PPO opens 2026 with 'Concert V: Preludi'

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra will open 2026 with Concert V: Preludi on 16 January, 7:30 p.m., at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati City.

The concert will form part of the orchestra’s 41st season and will be conducted by music director Grzegorz Nowak. The programme will feature works by Jeffrey Ching, Frédéric Chopin, and Franz Liszt, with soprano Andion Fernandez and pianist Szymon Nehring set to appear as guest soloists.

The evening will open with Ching’s Fenghuang Singing, written in 2019 for New Music in Sachsen-Anhalt to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The piece blends musical ideas from East and West Germany and draws on the image of the fenghuang, or phoenix, symbolising destruction and renewal. Fernandez will perform the vocal part for Concert V.

Fernandez is a former soloist of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She won first prize in the Voice Category of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists Foundation in the 1980s, studied under National Artist for Music Fides Cuyugan Asencio, and later graduated with honours from Berlin’s Universität der Künste.

The programme will continue with Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, composed before the composer turned 20. The concerto reflects Chopin’s early artistic direction and features a lyrical and reflective slow movement. Nehring will perform the concerto with the orchestra.

Nehring won First Prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv in 2017 and was a finalist at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw at age 19. He later completed his Artist Diploma at Yale University.

The concert will close with Liszt’s symphonic poem Les Préludes, inspired by the writings of French poet Alphonse de Lamartine. The work unfolds in five sections, from a subdued opening to a triumphant march.

Tickets will be available through TicketWorld, priced at ₱3,000, ₱2,500, ₱2,000, and ₱1,500. PPO subscribers will receive a 20 percent discount.

Visit the CCP’s website for more updates on PPO and its upcoming performances.