Chino Toledo


Josefino "Chino" Javier Toledo is a Filipino composer and conductor.

Biography

Early life

Josefino Toledo is born on March 6, 1959, to Victor Toledo and Lolita Javier. Born to a musical family, his father Victor was the founder and directors of Pangkat Kawayan, a musical ensemble of bamboo instruments played by elementary school students. It was his father who first taught him the rudiments of music. He likewise played in his father's ensemble during his childhood days, playing the marimba and xylophone.

Education

His first formal music studies was at the Laperal Music Academy which he simultaneously took alongside his high school education at the Far Eastern University. He enrolled at the University of the Philippines College of Music, graduating with a Bachelor's of Music in Composition in 1979. His teachers at the conservatory include the national artists Lucio San Pedro, Ramon Santos, and Jose Maceda. From 1983 to 1985, he took further studies at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris through a grant by the French government. A rockefeller grant enabled him to pursue graduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, graduating in 1986.

Career

After he graduated at the UP College of Music in 1979 he became the principal percussionist of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. At the same time he taught percussion and composition in his alma mater the UP College of Music. He also taught at the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music until 1983.
He eventually became the music director and conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1987, as well as guest conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra on several occasions in the 1990s and 2000s.
In 1991, he was the musical arranger and music director for the zarzuela revivals of the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Tanghalang Pilipino. Under this institution, he arranged the music and recorded several Filipino zarzuelas such as Walang Sugat, Dalagang Bukid, and Paglipas ng Dilim under the CCP Sarswela Series.
In the 2000s, he maintained his faculty position as chair of the Composition and Theory department at the UP College of Music, eventually obtaining the title of full professor. He was also the executive director of the Miriam College Center for Applied Music. In 2000, he founded the Metro Manila Concert Orchestra, serving as its music director until 2016.
In 2016, he became the founding director and conductor of the University of the Philippines Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, he was bestowed the title of professor emeritus by the UP Board of Regents.

Personal life

Chino Toledo is currently married and has two children.

Compositions

Chino Toledo's compositions are in the avant-garde style. His music is characterized by its "fusion of contemporary western language and Southeast Asian aesthetics". His first commissioned work, Angklungan, written in 1976 when he was 17 while studying at the UP College of Music already showed the influences of his composition teachers, particularly of Jose Maceda. Toledo's catalog of works includes music for theater, films, scoring libraries, orchestrations and arrangement for different performing forces, and revisions and edition of Philippine sarsuwelas.
The following is a selection of his compositions:

Arrangements for Philippine Zarzuelas

Operas

Film

Works with Orchestra

  • Dalawang Ug-og
  • Kulambo: Isang Kayumangging Puntod
  • Trenodya Ke Lean at sa Mga Pinaslang, Pinapaslang at Papaslanging Pa Dahil sa Walang Hanggang Kadahilanan, no. 6
  • Kantus: Tagabawa
  • Ekontra: Kongruo: Iunktum
  • Hoy! Bata
  • Filipino Komiks

Choral Works

  • Misa Lingua Sama-Sama for choir and 4 percussions

Chamber works

  • Trenodya Ke Lean at sa Mga Pinaslang, Pinapaslang at Papaslanging Pa Dahil sa Walang Hanggang Kadahilanan, no. 4
  • Auit
  • Salita-an
  • Dingging: Maging Ang Mga Kwerdas Ay Sumasamo ng Kapayapaan
  • Hoy! for Trombone and Percussion
  • Mga Sulyap Sa Simbahan ng Quiapo Mula sa Kalye Echague
  • Agos, for narrator and chamber ensemble
  • Tangis for Erhu and String Quartet

Solo Instrumental Works

  • At Maging ang Kwerdas ay Humihingi ng Kapayapaan Para sa Mundo
  • Kwaderno for Solo Guitar
  • Koleksyon: Images for Piano

Awards