The road to Juilliard

MANILA, Philippines - “I actually wanted to play the cello when I was a child,” Diomedes Saraza, Jr. confides. But, growing up listening to his father and older brother Ivan play the violin convinced him to take up that instrument as well. With this decision, Saraza took his first steps into what would become a promising career as a violin soloist, a musical journey that would eventually lead to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.

Saraza was only three years old when his father started teaching him to play the violin. At six, he started lessons under Virna Valerio as a part of the Philippine Research for Developing Instrumental Soloists (PREDIS) founded by Prof. Basilio Manalo and Sr. Mary Placid Abejo, OSB. Manalo himself became Saraza’s mentor and provided the young protégé with some of the most important lessons he has learned as a violinist.

“He was the one that really pushed me,” Saraza recalls. “After him, any tough teacher seemed less intimidating.” Though some lessons would end in tears of frustration, Saraza says that it was Manalo that truly honed his skills as a violinist. “It’s hard if you are always told that you are good,” Saraza adds, remembering how with Manalo, there was always something that could be improved with his playing. With the guidance of his teachers, Saraza won third prize in the National Music Competition for Young Artists in 1998 and first prize in 2002.

His 2003 concert entitled “The Gift” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo, marked Saraza’s debut as a soloist. It was his first time to perform a long repertoire, but on stage, he remembers how all his nervousness disappeared as he started to play. “That’s how I realized that I was a performer,” Saraza says.

With more and more people taking notice of his talent, Saraza was featured as a gifted child in one of the popular Promil commercials. “That’s how I realized that I wasn’t an actor.”

The Promil commercial dubbed Saraza as a “world-class violinist” and it was Prof. Arturo Molina, another one of his mentors and the resident conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, that told him that now he had to prove himself worthy of the title. It was these words, Saraza says, that challenged him to strive even harder.

In 2005, Saraza moved to New York with his brother Ivan, and entered the Mannes College School of Music preparatory division, under the tutelage of Dr. Chin Kim, while completing high school at St. Raymond High School for Boys.

“It was hard to adjust at first,” says Saraza on how different living in New York was, especially for the first two months that he was there. One of the things he had to get used to was taking care of house chores and doing errands by himself. “Wala si mama (Mom wasn’t there),” he says, “so I only had the alarm clock to wake me up everyday.”

Aside from the comforts of home and family, he says that what he missed the most is Jollibee, his friends, and his dog Brahms. Aside from listening to classical music, he also enjoys OPM bands, especially Sugarfree and Silent Sanctuary, which are constantly on his playlist when he is in New York. “Of course, this is still my home country,” he says of the Philippines.

Despite being new, Saraza’s talent made him standout in Mannes, where he won the school’s Concerto Competition in 2007. Saraza also became the assistant concertmaster of the Mannes Philharmonic in 2007 and the concertmaster the succeeding year. He performed at the renowned Carnegie Hall as the first violinist of the Mannes Chamber Institute Piano Quintet.

At the age of 19, Saraza has already won many prestigious awards, including the Woodmere Music Club Young Artist Competition in New York.

Aside from receiving recognition as a violinist, Saraza was an honor student at St. Raymond High School for Boys, where he was member of the Junior Varsity Math Team and the National Honor Society. He was also nominated as one of the best high school students in New York and received the President’s Award for academic achievement.

Despite these accolades, Saraza was not expecting to be accepted into Juilliard. He remembers almost missing his audition since he thought it would be cancelled due to heavy snow. Just like in the movies, he arrived with only a few minutes to spare. He then had to wait three nerve-wracking weeks for the results. “I snuck out of my class to check my email,” he shares. And, as if on purpose, the Internet was unusually slow as he waited for the result. “I had mixed emotions,” he says of how he felt when he read the first lines of the acceptance letter. He was definitely relieved and pleased to be granted a full scholarship. He will be under Stephen Clapp, dean emeritus of the Juilliard School, when he enters the prestigious institution this coming school year.

“I know that there will be many good musicians in Juilliard,” says Saraza. But, instead of being intimidated by the highly competitive atmosphere at the school, he says that he is challenged to do even better and believes that he is ready and able to take on Juilliard. “Confidence lang ang kailangan,” he says. That, and the four hours – or even more – that he spends practicing everyday.

Before he embarks on his new musical journey at Juilliard, Saraza has come home to the Philippines for a concert, Symphonic Virtuosity, with the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO), under the baton of guest conductor Christoph Poppen. “I’m happy to be playing with the MSO again,” he says. Many of the members of the MSO are his childhood friends and it is the same orchestra that shared the stage with him in his debut concert in 2003.

The performance is also important to him because his parents, who have given him unending support, will be in the audience. “Very special ‘pag nakakanood sila (when they watch).”

In Symphonic Virtuosity, Saraza will be playing Paganini’s Concerto no. 1 in D-Major. Paganini, he says, is one of his favorite composers. “His compositions are very technical and they make you become a better musician,” he says. “His compositions are difficult, but you have to make it sound easy, parang naglalaro lang (as if you’re just playing).”

In the future, Saraza says he would like to pursue graduate studies in music. He hopes for a career as a performing artist, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. On the stage, he says, “That’s where I belong.” For a time, he also considered becoming a violin teacher. Continuing his journey through music, the possibilities are endless for the young talent as he proves to truly be a world-class violinist.

“Symphonic Virtuosity” featuring Diomedes Saraza, Jr. with the Manila Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Christoph Poppen is on Aug. 1, 7:30 pm at the Philamlife Auditorium, UN Ave., Ermita, Manila. For tickets, call 985-6114 or 0917-3662651.