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The Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO), with four Filipino classical musicians participating, kicked off their three-week 11-city tour this year with two concerts at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre (HKCC) Concert Hall on 3 and 4 August 2018.

The AYO, which is due to perform at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines this week on 16 and 17 August 2018, trained for three weeks at a Rehearsal Camp last month at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, before opening the tour with widely applauded concerts featuring soloists Anna Tsybuleva and Yu-chien Tseng in Hong Kong’s premier cultural venue.

The four Filipino musicians who are part of the 100-member orchestra for this year’s tour are Leigh Cellano (Violin), Joven Edward Aquisap (Viola), Marloe Kyril H. Maruyama (Double Bass), and Alexis Constantino (Percussion). The other members come from Taiwan, Japan, mainland China, Korea, Singapore and Thailand.

Consul General Antonio A. Morales attended the August 3rd concert, with AYO founder Richard Pontzious conducting Richard Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger, selected pieces from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet, and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Russian pianist Tsybuleva performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.

The two hour, 20-minute performance received extended uninterrupted applause from the audience, prompting Tsybuleva to play a short piece by Frederic Chopin and the AYO members to take to their feet in a playful rendition of the popular “Infernal Gallop” from Jacques Offenbach’s operetta Orpheus in the Underworld.

This week the AYO is concluding their tour of China, with Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Xian, Xiamen, and Beijing following Hong Kong. Following two performances in Manila, they will proceed to Taiwan – Chiayi and Taipei – before concluding the tour in Japan’s Ayase and Tokyo.

Chosen through highly competitive auditions held throughout the region, the 100 members trained together in a tuition-free summer international cultural exchange program for three weeks in Hong Kong in July.

The Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO), conducted by AYO founder Richard Pontzious, acknowledges the applause of the audience on the opening concert on 3 August 2018 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre (HKCC) Concert Hall that kicked off the three-week, 11-city tour of Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. (Photo credit: AYO)
The four Filipino musicians participating in this year’s Asian Youth Orchestra rehearsal camp and tour pose for a souvenir photo on the stage of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre (HKCC) Concert Hall on 4 August 2018 (from left): Leigh Cellano (Violin), Alexis Constantino (Percussion), Joven Edward Aquisap (Viola), and Marloe Kyril H. Maruyama (Double Bass).(Photo credit: Leigh Cellano)

 

(clockwise from top left): The Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO) rehearses for the opening night concert on 3 August 2018, with Russian solo pianist Anna Tsybuleva, Hong Kong Cultural Centre (HKCC) Concert Hall (Photo credit: Kevin Lau on Facebook); The poster for the concerts in Manila on 16 & 17 August 2018 (Photo credit: AYO on Facebook); The AYO and Tsybuleva acknowledge the audience’s appreciation at the end of the performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini; and Deputy Consul General Roderico C. Atienza (center) join the four Filipino musicians participating in this year’s AYO (from left): Joven Edward Aquisap (Viola), Alexis Constantino (Percussion), Leigh Cellano (Violin), and Marloe Kyril H. Maruyama (Double Bass).