IN THE STUDIO
WELCOME TO THE STUDIO.
Welcome! This is the space where I'll be sharing what I'm currently working on, from albums to music videos.
I am currently curating a collection of recordings that speak to my artistic vision: to explore new repertoire, revisit the old with fresh and exciting performances, and promote and expand meaningful collaborations with artists.
The album titles are drawn from Filipino words that resonate with me deeply: paghilom (to heal), paanyaya (to welcome), and pagsibol (to emerge), each unique, and each representing a facet of the human experience.
Get to know more about the making of these recordings, follow along behind the scenes of the creative process, and learn how to support these projects.
TRANSFIGURATIONS.
Transfigurations speaks to what happens to music, and to us, when it crosses from one form into another. It takes its name from the idea of transformation through encounter: music reshaped by new instrumentation, tradition placed in dialogue with the present.
A triptych unfolding across years, Transfigurations is a recording project in three parts, weaving together three distinct soundscapes: 17th-century German solo cantata literature paired with early Filipino compositions performed on native Filipino percussion instruments; reimaginings of African-American spirituals and choral works rearranged with organ; and original compositions written especially for my voice.
paghilom
/pag 'hilom/
This first album pairs voice and organ. I've always found that the orchestra of pipes, with its vast and colorful treasury of sound, represents a wide emotional palette that combines beautifully with the expressiveness of the human voice. While the soundscape often draws on the resonance and gravity of sacred spaces, the repertoire I've chosen isn't necessarily sacred in nature. Prayers and reflections do appear throughout, but not always where you'd expect it.
These are songs of vigil, longing, and refuge: music written for the hours of darkness and displacement, when the heart and soul search for a place to rest. The musical journey moves from personal grief, through communal longing and deliverance, to an answer found in shelter and embrace, and at last, arrival.
paghilom, in Tagalog, means the “act of healing” or the “closing of a wound.” I find it a gentle and comforting word, one that captures the natural transition from pain to peace.
Featured composers: Shawn E. Okpebholo, Caroline Shaw, Herbert Howells, David Lang, and Shawn Kirchner. Final repertoire will be shared here soon.
Projected recording: Early Fall 2027
Projected release: Easter 2028
Artists & Recording team: TBD
paanyaya
/pa-an 'yaya/
For the second album, we turn to the great influence of Early Music in my repertoire, recording music from Northern Germany and the Philippines, a pairing I've always dreamed of. Here, I place the voice in conversation with historical period instruments and traditional native Filipino percussion instruments.
Franz Tunder and Dietrich Buxtehude sit at the center of these works, paired with two compositions by San Francisco–based Filipino-American composer Robin Estrada. In addition, I will also record both Gregorian chants and Filipino Indigenous chants unaccompanied. I'll be working closely with an Early Music ensemble from Asia and a percussion ensemble based in the United States.
In Tagalog, paanyaya is often described as a formal invitation to take part in an event. Here, I extend an invitation to this gathering of two traditions: I invite you to experience a sound that is at once old and new, and yet strikingly alike.
Featured composers: Franz Tunder, Dietrich Buxtehude, Nicholas Bruhns, and Robin Estrada. Final repertoire will be shared here soon.
Projected recording: Winter 2028
Projected release: Fall 2029
Artists & Recording team: TBD
pagsibol
/pag 'sibol/
We look toward the future of song repertoire with the final part of the triptych. Over the years, I've had the beautiful privilege of collaborating with many friends and colleagues who have written music for my voice, and I am so thrilled to finally give life to those works through this recording.
An emergence of life, often represents a new beginning, to start a new idea or era, pagsibol is going to be home to these singular personal melodic ideas written for my voice in mind now for everyone to hear.
Featured composers: Saunder Choi, Nilo Alcala II, Denise Hoffman, Joshua Credenia, Stanislav Fridman, and Krina Cayabyab, among others. Final repertoire will be shared here soon.
Projected recording: Summer 2029
Projected release: Spring 2030
Artists & Recording team: TBD
A TRIPTYCH.
Transfigurations holds the arc of these three albums: paghilom's healing, paanyaya's welcome, pagsibol's emergence, three states of becoming.
It felt like the right name for a project built on old music finding a new voice, and new music finding its first one.
I hope you'll join me in bringing these projects to life. No contribution is too small. If you'd like to learn more or discuss these projects, please email me here.
I'm so grateful to partner with Fractured Atlas in raising funds for these projects.
Contributions for the charitable purposes of these solo recording projects must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only. These are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Enrico recording his solos with Bach Collegium San Diego recording El Mesías in 2026. Filmed by Brian Gaukel.