Los Cantantes de Manila is a community choir composed of students, young professionals and devout musicians. LCDM displays versatility of the Filipinos by performing classical music from the works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy to the dance music of Beyoncé. Since its inception in February 2014, the choir learned new vocal techniques and were taught the virtues of dedication, respect, humility and loyalty. Under the baton of the award-winning conductor, Mr. Darwin Vargas, LCDM won many national competitions.The choir made a jumpstart at the international choral arena when they won the Grand Prix in the International Choral Festival and Competition in Busan (South Korea, 2015). It was followed by their success at the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf (Germany, 2017), where they joined the first Pop Choir Category and won the 1st Prize with an Achievement Level I, they also won the prize for outstanding vocal presentation and the public prize. In 2018 the group received two Gold Prizes at the Singapore International Choral Festival. The choir two-time recipient of “Ani ng Dangal” award given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts for its international achievements.
Darwin Vargas’ love for choral music started at an early age of 16 when he, as a singer and later as a tour manager of the University of the East Chorale, brought UEC to 16 countries around the globe. Exposure to European choirs and attending various workshops and masterclasses in Spain, Germany and many more, under world-class pedagogues like Stojan Kuret, Volker Hempfling, Anders Eby and Prof. Kurt Suttner, developed his ear for refined choral sound. Darwin was one of the organizers of several choral masterclasses in the Philippines featuring world-renowned conductors like Dr. Brady Allred, VytautasMiskinis and Fred Sjöberg. In 2014 he founded Los Cantantes de Manila. Under his baton, LCDM won 7 Grand Prizes at national and international competitions. Presently, D. Vargas conducts the world-renowned University of the East Chorale, enabling the choir to win the Grand Prix in the 11th Orientale Concentus 2017 in Singapore and Adamson University Chorale, Grand Prix winner of the 2018 MBC National Choir Competition.