All posts tagged: Manila Symphony Orchestra

Manila Symphony Orchestra presents 'Opera At Kundiman' on Aug. 29 at FEU Auditorium

Carmen, Sung in Tagalog — Twice Now

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Here’s a fact that tends to stop people mid-sentence: one of opera’s biggest, most famous titles — Bizet’s Carmen — has already had a full life in Filipino. Not subtitled. Not surtitled. Sung. In Tagalog. At the FEU Auditorium. In 1956. Most people assume that’s a typo the first time they hear it. It isn’t. On August 29, 1956, the Manila Symphony Orchestra staged Carmen at Far Eastern University using a Tagalog translation by Manuel Carballo Santiago and Vicente Liwag, under musical director Herbert Zipper (who’d inherited the baton from MSO founder Alexander Lippay) and directed by his wife, Trudl Dubsky-Zipper. In the title role: a young soprano named Conchita “Conching” Rosal, who would go on to become one of the defining voices of Philippine opera. Seventy years later, almost to the day, the MSO is bringing her back. “Opera at Kundiman: The Legacy of Maestra Conching Rosal” lands at the FEU Auditorium on August 29 — the fourth concert in the orchestra’s Centennial Season, and a deliberate double celebration: 100 years of the MSO, …

Alexander Vikulov leading the Manila Symphony Orchestra, it was a night of elegance, emotion, and sonic mastery in the heart of Manila

A Night with the Manila Symphony Orchestra: When Manila Breathes in Music

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There are nights in Manila when the city feels louder than usual — not because of traffic or crowds, but because art decides to take up space. This weekend was one of those nights. The rain lingered over the bay, the streets glistened, and the world felt like it was pushing people indoors. Yet inside Aliw Theater, something powerful unfolded: a performance by the Manila Symphony Orchestra that reminded me how alive the city’s cultural pulse truly is. The MSO: Nearly a Century of Sound Founded in 1926, the Manila Symphony Orchestra has lived through war, rebuilding, cultural shifts, and generations of changing tastes — yet it remains steady, almost stubbornly graceful. It’s one of the oldest orchestras in Asia, and every performance feels like a continuation of a legacy Manila is lucky to have. Watching them isn’t just about listening to classical music. It’s about witnessing history breathing. “Dancing with Tchaikovsky”: A Dialogue of Emotion That night’s concert, Dancing with Tchaikovsky, felt like stepping into a story told not with words, but with movement …