Eudenice Palaruan studied composition and Choral Conducting at the University of the Philippines College of Music and trained under Dr Joel Navarro, Dr Ramon Santos. After obtaining his Bachelor Degree in the Philippines, he studied Choral Conducting at the Berliner Kirchenmusikschule – Germany under Prof. Martin Behrmann.
He was a member and baritone soloist of some of the significant choral organisations including the Philippine Madrigal Singers, Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club, the World Youth Choir and the Berlin Spandauer Kantorei. He was also involved in early music performance practice as a countertenor with the Berlin Montiverdichor and Il Diletto Ensemble in Germany.
Upon his return to the Philippines, Palaruan was actively involved in the choralization of Asian traditional songs with the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music (AILM) under National Artist Francisco Feliciano. It was through this institution where he honed and used his skills as an Ethnodoxologist and worked actively as a church music minister at the Greenhills Christian Fellowship and the Union Church of Manila.
As a conductor he was a music director of the Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club, assistant choirmaster of the Philippine Madrigal Singers under Andrea Veneracion, principal conductor of the San Miguel Master Chorale and the Union Church of Manila Chancel Choir. For seven years he was the resident conductor of the International Bamboo Organ Festival where he directed many of the Philippines’ leading choirs in the performance of early European choral music and the revival of Latin American baroque choral music.
As a composer and arranger Palaruan introduced choral works that exhibit the traditional Filipino vocal sound, such as Gapas (Harvest), Koyu No Tebulul (Bird Song), Pasigin (Fishing Song), and other traditional vocal music. His works are performed by Asian and European choirs in international festivals and competitions. As a music pedagogue, he taught at the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music, University of the Philippines College of Music and the St. Paul University Manila College of Music and the Performing Arts, where he designed the choral conducting curriculum of the Master of Music program.
Palaruan is married to a dancer Emily Ann Lagumen. Way back in Germany, they volunteered as missionary artists under Leadership Encounter of the Campus Crusade for Christ. In the Philippines, they continued their artistic ministry and partnered with two mission-based organisations such as Praisia and WindSong. Before they moved to Singapore, they reached out to the children of Philippine Christian Foundation – PCF, at the Smoky Mountain in Tondo by training young artists and preparing them for a scholarship to the art institutions in Manila.
Currently, he is an associate professor at the School of Church Music in Singapore Bible College and the choral director of the Singapore Symphony Chorus.
