Gerard Salonga up close & personal

Having been exposed to Lea Salonga way back during Bibot Amador’s reign at Repertory Philippines, there was no way our generation could have avoided Salonga’s mother Ligaya Alcantara Imutan and her persistently tenacious personality. Lea is well-known as the child protégé who made her professional theater debut at seven in Rep’s The King and I. From then on, there was no stopping her until she stunned the world as Kim in the Broadway hit Miss Saigon. Through all these, mom Ligaya was around to watch out for her treasured daughter to the point, it was  said, of rubbing the international production team the wrong way.

When asked to do a story on Lea’s younger brother pianist-composer-conductor Gerard Salonga, we asked him if there was any basis to the stories. Without batting an eyelash, Gerard over dinner quickly confirmed their mother’s strictness as something they have learned to accept. Now that they are adults and internationally acclaimed in their respective careers, perhaps Ligaya was right in her style of upbringing.

 Gerard’s musical career also started at a young age of five in playing the piano. He went to the Ateneo for his Bachelor of Arts degree, then to the celebrated Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating summa cum laude. Upon returning to the Philippines, he began garnering yearly Best Musical Director awards from the Aliw Awards, worked with sister Lea, Martin Nievera, Lani Misalucha, Regine Velasquez and others in the pop field before forming his own dream FILarmoniKA Orchestra.

By 2006, Gerard was working on Musika Natin albums highlighting such OPM greats as Lucio San Pedro, Col. Antonino Buenaventura, Pinoy rockers Ely Buendia, Sampaguita and Noel Cabangon, giving Filipino music a great boost. When the funding for FILarmoniKA became problematic, Gerard sought sponsorship at ABS-CBN, quickly got it and is now the conductor/musical director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra. This, in addition to occasional conducting for foreign orchestras like Hong Kong, Thailand and Shanghai Philharmonic. His taste in music is broad. We asked if there’s anything he wouldn’t do and he quickly replied “no” since he believes there is something he can do with any material. Apparently, Gerard is one renowned talent who will even work on a promotional launch for the hair product Cream Silk called Ode to Hair, an attitude we found close to astonishing.

Gerard is vocal, however, with people and things he believes in, and against those who have wasted their talents. He talked of how Thailand has molded a career path for young musicians using a Venezuelan model where poor children are furnished guitars and exposed early to music. The Thai government has also sent their promising musicians abroad who have since returned so that there are now 200 orchestras spread throughout Thailand. He is exceedingly unhappy that Filipino virtuosos, who have been given education abroad, remain overseas instead of sharing their gifts in their homeland. He is elated that world-class violinist Joseph Esmilla has decided to return home after a 17-year absence. He is similarly delighted at having met renowned Filipina classical pianist Cecil Licad two years ago, and couldn’t stop talking about her during our dinner.

Gerard’s upcoming concert The Legends and The Classics Encore for ABS-CBN is a repeat of one held in 2012 and will showcase Cecil, Lea and prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. The two-night concert will be shown at the CCP Main Theater come Oct. 12 and 13 at 7 p.m. The Legends and the Classics Encore will also feature the Ballet Manila, cellist Ed Pasamba and of course, the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra. Roxanne Lapus directs.

Quickly, Gerard excused himself since he had the finals of The Voice of the Philippines to attend to. We had asked him earlier what he would do on his rest day and he replied, “Listen to music.” We prodded him to reveal a hobby, sports or any activity not related to music and he had none. We insisted he must have something more than a love for music, to which he responded, perhaps on the brink of exhaustion, “You have to love it more than air itself.” It is no surprise that Gerard would be married to a violinist, and that they have a daughter who wants to play the violin and a son who would choose to be a drummer.    

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