Lyric Piano and Organ Corporation made its presence felt in the performing arts with a piano recital at the SkyVillas showroom in celebration of Lyric’s golden anniversary recently.
The concert featured young pianists Lorenzo “Enzo” B. Medel and Ma. Regina “Ina” Montesclaros, who are taking up studies for a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music in the USA and the Royal College of Music in London, respectively; and pianist Hiyas A. Hila, who has earned a doctorate in Piano Performance from the School of Music of University of Minnesota.
Medel and Montesclaros took turns in playing solo pieces on the first half: the former playing Philippine pieces, and the latter, works by Liszt and Ravel.
Highlighting Medel’s program was Augusto Espino’s “Piknik.”
Montesclaros capped her playing with Ravel’s Sonatine.
In collaboration with violinists Gina Medina Perez and Denise Santos Huang, viola player Rey Casey Concepcion, and cellist Renato Lucas, Hila capped the program with Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A-Flat major, Op. 81.
Lyric provided the pianists with a brand-new, resonant Ed Seiler parlor grand piano for the performance.
The audience was composed of concert pianists, piano pedagogues and music teachers, classical singers, academicians, writers, students. New National Artist for Music Ramon Pagayon Santos was also present.
Perfect venue
Lyric was commended for the concert’s well-thought-out programming.
Lyric president Alma Joy P. Cristobal stressed her company’s commitment to provide assistance to piano and music schools in their effort to achieve global competitiveness.
The venue, SkyVillas showroom, was perfect for the concert. The spacious lobby, big enough to accommodate over 100 seats which were fully taken, had an ambiance just right for a chamber performance.
Its amenities were ample, and noise from passing vehicles outside did not intrude at all, making listening perfectly engaging.
On hand to welcome the guests was Camille V. Lanuza, SkyVillas customer officer.
At FEU, PWU
Earlier, Hila was the Metro Manila Concert Orchestra’s soloist at the refurbished Far Eastern University Auditorium, with Josefino “Chino” Toledo conducting.
Martin Lopez, director of the FEU president’s Committee on Culture, said Hila virtually inaugurated the newly reconditioned 1947 Steinway piano, the latter now sounding fresh and brilliant after cleanup and restoration by Lyric Pianos.
Metro Manila Chamber Foundation (MMCO) president Boysie Villavicencio thanked benefactors of the foundation.
At the Philippine Women’s University recital hall, pianist Rudolf P. Golez wowed the audience with his rendition of 24 etudes from Chopin’s two sets of Etudes from Opus 10 and 25.
The occasion was the required recital for the doctoral-degree program of the PWU School of Music. Golez is under the tutelage of concert pianist and pedagogue Reynaldo Reyes.
Golez showed keen eloquence in executing the technical requirements of the “studies” (etudes), which consisted of delicate finger study, rapid legato octaves; chromatic scales for some of the fingers; study of the black keys; left-hand accompaniment, and many more. Those are necessary for honing the pianist’s technique.
More than the technical requirements, Golez showed a mature sentiment called for by each study. It was heartening there were no pestering rubatos (“robbed” tempi) but an intelligent, straightforward phrasing.