The MiraNila Heritage House & Library will be presenting two concerts featuring the talents of cellist Damodar Das Castillo, pianist Mariel Ilusorio, and the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra.
The MiraNila Heritage House & Library will be presenting two concerts at heritage home MiraNila. The first concert is “Strings of Gold: Send-off Concert of Cellist Damodar Das Castillo” on September 19, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at the Main Hall of MiraNila.
Virtuoso concert pianist and Julliard-trained Mariel Ilusorio will accompany the famed cello prodigy, Damodar Das Castillo. Ilusorio will be playing on MiraNila’s newly-restored Steinway 1904 grand piano, considered rare in the Steinway & Sons catalog. At the onset of MiraNila’s construction in 1929, owner Francisca Tirona Benitez and architect Gregorio Paredes, her cousin who trained alongside National Artist Juan Arellano in Philadelphia, conceived the idea of showcasing this instrument with its unusual rococo-style feet. They positioned the piano on an elevated platform at the bottom of an elegantly winding staircase, allowing the expanse of the living room to foreground the graceful setting.
The repertoire presents a blending of classical music for cello by Bach and Chopin, with popular classical pieces by Nicanor Abelardo, Henry Mancini, and Richard Rogers.
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The evening concludes with a cello concerto by Dvořák, one of the numbers that allowed Damodar to make his mark on the international competition circuit. Damodar established his reputation at age seven. Guided and inspired by his cellist father, he joined the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra as its youngest member in 2015, rising to become its most frequently featured soloist. A two-time Ani ng Dangal Awardee in Music, Damodar went on to garner top prizes in prestigious international competitions, including The Young Musician in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2019; the International Anton Rubinstein Competition Cello Junior in Dusseldorf in March 2020; the Young Ludwig Youth Music Competition Age Group 2 in Berlin in September 2020; and the Musica Goritiensis International Music Competition Category C in Gorizia, Italy, in July 2021. Damodar is currently enrolled in pre-college at the Mozarteum University Salzburg under Prof. Barbara Lübke-Herzl. He was recently offered a scholarship to further his studies under Prof. Valentin Radutiu at the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music in Dresden.
Standard Insurance Company, under its Chairman Ernesto T. Echauz, has been Damodar’s constant supporter, gifting him with a cello handcrafted by Master Luthier George Gerl, a winner of the 2012 German Musical Instrument Prize.
Mariel Ilusorio is a virtuoso concert pianist and a seasoned music educator. She studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, and the State Academy of Music and Theater in Hannover. Top prizes came her way in piano competitions under the tutelage of Stella Brimo, followed by studies and performances in the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia. After 26 years, Ilusorio returned to the Philippines. She concurrently serves as an organizer of concerts and recitals and is in the faculty of the UST Conservatory of Music, St. Scholastica’s College of Music, Philippine High School for the Arts, and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Manila.
The second concert at the same venue will be “Strings of Gold: The Manila Symphony Orchestra Returns Triumphant from Europe” on October 1, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.
Last July, the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra (MSJO) received the gold prize in addition to the Grand Prix in the 13th Bratislava International Youth Music in Slovakia. Only two companies were awarded the Grand Prix in Bratislava this year: the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool Pretoria from South Africa for their choir, and the MSJO from the Philippines for their orchestra. In the same month, the MSJO journeyed to Mozart’s Vienna and garnered the top prize at the prestigious 2024 Summa Cum Laude International Music Festival, a reprise of their golden win of 2021, besting 140 orchestras from 33 countries.
The repertoire for the second “Strings of Gold” concert will include classical works for strings by Josef Suk, Antonio Vivaldi, and Antonín Dvořák, as well as popular classics by Andrea and Ennio Morricone, Harold Arlen, Ryan Cayabyab, Conrado del Rosario, BINI, and Benny Castillon, among others.
The Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra (MSJO) is the string orchestra training program of the MSO Foundation. The junior orchestra is composed of the most advanced students of the MSO Music Academy and other qualified students ages nine to 26 years old. To date, several MSJO members are enrolled in leading music schools in the United States and Europe, such as the Juilliard School in New York, Cleveland State University, the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, and the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.
The MSJO is principally supported by Standard Insurance Inc., under its corporate motto “In Pursuit of Excellence.”
Join them in these conversations and celebrate the triumphant return from Europe of the MSJO on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The House opens at 5:30 p.m. and the program promptly starts at 6:00 p.m.
Guests are requested to kindly wear soft-soled shoes as these are kinder to old floors.
“Strings of Gold” is presented by the Benitez-Tirona MiraNila Foundation in partnership with the Erehwon Center for the Arts and Gallery MiraNila by The Blue Leaf, with support from the Bizu Groupe.
For the general public: Limited seating tickets for “Strings of Gold” are available on a first-come-first-save basis. Text Robeen Manalo at 0927 277 6335 for tickets. MiraNila Heritage House & Library is located at 26 Mariposa Street, Brgy Bagong Lipunan Crame, QC (find us on Facebook: MiraNila Heritage House and Library).
Photos courtesy of Benitez-Tirona MiraNila Foundation.
