia. The Singers maintain an active concert tour schedule, averaging two concert tours a year. Their outreach concert tours take them to far-flung areas of the Philippines, seldom reached by choral artists. [edit] Awards The Madrigal Singers first earned critical acclaim during their performance in the First Choruses of the World Festival at the Lincoln Center in New York in 1969. This concert welcomed them to the international choral community, eventually paving their way to joining the most distinguished international choral competitions - Spittal, Austria; Arezzo and Gorizia, Italy; Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Debrecen, Hungary; Varna, Bulgaria; Tolosa, Spain; and Marktoberdorf in Germany, and winning all the top prizes. In June 1997, the Philippine Madrigal Singers came home from their ninth world concert tour, winning the grand prize in the Grand Prix European de Chant Choral Competition in Tours, France, besting five other grand prize winners of the most prestigious choral competition in Europe: Guido d'Arezzo, Italy; Debrecen, Hungary; Varna, Bulgaria; Gorizia, Italy; and Tolosa, Spain. The Madz displayed a virtuoso performance so moving one juror had to describe the group's music as the "most beautiful sound on earth". In July 2006, the Madz won the grand prize (Grand Prix de la Ville de Tours) at the Florilege de Tours choral competition in France, making them eligible for the 2007 European Choral Grand Prix (to be held in Arezzo, Italy). In the same competition, the Madz were also awarded the first prize for Category III (mixed vocal ensemble), first prize for Category IV (free program) and the Prix University François Rabelais for best interpretation of a Renaissance number. On August 26, 2007, the Philippine Madrigal Singers won, for the second time, the grand prize in the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Arezzo, Italy. This victory makes them the first of the only two choirs in the world to win the grand prize twice. (The other is A.P.Z. Tone Tomšič, which won its second European Grand Prix the succeeding year.) The European Grand Prix is widely understood to be the Olympics of the choral circuit. On July 27, 2009, UNESCO honored the Madz and designated the group as UNESCO Artist for Peace. This title is given to celebrity advocates charged with the mission of embodying and raising awareness in the UNESCO ideals, which include peace, security, fundamental human rights and freedom. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/The+Philippine+Madrigal+Singers">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.