Peace Philharmonic opens its 2003 season

The Cebu-based Peace Philharmonic of the Philippines opened its 2003 concert season, entitled Timeless Treasures of Musical Masterworks, at the Cebu Marriott Hotel recently.

Under the baton of maestro Chino Toledo, the program opened with the Overture from Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, considered to be one of the 19th century’s most popular comic operas, based on the play of William Shakespeare.

This was followed by Peter Tchaikosky’s Serenade in C for String Orchestra, appreciated by many for its melancholy opening that slowly progresses into one of the composer’s most gracious of waltzes.

Cebuano soprano Jamna Gicole enchanted those present with her original rendition of On My Own from Claude-Michel Schoenberg’s Les Miserables. Baritone Elmer Cabahug joined her for the duet All I Ask of You from the popular Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera, and together they brought the house down with their never-before-heard interpretation of The Prayer by David Foster. Prof. Jeffrey Solares, PPP chamber classics series event chairman, especially did the arrangements for these songs.

Another highlight of the evening was a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto by 15-year-old violin soloist Brian Cimafranca. His powerful performance earned him a standing ovation.

The finale was Tema Russo.

By the end of yet another memorable evening with these gifted musicians, Ingrid Sala Santamaria, Salvador and Pilar Sala Foundation chair, who is the driving force behind the formation of the Peace Philharmonic Philippines (formerly the Cebu Youth Symphony Orchestra founded in 1989), was besieged with warm felicitations and well-deserved praises for her unselfish dedication in assisting children and adults alike in achieving their dreams in learning an orchestral instrument and performing as an orchestral group around the country.

Virginia Davide, wife of Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, with Madame Santamaria as its artistic director, heads the PPP foundation. Trustees include Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., former Cebu City Mayor Ronald Duterte, Baltazar Endriga of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, art patron Manuel Go, and the lady behind many events the city can be proud of, Marissa Fernan.