Charisse Dumlao

 

CHARISSE DUMLAO, THE ROMANTICISM OF PRELUDES

A woman who is younger has the plus factor of being attractive. But being an adult musician also means having a more mature sense of artistry. Charisse Dumlao, who started playing at the age of four, is well aware of this. Almost self-taught until she moved to Manila, she became a piano virtuoso, engaging in numerous renowned competitions, master classes and festivals. A student of Patria Aliwalas, Peter Porticos and See Siang Wong, she has given concerts in Sweden, Switzerland and in different parts of the Philippines.

Fresh from a triumphal tour with the cellist Thomas Demenga, today he returns to the general public with a new recording project declined in the romanticism of preludes.

“Preludes” is the title of the new album by Charisse Dumlao distributed by Kbox Studios in collaboration with Ditto Music.

«Prelude is an instrumental piece of introductory character. However, in the course of music history, Chopin, through his Opus 28, gave prelude a different meaning, making each piece a self standing form. In my album “Preludes”, apart from the Opus 28 of Chopin, I also included three beautiful preludes from Rachmaninoff namely the G minor, C sharp minor, and the D major. I will also be playing a prelude from Debussy, The sunken cathedral. This piece has a very personal meaning for me, so it is something I have to include in my first album. “Preludes” will be distributed by Kbox Studios in partnership with Ditto Music.»

The magic of a creative process that leads her to the definition of a new artistic project.

«Every moment of creativity is magical. You are filled with inspiration, you lose feeling for time, you forget who you are. It just becomes you and the music.»

For Charisse Dumlao Music is a goddess who shapes all that is abstract.

«Music gave me life, a life that has never been easy. Music took away from me was the poverty and depression I went through.»

She grew up in a family bordering on poverty, in a small town in the Philippines with no contact with classical music.

«Having no electricity for some days was not unusual. So on days when we had had no electricity and the whole neighborhood is quiet, my childhood friends would come by and ask me to play the piano. We all have no idea what classical music is all about, but I played for them and the neighborhood would be filled with music.»

A proudly free artist. A piano virtuoso who, exercise after exercise, never loses sight of her life.

«Being a piano virtuoso nowadays means accepting that you are just one among the many. There will always be an eight-year-old better than you, or a colleague who had made big advancements in their career. You have to learn how to recreate yourself every now and then, and never allow yourself to be burdened by social pressure. Most of all, you have to keep practicing and yet never forget that life is not just all about piano.»

The freedom to express oneself at best, without the fear of being judged. Having clear the next goals to be achieved.

«After a hiatus of almost eight years which ended in 2018, my next goal is to keep going and have more recordings and more concerts.»

A woman and artist, Charisse Dumlao, mistress of her time who rejoices in the results obtained and, day by day, rediscovers the meaning of happiness.

«Happiness for me is knowing that someones day had brightened because they heard me play.»

(C) 2021 Musica Intorno