Violinist Diomedes Saraza Jr. joins PPO's 39th season finale concert

Violinist Diomedes Saraza Jr. joins Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for a festive finish to the orchestra's Switch season happening this April 19, 2024, 7:30 PM at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit, Makati.

With Maestro Grzergorz Nowak conducting, this season closing concert sees Sarasa do double duty as the featured soloist in Lucrecia Kasilag's Violin Concerto No. 1 and Camille Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28. The concert, billed as Fête Française, wraps up with Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D. 485.

Diomedes Saraza Jr.

PPO's 39th concert season Switch saw the Cultural Center of the Philippines' resident orchestra welcome Maestro Grzergorz Nowak as its new music director and principal conductor. It also marked the move to Samsung Performing Arts Theater while the CCP Main Building undergoes a several years long major rehabilitation.

Reprinted below is the press release for the PPO's 39th concert season closing performance.

Last 'Switch' for PPO's 39th concert season

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the country’s primary orchestra, will take its last ‘Switch’ for its 39th concert season on April 19, 7:30pm, at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati.

For its finale concert, the resident orchestra of the Cultural Center of the Philippines will feature violinist Diomedes Saraza Jr. as its guest soloist.

Saraza Jr. is an active concert violinist, chamber musician, and avid educator. The former Manila Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster, Saraza is a well-established musical artist that has taken part in many international solo performances with different orchestras such as the Mannes Orchestra, New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble, the Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra to name a few. His extensive solo and chamber performances include prestigious venues that span from Philippines’ Cultural Center of the Philippines, New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, to Russia’s Tchaikovsky’s Concert Hall among others.

For its final concert, PPO music director and principal conductor Maestro Grzegorz Nowak will take the baton, leading the national orchestra in a night of Fete Francaise. The concert program includes: National Artist Lucresia Kasilag's Violin Concerto No. 1, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28, and Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 5.

An instrumental in developing Philippine music and culture, the National Artist for Music was recognized for including indigenous Filipino instruments into orchestral productions. She has written more than 350 musical compositions that range from folksongs to opera to orchestral pieces. She was the founding mother of the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center for research and theatrical presentations and actively involved herself with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company.

Camille Saint-Saëns was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. A child prodigy, he was already giving public concerts as a pianist and organist at a young age. One of his best-known works is the Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso, op. 28. composed in 1863, it was dedicated to Pablo de Sarasate, a Spanish virtuoso violinist, who frequently programmed it in his concert engagements, thus making it popular enough that other French composers made arrangements of it.

Completing the concert finale’s program is Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, a classic piece which is said to pay homage to masters Mozart and Haydn. Schubert deeply admired Mozart. His composition is frequently said to resemble the prolific and influential composer.

Ranked among the greatest composers in the history of Western classical music, Schubert and his work continues to be admired and widely performed. He was a composer during the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He has composed symphonies, masses, and piano works and is best remembered for his “lieder."

Tickets to PPO Concert VIII: Fete Francaise are priced at Php3,000 (Orchestra Center), Php2,000 (Orchestra Side), Php2,500 (Loge Center), Php1,500 (Loge Side), and Php800 (Balcony 1).

The PPO concert season is made possible with partners SSI Group, Inc., TBWA\SMP, Ascott Bonifacio Global City, and Lyf Malate Manila.

For more information, visit the CCP (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph) and follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, X, and Instagram for the latest updates.

Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng lends golden touch at PPO concert

Conductor Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng, the Serenade to Music soloists,
and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra 

The latest performance of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra proved that a woman's touch is indeed golden as guest conductor Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng led the orchestra in what has been the most buzz worthy concert of the season so far.

Any fears that interest would wane after the concerts of the five shortlisted conductors have finished were unfounded as this Shangkuan-Cheng's outing was a sold out affair. The talk for this engagement intensified with the announcement of three pieces by Filipina composers in the program which was very much welcomed unlike the usual, almost token Filipino pieces that were performed earlier in the season.

The trio of pieces by the Filipina composers started with Marie Jocelyn Marfil’s Pyagsawitan Wedding and Harvest which was a rhythmic delight, abundant with percussion from indegenous instruments to the col legno of the strings before giving way to a somber, reflective finish. Next was National Artist for Music Lurcrecia Kasilag's Festival from Philippine Scenes, a short piece that captured the mood of a fiesta complete with shouting from the male members of the orchestra that ended with an exclamation point by the gong. Lastly, Denise Santos' The Light of Extreme Darkness was very cinematic, lush, nd ultimately uplifting.

The enthusiastic reception these pieces got was a stark contrast to the muted, even averse, reaction that some contemporary works have received in the past.

The other piece that got a lot of attention was Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music that featured some of the country's finest vocalists namely Bianca Lopez-Aguila, Stefanie Quintin, Mary Louise Macanaya-Alcantara, Sheila Marie Ferrer, Paul Ryan Arcolas, Maria Blanca Krystl Buesa, June Gonzaga, Mia Ariana Tanciongco, John Philip Bautista, Ervin Lumauag, Kevin Maske, Tomas Umbero Virtucio, Jr., Nil's Flores, Kris Gonzales, Lawrence Jatayna, and Jed Marcelo who were each given a chance to shine in solos to this piece with text from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

The second half of the concert consisted of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. Familiarity with this often performed piece offered the chance to scrutinize further the Met's acoustics. The projected sound's lack of depth that has been noticed before became more apparent, with the lower strings not projecting well. With the upper strings dominating, the overall sound felt shrill and shallow. The double bassists were having a riot during the finale but they were barely audible, unless one shuts out the other sections and focus solely on them.

Conductor Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

Despite the Met's acoustics letting down what could have been a very enjoyable Beethoven, the concert as a whole was still a success based on Shangkuan-Cheng's performance and excellent programming. The improvement in acoustics by the ceiling panels is not enough and the Met stage is begging for an entire acoustic shell.

The PPO 38th concert series wraps up next month and hopefully, the next PPO Music Director/Principal Conductor will be announced by then.

PPO celebrates Women's Month with conductor Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng in March concert

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates Women's Month with guest conductor Dr. Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng on the podium at its upcoming concert on March 17, 2023, 8:00 PM at the Metropolitan Theater.

The concert program will be highlighted by a selection of pieces by Philippine female composers namely Marie Jocelyn Marfil’s Pyagsawitan Wedding and Harvest, National Artist for Music Lucrecia R. Kasilag’s Festival from Philippines Scenes, and Denise Santos’s The Light of Extreme Darkness.

Also to be performed are Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music featuring a 16 voice choir, and Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92.

Dr. Shangkuan-Cheng is the incumbent president of the Philippine Choral Directors Association, and the artistic director of the Las Piñas International Bamboo Organ Festival. She is an associate professor at the University of the Philippines College of Music, teaching conducting for both graduate and undergraduate music students. She is currently the Philippine representative to the Asia Pacific Choral Council and the Asia Choral Association.

Shangkuan-Cheng has a degree in music from the University of the Philippines, a master’s from the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and a doctorate degree in musical arts from the University of Michigan. Conductor Shangkuan-Cheng has performed with various international orchestras in South Africa, Germany, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Spain, Vietnam, Portugal, and Singapore.

She has gained numerous awards including the Phyllis Curtin Career Entry Award from the Yale School of Music, the Margot Fassler Award and the Hugh Giles Prize from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music for her conducting, first prize at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Graduate Conducting Competition. She participated as a fellow at the Levi Barbour Fellowship from the University of Michigan.

Manila Symphony Orchestra launches diverse Year of the Titans 2018-2019 concert season

Manila Symphony Orchestra conducted by Prof. Arturo Molina

The Manila Symphony Orchestra, one of Asia’s oldest orchestras, launched its 2018-2019 concert season, billed as Year of the Titans, featuring its most diverse lineup to date, both in terms of music programming and guest artists.

MSO’s “titanic” concert season opens with The Color of Music happening on June 3, 2018, 6:00 PM at the Theatre at Solaire. With the orchestra’s music director and principal conductor Prof. Arturo Molina at the helm, this concert will feature Richard Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191 with German cellist Clauss Kangiesser as the soloist.

On July 29, 2018, 6:00 PM at the Theatre at Solaire, guitarist Noli Aurillo and Filipino band Silent Sanctuary join the MSO led by Prof. Molina in Rockestra 2018, a rock symphony concert. Two members of Silent Sanctuary, violinist Kim Ng and cellist Anjo Inacay were former members of the MSO.

The MSO and Prof. Arturo Molina along with surprise guest artists bring film music to the concert stage with Silver Screen Symphonies on September 16, 2018, 6:00 PM at the Theatre at Solaire.

Then it’s off to the Meralco Theater on November 30, 2018 with Beethoven Redux featuring German based Indonesian violinist Iskandar Widjaja and Singaporean conductor Darrell Ang. This concert offers a double dose of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, first in its original form and then followed by the redux version featuring a new solo violin part composed by Jeffrey Ching.

The season wraps up with The Titan on January 26, 2019, 8:00 PM with Prof. Arturo Molina leading the MSO with a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major ‘Titan’ and Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with pianist Victor Asuncion as the featured soloist. The venue for this concert will be announced later.

Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra

The season launched also presented the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra, the youth orchestra arm of the MSO formed back in 2014. Last year, the MSJO won 2^nd Prize at the 11^th Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival held at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. This July, the young members of the orchestra return to Vienna and hope to do better at the same competition before embarking on yet another European tour.

MSO Music Academy students

Aside from performing, members of the MSO also teach at the MSO Music Academy (also established in 2014) that now has three branches: Circuit Makati, Glorietta 5, and in Taft Avenue. Young kids and even adults can enroll there and enrich their lives with music.

Apart from the concert season, the MSO also perform regularly at the Ayala Museum via the Rush Hour Concert series. These concerts were designed as a way for people in the Makati area to spend an hour or so watching an orchestra performance comfortably at the museum rather than being stuck on the road in rush hour traffic.

Right after the season launch, I was able to do just that with East-West, a Rush Hour Concert in celebration of the 100^th Birth Anniversary of Dr. Lucrecia Kasilag, National Artist for Music. This concert featured concertmaster Gina Medina-Perez and pianist Ingrid Sala-Santamaria performing music by Kasilag alongside that of Johannes Brahms.

Kasilag’s music hasn’t been performed as often as Brahms in here and maybe that’s why Gina Medina-Perez’s rendition of the outer movements of Kasilag’s Violin Concerto, LK 241 sounded exotic to me. This was truly an odd realization considering how the opening piece, Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 WoO1 was very likely exotic music from a German’s perspective. I guess that Kasilag’s use of fourth intervals instead of the usual third with the chords lent more to the exotic feel of this piece. I also remembered that it’s been almost a decade since Gina Medina-Perez performed this concerto at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This only shows how rarely indeed are Kasilag’s works heard on stage.

Pianist Ingrid Sala Santamaria

Despite the inclusion of traditional Philippine percussion instruments, the first movement of Kasilag’s Divertissement for Piano and Orchestra sounded less exotic to me. Legendary pianist Ingrid Sala Santamaria’s piano parts were mostly single voiced played in octaves and it had an effect on me as if the piano was among the traditional percussion instruments.

Continuing the juxtaposition of pieces by the unlikely paired composers, Santamaria continued with the latter half of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83. I was able to savor the solo cello in the third movement but I wish that I was able to see her perform this in its entirety last October.

Remarkable to note that she is the only local pianist I could think of right now who has done a significant number of high profile concerts over the past several months. This only made me wonder which pianists from the millennial generation could follow in her footsteps and have a long career.

The final Kasilag piece for the night was the extremely accessible Philippine Scenes. This three movement piece (Mountainside, Lullabye, Festival) was very much Filipino in spirit that I had a major turnaround with Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 6, WoO1 that closed out the concert was now the one that felt foreign and exotic to me.

The agony of travelling out of Makati has prevented me from catching most of the MSO’s past Rush Hour Concerts (or any other concert at the Ayala Museum) but I was extremely glad to catch this one since it gave me a generous dose of Kasilag’s music. Recordings of her music are rare and not that easy to purchase and live performances of it are even rarer. This only made me anticipate upcoming tributes to her in celebration of her birth centennial anniversary.

And it goes without saying that I also eagerly await seeing the Manila Symphony Orchestra on stage once again after missing their previous season entirely. See you at the concerts!