SOUNDS FAMILIAR - Baby A. Gil - The Philippine Star
May 14, 2025 | 12:00am
The MSO is one of the oldest orchestras in Asia and the longest surviving artistic institution in the Philippines. Founded in 1926, it has survived wars, endured hardships and emerged as a pillar of artistic achievement. The ‘In Pursuit of Excellence Season’ will reflect this legacy while looking toward the future with exciting collaborations, world premieres and performances that bring together the best of local and international talent.
Music lovers are in for a wonderful treat as the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) gears up for its hundred years celebration with one concert event after another. The MSO together with Standard Insurance presents the aptly titled “In Pursuit of Excellence.” This is the “MSO 99 Concert Series.”
There is one event scheduled for almost every month starting this May, with the grandest of titles and featuring some of today’s best soloists.
First off, here is “Music for Peace,” the first concert of the season on May 24 at the Aliw Theater on the CCP Grounds in Pasay City. Featured are Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 From the New World and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61, which will be performed with Berlin-based violin soloist Emanuel John Villarin and conductor Marlon Chen.
This opener is one that the MSO is very sentimental about. This commemorates the 80th anniversary of the series of over 150 post-liberation concerts that the MSO organized between 1945 and 1946. It was probably the MSO’s way of helping the battered city of Manila and its people find solace and hope through music. The Dvorak and the Beethoven were among those performed by the MSO during this period.
In fact, the entire Dvorak symphony was one of those featured in the MSO’s very first postwar concert held under the sky at the roofless Sta. Cruz Church in Binondo on May 9 to 11, 1945. The piece was selected by then music director Herbert Zipper because Dvorak derived inspiration from American music for his composition and the show was a tribute to the American forces who helped liberate the Philippines from the Japanese occupation.
As such, the Symphony No. 9 from the New World has come to symbolize peace, unity and healing. It was last performed by the MSO at the Meralco Auditorium in a concert commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II last March 2015. Here now is the chance to listen to it performed live and to give thanks for the peaceful past 80 years.
To continue the schedule: June 28, also at the Aliw Theater, has “A Night in Hollywood” with the Los Angeles Film Composers Intensive (LAFCI) Conducting Fellows featuring American guest conductor Angel Velez and cellist Zoltan Onczay.
Aug. 9 presents “Brazilian Guitar and Cello” with music by Villalobos and Jeffrey Ching plus Fabio Presgrave on cello; Fabio Zanon on guitar, Stefanie Quintin-Avila, soprano and Chen again as conductor.
Sept. 7 is the night of the “Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto” also at the Aliw Theater. This is a Filipino work for Children’s Choir and Orchestra probably inspired by the famous composition of the same title by He Zhanhao with violinist Monica Bacus and the Children’s Choir.
Sept. 27 is titled “Dancing with Tchaikovsky” also at the Aliw. As the title says, the evening features Rococo Variations for Cello and Orchestra and the Suite from the “Ballet Sleeping Beauty” by Tchaikovsky with cellist Damodar Das Castillo and guest conductor Alexander Vikulov.
And then to launch the “Road to 100” countdown to the celebration of a century of performances next year, there will be “The MSO 100th Anniversary Concert,” which will be held at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater at Circuit Makati with pianist Muyu Liu and guest conductor Darrell Ang. No repertoire has been announced but I am sure it will be something memorable.
Jeffrey Solares, MSO artistic director says: “This landmark season will celebrate the MSO’s links with music and artists from various countries and celebrate the richness that has contributed to the current artistic palette of the orchestra. It will also feature the young artists it has nurtured through its scholarship and training programs as soloists.”
The MSO is one of the oldest orchestras in Asia and the longest surviving artistic institution in the Philippines. Founded in 1926, it has survived wars, endured hardships and emerged as a pillar of artistic achievement.
The “In Pursuit of Excellence Season” will reflect this legacy while looking toward the future with exciting collaborations, world premieres and performances that bring together the best of local and international talent.
