After two years of online performances during the pandemic, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) is all set to return to the concert hall for live performances and begin the search for its new Music Director.
Entitled Metamorphosis, PPO’s 38th season, which starts this September, features an outstanding roster of eight conductors will take the podium, five of whom are shortlisted for the Music Director and Principal Conductor position.
Spanish conductor Maestro David Gomez-Ramirez opens the season on September 16. Ramirez has worked with many professional orchestras around the world. He has been chief conductor of the Sagunto Symphony Orchestra, and guest conductor in important orchestras as València, Seville, Madrid, Oviedo and outside of Spain, in France, Portugal, United Kingdom, Mexico, Russia, Romania, Italy, and Vietnam. In 2018, he was guest conductor of the PPO.
Maestro Grzegorz Nowak conducts the second concert of the series on October 7. Nowak is the permanent Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, UK. He was Music Director of the Polish National Opera, Warsaw, Poland from 2017-2020 and other orchestras in Poland, Germany, Switzerland, and the USA. He has conducted orchestral music recorded in over 80 CDs that have received awards and 5-star ratings.
Maestro Noam Zur takes the helm of the PPO on November 11. Since 2017, he was the principal conductor and artistic director of the State Symphony Orchestra of Salta, Argentina. He has over 20 years of professional and conducting experience during which he developed an expansive repertoire in opera, ballet and symphony. He is also a composer and arranger, having recorded his own works in “Funkhausorchester des WDR Köln” in August 2016 which he conducted as well.
Maestro Mark Anthony Carpio will steer the PPO on December 16. Carpio was personally handpicked by National Artist for Music Andrea O. Veneracion to succeed her as choirmaster of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, the award winning choral group she founded. Carpio is one of the most respected figures in choral music and a sought after choral clinician who has given extensive and in-depth workshops all nationally and internationally.
Japanese-American Maestro Shizuo Kuwahara wields the baton on January 27, 2023. Kuwahara is the First Prize winner of the prestigious Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition in Frankfurt, Germany and Principal Guest Conductor of The Mariinsky Theatre, Russia. Kuwahara has led performances throughout Europe, North and South America, and Asia. He was also an Assistant and Cover Conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony and Orchestra de Paris.
Award winning young conductor Haoran Li steps on the dais on February 24, 2023. Li was Assistant Conductor of China Philharmonic Orchestra from 2019-2020 and the National Center for the Performing Arts Beijing, China in 2018. For the 2022-2023 season, he led concerts with La Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Romanian Radio National Orchestra, Lasi Philharmonic Orchestra, Banatul Philharmonie Orchestra of Timișoara, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, and the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra.
The PPO will conclude its 38th season with two more concerts slated on March 17 and April 28, 2023.
Except for the November 11 concert at the Manila Metropolitan Theater, the PPO will be performing at its home at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo for the rest of 2022.
In 2023, PPO will move over to the Manila Metropolitan Theater when the CCP Main Building is closed for rehabilitation.
For more information, visit the CCP (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph) and follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates.
