MANILA, Philippines - Due to monsoon flood last week, the concert of the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) slated last Aug. 20 was reset tonight at 7 at the UP Abelardo Hall, Diliman, Quezon City.
Featured soloists are pianist Oliver Salonga in Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 and violinist Diomedes Saraza Jr. in Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 2
After winning the National Music Competition (NAMCYA) twice and getting the gold medal in the 2008 Joenju International Piano Competition in South Korea, Salonga landed in the Top 3 contenders in the recently-concluded University of Southern California (USC) Concerto Competition with Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor Op. 21.
Salonga bested some 17 other contenders from the same school which has a total population of 40,000.
Salonga will play his winning concerto with the MSO under Arturo Molina.
By coincidence, it was also Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21 which won for the then 11-year old Cecile Licad the 1972 Manila Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Auditions.
Before his advance studies in Cleveland, Salonga had been discovered by Rosario Licad, mother of Cecile, and also trained under Marietta Cruz, Carmencita Arambulo and on to Roberta Rust in Florida. While in New York, he was also coached by Cecile.