Acclaimed pianist Rowena Arrieta will return to her homeland to perform with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) for the highly anticipated sixth installment of its 40th concert season. Titled Homecoming, PPO Concert VI will share the warmth of home through musical brilliance on 14 March at 7:30 p.m. at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater at Circuit Makati in Makati City.

Echoes of Lithuania

PPO Concert VI: Homecoming will open with Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis’ “Miške” (In the Forest), commemorating the Lithuanian composer’s 150th birth anniversary. When the Nazis occupied his hometown in Lithuania, he turned to art. Ciurlionis created approximately 400 compositions and 300 artworks, blending music and visual arts.

The Lithuanian cultural hero composed his first symphonic poem, “Miške,” for a competition in Warsaw in 1901. It was introduced in the first concert season of the war period, cementing Ciurlionis’ status as one of Lithuania’s patriotic figures.

An aria of love

The concert will also include George Bizet’s Carmen Suite no. 1. Drawn from the composer’s celebrated opera Carmen, this suite’s vivid orchestration conveys the tragic destiny of a free-spirited gypsy woman who had an affair with a young soldier.

The much-anticipated comeback

Arrieta will be playing Franz Liszt’s Totentanz (Dance of Death) in the PPO concert. Composed in 1849, the dramatic piano and orchestra work is based on “Dies Irae” (Day of Wrath) from the Requiem Mass. Arrieta will showcase her world-class technical skills through the piano variations of Totentanz.

Arrieta was hailed the “youngest and most promising of 82 contestants” in the prestigious Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. After winning the competition’s fifth prize and special prize in 1982, she received the title “Laureate.” To this date, Arrieta is the only Filipino to attain this honor.

Arrieta began playing the piano at age two, learned to read notes at age three, and wrote her first composition at age five. She received her first musical training in the Philippines under the tutelage of Philippine Women’s Conservatory of Music’s Leonila Celino, the University of the Philippines College of Music’s Regalado Jose and Reynaldo Reyes, and Carmencita Arambulo of Greenhills Music Studio.

One of the first graduates of the Philippines High School for the Arts, Arrieta received her master’s degree from the renowned Moscow State Conservatory. She received the highest honors under the tutelage of Russian National Artist Yevgeny Malinin in 1985. While in Russia, she also earned a degree in Russian Language Pedagogy. She later pursued Professional Studies at the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky and as a recipient of the Elva Van Gelder Memorial Scholarship.

Arrieta’s accolades include being one of the Ten Outstanding Women in the National Service (1989), Presidential Awards in Performance (1978–1979), and second prize as a songwriter in the 1979 Metro Pop Music Festival. Since 1990, Arrieta has been a faculty member of the National Piano Teachers Guild in the United States. She was then inducted into the Hall of Fame of the US National Piano Teachers Guild in 2009.

‘PPO Concert VI: Homecoming’ takes flight

PPO Concert VI: Homecoming will unfold with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, a renowned violin and orchestra work inspired by George Meredith’s poem of the same title. Composed in 1914, the piece portrays the image of a lark in flight. In The Lark Ascending, Vaughan Williams makes use of sweeping melodies to evoke a sense of freedom.

PPO guest concertmaster and artist-in-residence Diomedes Saraza Jr. will perform this exquisite work, highlighting its emotional depth.