PPO Concert for the Youth premieres online edition

The Cultural Center of the Philippines brings back the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra's music appreciation program, PPO Concert for the Youth, with an online edition premiering on August 31, 2022, 3:00 PM at the Facebook pages of the CCP and the PPO.

Created for the young and also for the newbies, this lecture-demo format concert aims to introduce audiences to the orchestra and the various instruments in it. This year welcomes sisters Alexa and Calista Kaufman who will serving as the program's narrators.

The concert will feature the PPO, conducted by Herminigildo Ranera, performaning symphonic arrangements of tunes from musicals such as Roger's and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music and Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady to name a few.

Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra performs live at the Philippine Post Office

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra will hold an outdoor concert at the Manila Central Post Office on December 3, 2021, 6:00 PM. This concert, billed as PPO at PPO, is the orchestra's first live performance with an audience since the pandemic began.

Joining the orchestra at the concert are young soprano Alexa Isobel Kaufman and the Nightingales, composed of Bianca Lopez and Bernadette Mamauag. Leading the orchestra is PPO's Associate Conductor Herminigildo Ranera. The event, hosted by Issa Litton, will also serve as the launch of the 2021 Christmas Commemorative Stamps.

For the safety of the audiences, strict health and safety protocols will be implemented during the event.

The concert can also be viewed live online at the CCP Office of the President Facebook page.

Presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in cooperation with the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost), PPO at PPO, is part of the orchesra's outreach program under the CCP Office of the President.

Music treasures for PPO's 2019-2020 concert season

CCP President Arsenio Lizaso (1st row, 3rd from left)
with Alexa Kaufman (2nd row, 4th from left) and PPO members

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra formally unveiled its 37th Concert Season 2019-2020 with a golden lineup of music and artists in keeping with the upcoming 50th Gold Anniversary celebrations of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Billed as Gold: Classical Music Treasures, the upcoming season will see a few PPO members take the spotlight, the return of previous guest artists, a glimpse of the future of classical music, a collaboration with the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, and a whole lot more.

Bassoonist Adolfo Mendoza with members of the PPO

Leading the highlights this season are the upcoming performances as featured soloists of PPO members namely violist Rey Casey Concepcion, bassoonist Adolfo Mendoza, and percussionist Aimee Mina-Dela Cruz. Making a return to the PPO stage are cellist Ray Wang, violinist Ryu Goto, and conductors Michaël Costeau and Gerard Salonga.

Soprano Alexa Kaufman

Also in the lineup are two sopranos namely Andiòn Fernandez-Ching, who rose to prominence during the 1990's and is now based in Berlin, and Alexa Kaufman, a promising 10 year old singer. Pianist Noriko Ogawa and the SORA Ensemble will lend some Japanese presence to a couple of concerts as well. Lastly, this season also sees a collaboration between the PPO and the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra.

At the press launch held at the Century Park Hotel, CCP President Arsenio J. Lizaso proudly announced the locations around the country wherein the PPO will hold outreach performances. He even hinted on plans to bring the PPO to China and the Middle East. Ever since becoming CCP President, Lizaso has spearheaded performances of the PPO, and other CCP resident companies as well, to various parts of the country getting closer to the goal that every Filipino should have access to the arts.

PPO strings section

The upcoming concert season of the PPO will be the fourth under Music Director and Principal Conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura. All performances will be held at the CCP's Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater).

Here is the schedule and lineup for the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra's 37th Classical Music Treasures 2019-2020 Concert Season.

September 13, 2019

Featuring:

Noriko Ogawa, piano

Yoshikazu Fukumura, conductor

Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture to Don Giovanni, K. 527

Sergei Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141

October 25, 2019

Featuring:
Rey Casey Concepcion, viola
Michaël Cousteau, conductor

Program:
Richard Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde WWV 90

Hector Berlioz Harold en Italie, Op.16 H. 68

Hector Berlioz Scène d'amour from Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H. 79
Franz Liszt Les préludes, S. 97

November 15, 2019

Featuring:

SORA Ensemble

Yoshikazu Fukumura, conductor

Program:

Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No.9 in E-flat major, Op.70

Franz Joseph Haydn Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major, Op. 84, Hob. I/105
Arturo Márquez Danzón No. 7
Arturo Márquez Danzón No. 8

December 20, 2019

Featuring:

Aimee De la Cruz, percussion

Alexa Kaufman, soprano

Herminigildo Ranera, conductor

Program:

Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings

Samuel Barber Die Natali, Op. 37

Darius Milhaud Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra, Op. 109

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien, Op. 45

January 24, 2020

Featuring:

Adolfo Mendoza, bassoon

Yoshikazu Fukumura, conductor

Program:

Antonín Dvořák Serenade for String Orchestra in E major, Op.22
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major, K. 191/186e
Cesar Franck Symphony in D minor

February 14, 2020

Featuring:
Andiòn Fernandez-Ching, soprano
Gerard Salonga, conductor

Program:
Lucio San Pedro Ang Buwan sa Kabundukan
Franz Schubert Erlkönig, Op. 1, D. 328
Manuel de Falla Siete canciones populares españolas
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 “Pathetique”

March 13, 2020

Featuring:

Ryu Goto, violin

Yoshikazu Fukumura, conductor

Program:
Zhou Tian Concerto for Orchestra

Erich Wolfgang Korngold Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op.67

April 24, 2020
Featuring:

Ray Wang, cello

ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra
Yoshikazu Fukumura, conductor

Program:

Carl Orff Entrata for Orchestra

Franz Joseph Haydn Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major, Op. 101, Hob. VIIb/2

Hector Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14