Albert Tiu featured in PPO’s concert this February
THE Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of music director Olivier Ochanine, features Filipino pianist Albert Tiu in its concert on Feb. 22, 8p.m., at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater).
Billed as “Shakespearean Delights”, the program consists of Nicolai’s Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor, Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Mendelssohn’s Suite to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and Walton’s Suite from Henry V.
Born in Cebu, Philippines, pianist Albert Tiu has been labelled “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. In 2005, he gave the Singapore premiere of Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony under Muhai Tang in the Esplanade Concert Hall. With an eclectic repertoire ranging from Sweelinck to Stockhausen, he has performed in venues such as Orchestra Hall in Detroit, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Hamburg Musikhalle, and the Great Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg. His performances have been broadcast on WQXR New York, CBC Canada, SABC South Africa, BBC, ABC Australia, Radio YLE in Finland and Symphony 92.4 Singapore.
After studies with Nelly Castro in Cebu, with Nita Quinto in Manila, with John Winther in Hong Kong, and with Michael Lewin in Boston, Albert Tiu studied with Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, where he received the 1998 William Petschek Award, resulting in a debut recital in Lincoln Center’s Tully Hall. In 1996, he won the First Prize and two special prizes in the UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa. He is also a laureate of competitions in Calgary (Honens), Santander (Paloma O’Shea), Helsinki (Maj Lind), Seoul (Han Romanson), and the Web Concert Hall online competition.
Likewise, Albert has collaborated in chamber music with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Ysaÿe Quartet, T’ang Quartet, Australian String Quartet, Muir String Quartet, violinists Pierre Amoyal, Cho-Liang Lin, Kam Ning, Qian Zhou and Robert McDuffie, violist Nobuko Imai, clarinetist Charles Neidich, and in duo-piano concerts with Thomas Hecht. Now an Associate Professor of Piano at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, he also taught in the Juilliard Pre-College Division before moving to Singapore in 2003.
The next PPO concert is on March 22 entitled as “The Maestro’s Maestro” to be conducted by Mark Gibson with Chinese violinist Gao Can as guest soloist.
Tickets are P1,000, P800, P500, P350, and P200, with discounts available to students, senior citizens and groups. Subscription packages are also available. For details, call the CCP Marketing Department at tel. 832-1125 loc. 1806; CCP Box Office (832-3704) or Ticketworld at National Book Store (891-9999).
