Top pianist Salonga to open CCP Special Concert Series

Superb young pianist Oliver Salonga is the first featured artist of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Special Concert Series 2016, which will open at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino at 7:30 p.m. on July 27. 

Praised for his emotional energy and technical brilliance, Salonga has enthralled music aficionados in concert halls in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Australia, and the Philippines.

The two-time winner of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (Namcya) is an alumnus of the Philippine High School for the Arts, where he was named Outstanding Graduate Artist for Music.

Salonga recently obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of Southern California under the guidance of Norman Krieger. He also minored in Music Analysis, Music Management, Audio-Engineering, and Collaborative Arts.

In 2009 and 2011, respectively, he obtained his Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma in Piano Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music under 2001 Van Cliburn Silver Medalist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and was awarded the Sadie Zellen Piano Prize. Under his guidance, Salonga won the Gold Medal in the 2008 Jeonju International Piano Competition in South Korea.

He has been invited to join the world’s most prestigious competitions, including the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (2010), Scottish International Piano Competition (2011), and Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition (2011).

Salonga is currently under the guidance of Prof. Angela Cholakyan, a Russian concert pianist and pedagogue, at the Soochow University in China and serves as her assistant. He also handles piano-duo ensembles and piano students in the preparatory division. Thanks to her guidance, he won second prize in both the 2015 Steinway National Piano Competition and the 2015 Yamaha Piano Competition in China.

His program is as follows: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110; Chopin’s Introduction and Variations on La ci darem la mano, Op. 2; Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36; and Liszt, Rhapsodie Espagnole, S. 254.

Salonga will also give a piano masterclass at the same venue on Aug. 2.

For information on tickets, regular and student subscriptions, call Paulo Perez of the the CCP Marketing Department at (632) 832-3704.