International artists in town

That's me with Congressman Mel Senen Sarmiento, Pianist Mary Anne Espina and Violinist Gina Medina

As I have mentioned in my earlier blog post, two internationally-renowned artists were in Calbayog for a concert. They were Violinist Gina Medina and Pianist Mary Anne Espina.


Violinist Gina Medina was an attraction of the Filipino Artists Series of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2001 and has performed as soloist of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manila Symphony Orchestra, PREDIS Chamber Orchestra, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Orchestra, among others. A two-time first prize winner of the National Music Competition for Young Artists, Medina was awarded a French government scholarship which gave her the opportunity to participate in several music festivals in France and to study with Oliver Charlier, Dong Suk-Kang, Philippe Bride and the Amadeus Quartet. After her stint in France, she received a full scholarship to study at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where she trained under Professor Pavel Prantl and Barry Wilde, the concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. n 1994, Ms. Medina was chosen concertmaster of the Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO) under the baton of Maestro Sergui Commissiona which toured Taiwan, Japan and the United States in 1995. As a member of the AYO chamber Orchestra, she had the opportunity to perform at the White House, the United Nations during its 50th Anniversary celebration and the APEC Conference in Osaka, Japan as concertmaster.


Pianist Mary Anne Espina is known for her excellence in both chamber and opera music. She is one of the country's most sought after collaborating artists. She continues to team up with outstanding artists in all the major concerts and recital venues in the country. A few of her excellent collaborations include those with renowned Filipino pianist Nena Del Rosario - Villanueva at the Filipino-Chinese Exchange Program held in the People's Republic of China; French violinist Frederic Pellasy; Israeli violinist Hagai Shaham; Russian violinist Anastacia Chebotareva (winner of the Tchaikovsky and Paganini competitions); soprano Joan Gibbons; American cellist Stephen Framil; German violinist angelo Bard; Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu and recently, with the new exciting Filipino cellist Victor Michael Coo. She was likewise the assisting artist for the full-length staging of Mozart's "Le Nozze Di Figaro", "Great Moments in Grand Opera" and for "Puccini: A Retrospect" which featured Japanese Soprano Kaori Sato.