Double Pentagon Concerts presents PRELUDE. A viola recital with Gio de la Cruz. Fe Marsha Nicolas collaborates on the piano.
Date/Time : 6 pm June 7, 2025
Where : Manila Pianos Showroom, 4/f Paseo de Magallanes, Makati City
Ticket Price : P 800.00 (regular), P 500.00 (senior/student)
For ticket purchase, please send your payment to GCASH 0917-415-8876 (Richard S.). Please indicate your name - PRELUDE in the message box.
The program:
1. JS Bach Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
2. GF Telemann Viola Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G9
3. H Casadesus Viola Concerto in the Style of JC Bach - Allegro.
4. J Brahms Scherzo from FAE Sonata.
The artists:
GIO DE LA CRUZ is a percussionist and violist. He started playing the piano and violin when he was 3 years old. His first public performance was at the age of four, as a violinist during his school’s foundation day. When he was 7 years old, he started learning the percussion instruments, the xylophone, marimba and timpani.
As a percussionist, Gio won 2nd prize in the Marker and Pioneer International Music Competition (MAP-IMC) 2021 under Soloist E Category, 3rd prize in the Bacoor International Music Championships (BIMC) 2021 under Solo Xylophone/Marimba Junior Class Category and Silver proficiency in The Asian Music Games Junior Class Category.
As a violinist, he won Honorable Mention under the Prodigy Category of the 2021 International Clara Schumann Competition.
In March 2022, Gio was one of the featured artists in the Sunshine Classics 2022 (online series) “Pinoy Youth Shine” as a marimba soloist. October 2022 was his first live performance as soloist of the General Trias Youth Symphonic Band for the St. Francis of Assisi Town Fiesta.
November 2022 marks his first live performance with the world renowned Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for the CCP’s Tricks and Musical Treats: a PPO Family Concert as marimba soloist. Other marimba performances for the year 2023 includes Youth Resound, Classics in Sunshine Acacia Waldorf School and Young Stars Shine in Sunshine Place Makati.
Last December 24, 2023, Gio performed Solo Xylophone with the Sun Symphony Orchestra in Hanoi Vietnam with Maestro Olivier Ochanine.
Around January of 2024 and at 10 years old, Gio decided to focus on viola playing and performed in his school programs, family gatherings and churches. Because of his interest to join in an ensemble, he joined the summer music camp of the Manila Symphony Orchestra Music Academy last July 2024. After the music camp, he then joined the Manila Symphony Children's Orchestra and the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra Trainees and had the opportunity to perform with the Philippine - Korea Friendship Concert in Manila last September 2024.
As a violist, he was a Bronze Prize winner for the 2024 EUTERPE MUSIC AWARDS Young A-Viola Category last December 8, 2024.
Last December 12, 2024, Gio performed both Marimba and Viola in Malibay Pasay Church Christmas Concert with Pasay City Symphony Band under Maestro Hermie Ranera.
This January 6 - 10, 2025, Gio attended the 2025 8th Asia Suzuki Music Conference held in Deoksan South Korea and performed J.C. Bach Viola Concerto in C minor for his Solo Viola Recital and had the opportunity to experience Viola lessons with Korean Viola Teacher Min Jung Kim, who studied in Germany. He also performed with various Children Orchestra groups and the Manila Symphony Orchestra Music Academy under Jeffrey Solares during the conference.
Last February 2025, he passed the ANSYAS (Annual Nationwide Search for Young Art Scholars) of the Philippine High School for the Arts (Makiling) and will be a Grade 7 student this coming school year. He also had the opportunity to take viola lessons with Aibek Ashirmatov, Principal Viola of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gio also started to write his own music arrangements, compositions and enjoys music theory.
Gioia Francesco Mina De la Cruz is a Grade 6 student of Elizabeth Seton School South Campus in Cavite Philippines and is being mentored by his parents.
FE MARSHA V. NICOLAS is an Assistant Professor at the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music (USTCM). She finished her Bachelor and Master's Degree in Piano Performance at the same University. She is currently finishing her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance (DMA) at St. Paul University Manila. Fe Marsha is also a long time faculty member of Colegio San Agustin, Arts and Sports Enrichment Program (ASEP - Music Department), where she handles students with musical talents aged 5 to 16 demonstrating her versatility in mentoring different levels of budding pianists.
Fe Marsha was a prize winner of the UST Conservatory of Music 1991 Piano Concerto competition where she was eventually being featured as a soloist of the University Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, she performed Chopin's Concerto No. 1 in E minor with the UST Symphony Orchestra in a benefit concert for the Diocese of Laoag. In 2013, she collaborated with Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) percussionist Aimee Mina dela Cruz in the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Special Concert Series. In 2016, she was one of the featured pianists in the UST Conservatory of Music 'Tribute to the Thomasians' held at CCP Main Theater.
Fe Marsha is both a lifetime member of Music Teachers Network Alliance (MTNA) and Piano Teachers' Guild of the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (PTGPFI). She was a former board member of the said guild and is still actively participating in all the guild's performances and activities.
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