Twenty-three year old young award-winning violin virtuoso Diomedes Saraza Jr. opens the Special Concert Series of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in a homecoming concert on Wednesday, July 17, at 7:30 PM at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater).
Saraza is fresh from his studies at the Juilliard School where he recently finished his Bachelor of Music degree in Violin, under the tutelage of Stephen Clapp. His graduation recital drew a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience.
Saraza is a product of the School of Music of St. Scholastica’s College where he started his formal lessons at the age of five, first with Virna Valerio, then with Prof. Basilio Manalo before transferring to Prof. Arturo Molina.
He was a first prize winner of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) in 2002. He moved to New York in the summer of 2005 to pursue his studies in violin at the Mannes College, Preparatory Division under the tutelage of respected violin pedagogue, Dr. Chin Kim. In 2006, he participated in the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont and played the Khachaturian Violin Concerto for the opening concert. In 2007, he won the Friday-Woodmere Young Artist Competition in Hewlett, NY and was featured in WQXR 96.3’s Rob Sherman’s Young Artist Showcase. In 2008, he won the Mannes Concerto Competition which led him to a performance with the Mannes Philharmonic under the baton of Michael Adelson. Later that year, he became the concertmaster of the Mannes Philharmonic In 2009, his chamber group won the American Teacher’s League Competition and was later featured in Carnegie Hall.
At 19, Diomedes made his concert debut with the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble at Julia Richman Auditorium in New York. He was a prizewinner of the Juilliard Schools’s William Schuman Competition and was featured in all-sonata concert Sonatenabend of the Juilliard School.
His program includes Bach’s Sonata in C Major, Zhu’s Poeme and Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata. Collaborating with him on the piano is Greg Zuniega, a piano faculty of St. Scholastica’s College School of Music.
The other featured artists of the Special Concert Series are international prize-winning trumpetist Raymond de Leon on September 4, and female percussionist Aimee Mina-de la Cruz on November 12.
For ticket inquiries, call the CCP Box Office at (+632) 8323704, or Ticketworld at (+632) 8919999.
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