Besting 53 other musical pieces from 28 countries, Faculty of Civil Law freshman Mr. Ryle Nicole Q. Custodio bagged the gold medal in the Composition Competition of the Busan Choral Festival and Competition (BCFC) 2021, a two-day music festival in Busan, South Korea on October 23-24, 2021.
Custodio’s award-winning a capella piece was entitled “Tagu-taguan“. It was premiered by the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
According to Custodio, in an interview with , his inspiration in writing Tagu-taguan back in 2019 was in remembrance of his childhood, which inspired him to write a song constructed from his memories and personal experiences and, at the same time, a musical vignette that harked at the Filipino culture among children.
The judges of the competition were Anton Armstrong (USA), Ki-Sun Lee (South Korea), Soon-Jung Kim (South Korea), Young-Jo Lee (South Korea), Yu-Chung John Ku (Taiwan)​, and Zoltá​n Pad (Hungary).
This is also the second time that a Thomasian has bagged the gold medal in BCFC. Previously, in 2019, Mark Agpasa of the Conservatory of Music and the world-renowned UST Singers received the gold medal for his piece entitled, Jubilate Deo.
Custodio holds a Bachelor of Music degree, major in composition, minor in viola and kulintang performance, which he earned at the University of the Philippines – Diliman.
The theme of this year’s BCFC was “Nothing Can Stop us from Singing Together”.
