missing Cecil Licad

I got a text message from my new friend Pablo Tariman, the Calbayog concert of pianist Cecil Licad is cancelled.

Cecile Licad in Calbayog

International Concert Pianist Cecile Licad will have a concert in Calbayog. This will be on March 24, 2012 at the Ballroom of Ciriaco Hotel.

My video clips from concert 1 of the First Samar International Music Festival

As I have featured in an earlier blogpost, pianist Mary Ann Espina and violinist Gina Medina performed during "Concert 1" the the First Samar International Music Festival. This was held at the Cafe Elsa of Ciriaco Hotel. Here are some of the clips which I took during the performance. My apologies for the quality, I used my tab to take these videos.

more fan pix after the concert

I checked my files and I still got some more pix of the some members of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra with Baritone Andrew Fernando and Pianist Mary Anne Espina. These pix were taken after the 2nd Concert of the 1st Samar International Music Festival which was held last December 5, 2011 at Cafe Elsa in Ciriaco Hotel.

The Artists at tonight's concert

Me with (l-r) Pablo Tariman, Pianist Mary Anne Espina and Baritone Andrew Fernando.

Andrew Fernando, baritone. U.S.-based Filipino Baritone Andrew Fernando was a former member of the Opera Pacific Resident Artist Program where he was seen in more than fifteen productions, notably as Doctor Bartolo in Barber of Seville, Professor Bhaer in Little Women, Marullo in Rigoletto and Kommissarius in Der rosenkavalier. The Los Angeles Times hailed him as the "Young singer to watch!"


Mr. Fernando is the 2003 First prize Winner in the prestigious Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition in the United States. He was also granted the Grand Prize in the 2004 Pasadena Opera Guild Vocal Competition.


During his time in the Philippines, Mr. Fernando sang Marcello in the Cultural Center of the Philippines production of La Boheme, and a Dr. Lavander Gas in Mennoti's Help! Help! The Globolinks! Also an alumnus of the Hongkong Academy for Performing Arts and the University of Santo Tomas, Mr. Fernando has performed in the Hongkong Festival as Zweiter Soldat in their 1998 production of Salome.


In Hongkong, Mr. Fernando was featured as Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus), Slook (La Cambiale di Matrimonio), Baron de Gondremark (La Vie Parisienne), Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale) and title role in Gianni Schicchi under the baton of Maestro Georg Tintner.


He just appeared in a Shostakovich operetta in Long Beach, California and a revival of Pocahontas in Minnesota, USA.


Mary Anne Espina, pianist. This is the second time that Ms. Espina performed in Calbayog. I have featured her portfolio in an earlier blogpost. Please check this link.

Flutist Christopher Oracion with some members of the CKC Youth Symphony Orchestra

Christopher Oracion, flutist. A two-time first prize winner of the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA), Christopher Oracion has shared the stage with Camille Lopez Molina and Tenor Otoniel Gonzaga at the Philamlife Theater and Cecille Licad in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.

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.