| Joel Magus P. Navarro | |
| Birth Date: | 24 January 1955 |
Joel Magus P. Navarro (born January 24, 1955) is a Filipino-American conductor and music educator. He is one of the Philippines' most esteemed choral conductors. He is also a composer, singer, arranger, choral clinician, writer, producer, music minister, author, and book editor.
Navarro is more popularly known as the former conductor of the Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club. Under his direction, the group gave acclaimed performances in international events, won top prizes in prestigious international choral competitions, and participated in the 2001 European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.
He specializes in 20th and 21st century choral music, but is equally comfortable and adept in music of many epochs. An active performer of music from different eras and ethnic traditions, he takes an ardent interest in post-modern music, Southeast Asian music traditions, and global hymnody.
He was born to a musical family, the first grandchild to Dalmacio and Felipa Pizaña, who were one of the earliest converts to Evangelical Christianity in the Philippines when the Americans came in 1898. He is the eldest of three children to Jose Navarro Navarro Jr. (1928-1980), a former businessman, stage actor, and orator; and Angeles Pizaña (b. 1932), a mezzo-soprano, music educator, and choir conductor. His siblings are Jeriel David (1956-1974), and Arlene Grace (b. 1962), a clinical counselor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Navarro's training as a choral artist began in his grade school years when he sang as a choir boy, first with Prof. Flora Zarco Rivera, who conducted his grade school choir; and then with Dr. Romulo Pizaña, his maternal uncle, who conducted their church choir. He attributes his musical inclinations to the nurture of very musical parents and relatives.
As a person of faith, he remembers his childhood days when his relatives would often gather to discuss and debate theological issues at the dinner table. He became interested in theology and the intersection of faith and music as a young boy. He became involved with the Inter-School Christian Fellowship, the high school ministry of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, as the president of his high school chapter. He considers Filipino theologian and pastor emeritus Rev. Dr. Isabelo F. Magalit and Filipino cultural anthropologist Dr. Melba Maggay as his early mentors in his Christian faith.
Admitted to the highly-prestigious Philippine Science High School on full scholarship, he was one of highly gifted young students groomed to be future scientists in the Philippines. Upon graduation from high school in 1971, he took up B.S. Mathematics at the University of the Philippines. There he became heavily involved with choral singing and became soloist, section leader, and choir board member of the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus, then under the direction of Prof. Reynaldo T. Paguio, a protege of Lloyd Pfautsch of Southern Methodist University, and a former Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Music.
Tragedy struck in his family in February 1974 when his younger brother, Jerry, died at the age of 18. To help the family heal from the emotional trauma, his family moved to Bacolod City in southern Philippines. Finding a second home in the friendly airs and artistic endeavors of that city, Joel continued his studies at the University of St. La Salle. There he met Peque Gallaga and joined his theater group, Maskara. Navarro appeared in the lead role as Francisco Pizarro in the Peter Shaffer play "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" which Gallaga directed. The play was entered as the university's entry to the Iloilo Drama Association drama competition. The play won 1st prize in all categories, including Best Actor for Navarro, except for Best Female Actor simply because there were no female speaking lines in the play.
Navarro finished a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of St. La Salle, Bacolod in 1976. He had a brief stint in Bacolod working as Research Associate at the Sugar Industry Foundation and as Math instructor at the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos. Navarro then returned to Manila in 1977 and entered the graduate program in Mathematics at the Ateneo de Manila University as a scholar of the Fund Assistance to Private Education. He became involved with the Ateneo College Glee Club, then conducted by the great Filipino tenor, Noel Velasco. He was then invited to become Velasco's successor when Velasco left for Boston in 1979 to pursue a voice scholarship. While conducting the Glee Club, Navarro pursued a B.M. in Choral Conducting at nearby University of the Philippines College of Music in 1979. There he studied under Reynaldo Paguio and Francisco Feliciano, and earning his Bachelor of Music (1985) and Master of Music (1993) degrees in Choral Conducting. Paguio was his college conductor at the University of the Philippine Concert Chorus. Feliciano was his composition and theory professor, and later became his administrator when Navarro joined the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music from 1989 to 1995. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at Michigan State University in 2005, studying with Drs. Charles H. Smith, Jonathan Reed, and David Rayl. His doctoral dissertation was "A Style Study of Selected Choral Works of Ramon Pagayon Santos." Prior to his move to the U.S., he took intensive conducting classes under renowned German pedagogue Martin Behrmann.
Navarro moved to the United States of America in 2001 to do his doctoral studies in music conducting at Michigan State University. He was subsequently hired by Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2002. He became tenured in 2007, and was promoted to full professor in September 2012. Concurrent with his teaching post at the college, he served part-time as Music Minister at Hope Reformed Church, Grand Rapids from 2002 to 2008. He served part-time as Music Minister of the Basic English Service at Church of the Servant Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan from 2012 to 2014. He moved to Singapore in June 2014 to teach and administer the graduate choral conducting program in church music at Singapore Bible College. He retired from full-time teaching at S.B.C. last November 30, 2020 and moved back to Manila, Philippines where he will teach online courses as an adjunct lecturer.
He is married to the former Maria Divina Amor Pascual (Amy). They have three children: Katrina Rachel, a former English teacher, and works currently as a writer and content specialist in the Philippines; Paolo Emmanuel, an environmental graphic arts designer based in Calgary, Alberta (Canada); and Jerome David, a Civil and Environmental Engineering major at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan (U.S.A.). He has three grandchildren, Lucia Eliana, Penelope June, and Lily May.
Navarro earned distinction as a choral conductor during his years with the Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club from 1979 to 2001. Under his direction, the choir rose to national prominence when they won First Prize in the College Choir category of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) in 1980. He led the choir in several European choral competitions from 1983 to 2001, garnered many top awards, and gave critically acclaimed performances around the world.
He has also earned honor with The Capella of Calvin University. Under his direction, The Capella gave many acclaimed performances regionally and internationally. In 2008, he led the choir to two 3rd prizes at the Florilège Vocal de Tours international choral competition in Tours, France. Since The Capella's inception in 1935, Navarro is only the fourth in the succession of full-time conductors of The Capella after Seymour Swets, Howard Slenk, and Merle Mustert. Dr. Pearl Shangkuan succeeded him in the Fall of 2014 as the fifth conductor and the first female conductor of The Capella.
At Calvin University, Navarro also directed the Campus Choir which partners yearly with The Women's Chorale (Pearl Shangkuan, director) in the Advent Service of Lessons and Carols held at the La Grave Christian Reformed Church in downtown Grand Rapids. The third choir he directed was the Calvin Oratorio Society, a community choir composed of students, faculty, alumni, and friends of Calvin College. From 2003 to 2014, Navarro conducted the annual Handel's Messiah, accompanied by the Calvin Orchestra and which featured professional soloists. He was succeeded by composer-conductor Sean Ivory in both choirs.
At S.B.C. he directed the SBC Canticorum (a community choir) and the SBC Chorale, succeeding his predecessors Rev. Lee Chong Min and Dr. Virginia Tsai. While at Singapore, he also conducted the PsalmiDeo Chorale, a choir of Filipino professionals. In 2017, he was selected to be the choirmaster of the Bandung Philharmonic under Maestro Robert Nordling.
Navarro was an assistant professor and a former chair of the Conducting and Choral Ensemble Department at the University of the Philippines College of Music. He served there from 1985 to 2001. He was also vice-chairman of the Philippine Federation for Choral Music, and was main consultant for the College Choir Category of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists Foundation, National Music Competitions for Young Artists. He also had brief several teaching stints at Santa Isabel University, FEBIAS College of Bible, and at the International School Manila. There, he conducted choirs and taught conducting, music theory, and I.B. Music subjects.
He is regularly invited in Southeast Asia to give workshops and seminars in choral conducting, church music and hymnody, Philippine choral music, and choral music in general. In August 2002, he gave a lecture at the World Symposium of Choral Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His article The State of Philippine Choral Music Today has been published on the International Choral Bulletin. He contributed a chapter in Dr. Anne Kwantes' book Chapters in Philippine Church History. In August 2020, his book, INSPIRARE: Breathing Life Into Our Music, A Manual for Church Choir Conductors in Asia, was published by Sonata Music of Singapore.
At Calvin University, Navarro was tenured in 2007 and was promoted to Full Professor of Music in 2012. There he has taught choirs, conducting, and Vocal-Choral Pedagogy.
At Singapore Bible College where his current post began in July 2014, Navarro was Professor and Lecturer and conducted the SBC Chorale and SBC Canticorum. He also taught graduate courses in advanced conducting, instrumental conducting, rehearsal technique, diction, choral literature, vocal literature, choral methods, vocal-choral pedagogy, score study and interpretation, and conducting studio, and conducting recital. Navarro also taught for the Bandung Theological Seminary which, in cooperation with SBC, offers the Master of Ministry in Worship and Music Leadership.
At St. Paul University Manila, he helped develop and teaches for the modular program for the Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting which began in late 2017.
Since he arrived in Singapore in 2014, he was juror for two Arts Adjudications for the Singapore Youth Festival under the Ministry of Education, two international choral competitions, and a national competition for church choirs in Indonesia (PESPARAWI).
Joel Navarro had a stint as a popular singer-songwriter. His song “Swerte-Swerte Lang” was one of the finalists at the First Metro Manila Popular Music Festival (1978), and is one of the Philippines' most popular contemporary songs to date. He has also contributed to and recorded many popular compositions for "Papuri!", a project of the Far East Broadcasting Company which promotes the best Filipino Christian contemporary songs each year.
He has a few choral compositions and arrangements published (see listing at the end of this article).
His sabbatical project in the spring of 2011 was to collect and arrange 50 of the best-known Filipino hymns and translate them to English for use in the Filipino diaspora. With the help of Filipino scriptwriter Jacqueline Franquelli, the work, entitled SAMBA: Hymns and Songs of Worship, has been completed and is undergoing editing for future publication.
Here continues to write and arrange anthems for choirs. The last one, "In God Alone," written by Dodjie and Eliza Simon, was in celebration of 100 years of Filipino-American Methodism.
He was also one of twelve members of the Editorial Committee for hymnal Lift Up Your Hearts of the Christian Reformed Church in America and the Reformed Church in America. Released last May 2013, the hymnal contains more than 900 hymns selected from thousands of hymns reviewed from all over the world. Last September 13, 2013, the magazine Worship Leader judged the hymnal as "The Best New Music Pick," one of the leading publications for worship leaders and worship planners today. Recently, over 30,000 copies of the hymnal have already been sold.
Navarro was also involved in drama, musical theater, and opera during his college days. He was Creon in Jean Anouilh's "Antigone" in a play directed by Behn Cervantes, professor of drama and theater at the University of the Philippines. In musical theater, he was arguably the first Joseph in Asia who played the title role in Webber and Rice's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in 1972, a play directed by now famous off-Broadway director Loy Arcenas. He was also involved in many musical theater productions in the 70s which played at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Meralco Theater. These include acting stints with Lerner-Loewe's "My Fair Lady," Webber-Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar," Leonard Bernstein's "Mass," and Schwartz's "Godspell." He also rose to become musical director in some musicals such as "The King and I," "The Great White Way," and "West Side Story." As an operatic baritone, he played the role of Mercutio in Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet" and the lead role in "Eugene Onegin."
Singer
Songwriter
Choral Arranger
Actor
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• To the Little Child. For SATB choir and piano, 1981.