TWO Cebuanos were hailed as grand champions in the recently concluded 22nd Annual World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA).
M Squared, the guitar duo from Cebu, was declared as the Senior Grand Champion Instrumentalists of the World last Saturday.
The talented pair comprises Maxwell Soller, a full-time instructor at the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), and Miguel Ibaseta, a Grade 12 Josenian.
M Squared is based on their first names. They have been a guitar duo for eight months since the WCOPA auditions.
“Maxwell and I just met around October last year because of a mutual friend,” said Ibaseta. “Maxwell’s friend referred me to him upon seeing my talent in playing the guitar. After a week or so, he posted the auditions for the WCOPA on Facebook and I got interested as soon as I saw it. I private messaged him about WCOPA and told him that I would audition. In the end, we decided that we would audition together.”
One of the reasons why they joined WCOPA is that they believe that it is a competition where someone can win through the critiques of judges from professional industries.
They competed in the Instrumentalists Category. They practiced in five styles: classical, contemporary, jazz, open and original works. Their dedication to their craft awarded them a trophy as well as silver medals for all the styles they participated in.
Soller said the greatest challenge for him was competing against some talents who already had world-class exposure and experiences. Despite the pressure, they maintained their focus and discipline in all their practices.
Meanwhile, Ibaseta considered the absence of his parents as his greatest challenge. He was the one who managed most of his papers as well as the payments. He did not get much financial support but he is grateful for every person who helped him.
Satisfaction was all over the guitar duo when they were declared as grand finalists because people were already calling them world-class performers.
“The day of the announcements was really thrilling and scary at the same time. Four were announced in the senior group and we were announced last. I was tearing up na after three were called out. I had actually lost hope in getting into the finals, but out of the 10-plus instrumentalists from different countries, we were the last one to be called out. The feeling was heavy and amazing at the same time since we were one of the last seven Filipino entries that was in the finals,” said Ibaseta.
Only given one day to practice for the grand finals, the duo never expected to win; all they did was to believe in their capabilities.
“We felt like we were ourselves during the final performance. There was choreography, but other factors were not scripted,” said Soller.
“It felt like it was now or never,” said Ibaseta.
The guitar duo is thrilled to come home bringing with them the fruit of their passion.
“We practiced to the fullest extent and studied our competitors. We also asked help from our fellow delegates for us to master our final piece for WCOPA,” said Ibaseta.
“The secret to winning? Praying, believing and exerting meaningful efforts,” added Soller.
Team Philippines will bring home a total of 286 medals, plaques, and badges for this year: 55 gold medals, 83 silver medals, 81 bronze medals, 34 division champion plaques and 33 semi-finalist badges.
“We have a strong team this year,” said Annie Mercado, WCOPA Team PH creative director, in her Facebook post.
“Team Philippines showed true sportsmanship and was commended for being the friendliest team,” she continued.
M Squared is the only Philippine contingent that took home a Senior Grand Champions title.
Among the competing countries were Australia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Czech Republic, France, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand and USA.