Salonga, Saraza with MSO at the Abelardo Hall on Aug. 20

MANILA, Philippines - Two former prizewinners of the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA) will be heard in a special concert of the Manila Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Molina on Aug. 20, 7 p.m. at the UP Abelardo Hall in Diliman, Quezon City.

Featured soloists are violinist Diomedes Saraza Jr. in Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and pianist Oliver Salonga in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

Praised for his melting lyricism and technical brilliance, Oliver graduated with honors at the Philippine High School for the Arts and won the NAMCYA twice. He debuted at the Cultural Center of the Philippines with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ruggiero Barbieri and with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of George Ellis. He obtained his Master of Music and Artist Diploma in Piano Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the guidance of 2001 Van Cliburn Silver Medalist, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and was awarded the Sadie Zellen Piano Prize. He is presently, a doctoral student in Piano Performance at University of Southern California.

Born to a family of musicians, Saraza took his formal lessons at St. Scholastica’s College of Music under the violin pedagogue Virna Valerio, Prof. Basilio Manalo and Prof. Arturo Molina. He moved to New York in 2005 to pursue his studies in violin at the Mannes College, Preparatory Division. He won the Mannes Concerto Competition which led him to a solo performance with the Mannes Philharmonic under the respected baton of Michael Adelson. He was a prizewinner of the Julliard’s William Schuman Competition. He was also the first Filipino who was chosen as a recipient of Outstanding Academic Achievement awardee of President Obama’s Education Awards Program after graduating high school at the St. Raymond High School for Boys in New York. He recently earned a bachelor’s degree in the same prestigious school studying under a renowned violin pedagogue Prof. Stephen Clapp.

The program includes Dvorak’s Carnival Overture, Op. 92; Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Sz. 112 and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21.

Tickets are priced at P1,000 (orchestra) and P500 (balcony). For details, call 576-3132 or 0906-5104270.