By Stephen J Pedroza
One of Xavier Artist Center’s premier talents and Development Communication junior of Xavier University, Jeremiah Torayno reaped two medals at the 20th World Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA) held in Long Beach, California from July 8 to 13.
Torayno, who competed in the 18-24 years old bracket, bagged a silver medal in the Gospel genre and a bronze medal in Country.
“I offer these medals to all those who helped me in my journey,” Torayno wrote in an online post.
“Cheers! Thank you and God bless, everyone. I love you, Philippines! Ad majorem Dei gloriam,” he added.
To prepare for the said world championship, Torayno embarked on an eight-month intensive vocal training while raising funds around the city for his travel expenses to the US.
Photo supplied by Jeremiah Torayno.
Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts (XCCA) provided a venue grant to Torayno for his thanksgiving concert at the XU Little Theater on July 1 that also served as a fundraiser.
“When I heard him sang in one of our auditions for the events I directed at XU, I said to myself he must join the Xavier Artist Center and train with our musical directors,” XCCA director Hobart Savior recounted. “Then I invited him to join and he trained for the various XU Festival Days’ productions which are usually grand and very challenging.”
Torayno has been a familiar voice during university events. Recently, he performed at the Panaghugpong Xavier Arts Festival and XU's Kalayaan - Philippine Independence Day celebration, among others.
Savior is proud of this recent feat of Torayno, saying that the young performing artist has shown a great potential to make it big in the industry.
“Always begin to recognize that you have the talent and then engage with it with all humility,” Hobart said as a piece of advice to aspiring artists who would like to follow Torayno’s path.
The XCCA director continued, “Talents are not just ours, they are God's gifts, so I believe it is our responsibility to share them to others to glorify God and that we recognize the power of our talents to make us better individuals — more so for us to have better lives.”
Torayno, who started joining singing competitions at the age of seven, was hailed as the Junior Mindanao Pop Idol in 2009. He also won the 1st CAPES Singing Idol, RAPSES Got Talent, and FASMIN Got Talent.
Another Kagay-anon singer, Debbie Cabague, 27, won a gold medal in Western Country genre, silver in Gospel, another silver in Contemporary, and bronze medals in both Jazz and Open categories. She competed in the 25-29 years old set.
A former member of the reputed GClef Society of Liceo de Cagayan University, Cabague works as a voice consultant for a school in the city and is a wedding singer. She is also a Mass Communication graduate of Liceo.
Both Torayno and Cabague surpassed the national eliminations held simultaneously in different parts of the country on November 29 last year.
Overall, Team Philippines took home a total of 175 medals and awards at WCOPA which included 39 golds, 65 silvers, and 43 bronze medals. The team garnered 21 overall division plaques and 10 industry awards. In addition, a handful of Pinoy artists won scholarships: one from Indasoul Entertainment, three from the New York Film Academy, and another one from the Millenium Dance Complex.
This year's WCOPA drew together more than 2,000 performing artists from 61 countries. ∎