Ochanine conducts in China, announces PPO 29th season/UP, Sta. Isabel College events

At the International Jazz Festival press conference, CCP President Raul Sunico informed me that the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under Conductor-Music Director Olivier Ochanine would be performing in Beijing to mark the 35th year of Phil-China diplomatic relations.

Ochanine, now back after the triumphant engagement, announced PPO’s 29th concert season. I missed the press conference but PR staffer Raul Asis gave me the calendar of events.

Maestro Ochanine will be on the podium for most of the concerts. On Sept. 9, top-rated cellist Renato Lucas will perform in Elgar’s Cello Concerto. The PPO will render Saint-Saens’ “Bacchanale” from “Samson and Delilah”, Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben” and Revueltas’ “Sensemaya”.

On Oct. 7, clarinetist Ariel Sta. Ana will be soloist in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, with the PPO assisting. It will also play Respighi’s “Feste Romane” and Peña’s “Igorot Rhapsody”. On Nov. 11, Korean Jae Joon Lee will conduct Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto, with Vietnamese violinist Bin Cong Duy as soloist. Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” and Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” will complete the program.

For the Christmas concert on Dec. 16, Ochanine will wield the baton in Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin”, Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony No. 2” and Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 4”, with Ariel Dechosa as soloist.

Japanese trombonist Takahiro Ono will be featured in Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Trombone Concerto” on Jan. 20; the PPO will play Dvorak’s “Czech Suite” and Carl Nielson’s “Symphony No. 4: Inextinguishable”.

On Jan. 17, British James Judd will conduct Mendelssohn’s “Italian Symphony” and Bernstein’s “Overture to Candide”. Finnish violinist and concert master of the NZ Symphony Orchestra Vesa-Matti Leppanen will be the soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Venue will be the Philamlife Theater.

Bruckner’s “Romantic Symphony” will highlight the March 16 PPO concert under Conductor Ochanine. Leading soprano Rachelle Gerodias will sing arias and kundimans. On April 20, the Russian Leeds International Competition winner Sofya Gulyak ends the season with Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 and the PPO under Ochanine with Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”.

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The 65-member University of the Philippines Orchestra will perform on Sept. 1, 8 p.m., at the CCP main theater to mark the 100th anniversary of the UP College of Music founded in 1916. The UP Orchestra, revitalized in 2003 by Dean Ramon Acoymo, will render Beethoven’s “Corolian Overture” and “Symphony No. 1” under Prof. Rodney Ambat; Prof. Edna Marcil Martinez will wield the baton in Britten’s “Simple Symphony for Strings”, A. Buenaventura’s “By the Hillside” and Abelardo’s Piano Concerto with pianist Nita Abrogar Quinto as soloist.

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On Sept. 3 at 6 p.m., Sta. Isabel College will present pianist Nick Nangit in concert. He will interpret compositions by Rachmaninoff, Liszt (to mark the composer’s 200th birth anniversary), Debussy and Chopin. Guest artists will render works by Saint-Saens, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Di Chiara and George Canseco.

The concert is in appreciation of Nangit’s performances with Sta. Isabel College music graduates: a baritone who leaves for the Elizabeth U. in Japan to earn a Master of Music degree and a soprano, the first Filipina to be accepted by the Paris Conservatoire.