New York-based violinist Donnie Fernandez and her marimbist sister Dena will perform in the third Makati sponsored concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the Francisco Santiago Hall of PCIB on Jan. 30.
Maestro Ruggero Barbieri, current director and principal conductor will conduct the PPO.
Donnie formally studied violin at the age of 10, at the Juilliard School’s Pre-college division, where she received the Tito Puente Award. She completed her bachelor and masters degree from Juilliard under the guidance of Joseph Fuchs, then took post- graduate training under Syoko Aki at Yale College of Music and Felix Galimir at the Mannes College of Music.
She has already performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony, the Juilliard String Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet, among others.
Dena, holds a bachelor’s degree in Music from St. Paul College in Manila, majoring in marimba under the tutelage of Ernestina Crisologo. She received the Outstanding Music Performance Award from St. Paul College and was first prize winner in the 1975 National Music Competition for Young Artists in the Philippines.
She attended the orchestra workshop of Maestro Franco Ferrara and participated in the First Asean Music Camp in Malaysia. She currently plays the viola with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.
The concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra is the third of four series scheduled in Makati under cultural renaissance program of Mayor Jejomar C. Binay.
Another PPO concert is scheduled in February in Barangay Bel-Air as one of the city’s activities in celebration of National Arts Month.
