Performing Arts calendar / IC’s R. Pedrosa, PEN awards

June 1, 7:30 at Aliw Theater, “Stars of Philippine Ballet” with Filipino and foreign lead dancers from world and local companies.

June 1 at Ayala Museum, 7 p.m. acclaimed international Filipino pianist Albert Tiu and Belgian clarinetist Marcel Luxen will render sonatas of Brahms, Schumann’s Fantasie Stucke and Weber’s Duo Concertante. Tiu will hold a master class on June 2 from 9 to 12 noon, Luxen from 2 to 5 p.m. both at the Ayala Museum.

June 4, musicians of the Seoul Chamber Society will perform classic favorites, from baroque to contemporary, in keeping with chamber and symphonic music standards.

June 7, Korea’s Eunju Shin and EDx2 Dance Companies will present contemporary dances, the latter a trailblazer integrating contemporary experimentation with a multi-faceted body language.

For information on both events, contact the Korean Cultural Center at 5551711.

June 8, 8 p.m. at the CCP main theater, the Manila Symphony Orchestra, Filipino contrabass player Jiovanni Tabada, MSO concertmaster Gina Medina and an all-female chorus of 20 singers from Viva Voce will perform with outstanding conductor Arturo Molina.

In the program are Lucio San Pedro’s “Ang Buwan sa Kabundukan,” Giovanni Botessini’s “Duo Concertante for Violin and Contrabass,” Holst’s “The Planets” and two overtures from film scores by John Williams, E.T., the Extra Terrestrial and Star Wars, the program being thematically crafted around musical explorations of the various heavenly bodies and their effects on the human psyche.

June 14, 8 p.m., CCP Little Theater. An invitational gala performance of renowned Spanish flamenco dancer Eduardo Guerrero, with singer Manuel Soto and guitarist Javier Ibañez.

Versatile Nonie Buencamino, Audie Gemora and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo will each sing, act and dance on June 13, July 5 and Aug. 15, respectively, at the CCP Little Theater, 7:30 p.m.

Each concert is an evening of beautiful songs personally selected by the artists themselves from their vast repertoire of favorites from Broadway, West End, original Filipino musicals and the movies. Dubbed “concept concerts,” the narrative of each is dictated by the song choices.

On June 15, 8 p.m. at the Insular Life Theater in Alabang, Filfest will present eminent international violinist Joseph Esmilla.

On July 20 at 4 p.m., Filfest president Vicky Zubiri will host at her residence an invitational tea concert featuring violinist Brian Simafranca for the benefit of orphans.

On June 29, Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Chapel of the Forgiving Lord, brilliant 17-year-old flutist Caitlin Coyiuto, Cristine Coyiuto, one of the country’s leading pianists, and guest artist, Japanese flutist Yuko Enomoto, will perform works by Carl Philippe Emanuel Bach, Philippe Gaubert, Bohuslav Martinu, Carl Reinecke, Kazuto Fukushima, Mozart and Franz Doppler.

Admission is by donation. Reservations are required owing to limited seating. Call tel. 8131866 (Imelda) or 0917-7218009 (Richard).

The benefit concert is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Alabang for the Orphans and Abandoned Children at the Tuloy sa Don Bosco Street Children Village in Alabang.

IC’s. R. Pedrosa returns

Having fully recovered from a recent illness, Ramon A. Pedrosa returns as director of Instituto Cervantes. He will host a reunion of colleagues and academicos on June 7 at the Casino Español, 11:30 a.m. Call 0917-7965491, Señor Pedrosa requests the cooperation and counsel of all.

PEN Int’l / New Voices Award

PEN International has set up an annual New Voices Award to encourage new writing in the countries in which we operate and to provide a much needed space for young and unpublished writers to submit their work. The award will actively encourage entries from diverse linguistic regions and communities.

Before PEN International was established in 1921, its founder, Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, set up the Tomorrow Club as a space for aspiring writers to network with more established writers. In 1928, Herman Ould, International Secretary, felt strongly that it was important for PEN to maintain focus on helping emerging writers, and so established a ‘Young PEN’ chapter.

The New Voices Award builds on these ideas, simultaneously reconnecting with our past and moving into the future.

The Philippine chapter of PEN — Publishers, Essayists, Novelists — was founded and organized in the early 1950s by F. Sionil Jose, National Artist for Literature.