The MiraNila Heritage House and Library invites you to attend two of their events – The Strings of Gold: A Send-Off Concert of Cellist Damodar Das Castillo, and the Strings of Gold: The Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra.
The first event will happen on September 19, 2024, 6:00 PM, at the Main Hall of MiraNila. It is the send-off concert of cellist Damodar Das Castillo wherein the virtuoso concert pianist and Julliard-trained Mariel Ilusorio will accompany the famed cello prodigy.
Ilusorio will be playing on MiraNila’s newly restored Steinway 1904 Grand Piano which is considered rare in the Steinway & Sons catalog. The repertoire will present a blending of classical music for cello by Bach and Chopin with popular classical pieces by Nicanor Abelardo, Henry Mancini, and Richard Rogers.
The evening will conclude with a cello concerto by Dvořák, one of the numbers that allowed Damodar to make his mark on the international competition circuit.
The second event will happen on October 1, 20204, 6:00 PM, at The Gallery MiraNila. It is the celebratory Concert of The Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra (MSJO) after their triumphant return from Europe. The 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 9 to 26 years old.
Last July, the MSJO received the gold prize in addition to the Grand Prix in the 13th Bratislava International Youth Music in Slovakia. It was their first participation in the festival.
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 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.
Please take note that the house opens at 5:30 p.m. and the program promptly starts at 6:00 p.m. Tickets will be sold at ₱1,500. Seats are limited and on a first-come-first-save basis. To order, text 0927 277 6335 (Robeen Manalo) 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).
“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.
