PRESS RELEASE
January 17, 2023
THE Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes the year 2023 with pianist Albert Tiu as guest soloist on January 27, 8pm at the Metropolitan Theater. Japanese-American conductor Shizuo Kuwahara leads the orchestra.
Born in Cebu, Philippines, Albert Tiu has been described as “an artist of uncommon abilities” by American Record Guide. He has performed as soloist with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Baden-Baden Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Michigan Chamber Symphony, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Philippine Philharmonic and Juilliard Symphony, among other orchestras.
Recently promoted to Head of Piano Studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, Professor Tiu studied with Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, with Michael Lewin at Boston Conservatory, and with Nita Abrogar-Quinto and Nelly Castro in the Philippines. A recipient of Juilliard’s William Petschek Award and a prizewinner of competitions in Calgary (Honens), Helsinki (Maj Lind) and Santander (Paloma O’Shea), he won the First Prize and two concerto prizes in the 1996 UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa.
Maestro Shizuo Kuwahara is a principal guest conductor of The Mariinsky Theatre, Russia. He is also the First Prize winner of the prestigious Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition, he received prizes from the Malko International Conducting Competition, Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition, Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting, the Prokofiev International Conducting Competition and Fitelberg International Competition.
His conducting career ascended rapidly after winning the Solti Competition, leading to conducting invitations from Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchesters Saarbrücken, Polish Chamber Orchestra, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, and Frankfurt Museumsorchester. With the invitation from Valery Gergiev, Kuwahara made a sensational debut at The Mariinsky Theatre with the production of Verdi’s La Traviata in 2018, which resulted in a long-term relationship with the company.
For ticket inquiries, call the CCP Box Office: 8832-3704/8832-1125 local 1409, or check out Ticketworld (https://premier.ticketworld.com.ph), or visit the CCP website (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph).
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