Four encores for Olivier Ochanine, youngest PPO conductor

MANILA, Philippines - Following his resounding four-encore debut as the new – and youngest ever conductor and musical director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the 30-year-old French-born but United States-raised Olivier Ochanine was honored in a private celebratory dinner hosted by Cultural Center of the Philippines trustee Nedy Tantoco.

Held at the Upper Lobby of the Peninsula Manila – with a musical sextet on hand to provide a musical interlude over dinner – the dinner had Italian Ambassador Luca Fornari and his wife Silvana and CCP president Ambassador Isabel Wilson offering words of felicitation to Olivier before the six-course repast began.

In his response, a somewhat bashful Olivier said he was overcome by the welcome he received in the Philippines, both from inside and outside the CCP. He added that he was here as much to learn from the experience of being the PPO musical director as he is to impart his musical knowledge.