98.7 DZFE | The Master's Touch

As a child growing up in humble circumstances, Emmanuel Aller never imagined he would find his voice and his life in the wonderful world of classical music. Join DZFE's Tiffany on MAESTRO FILIPINO to meet this promising tenor, fresh off a successful debut recital of Italian music. * Music featured courtesy of Sy-Facunda Production.

Pianist and pedagogue Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz returns to MAESTRO FILIPINO ahead of the inaugural concert of The Opus 88 — a multi-faceted piano initiative headquartered in the South Metro. He tells DZFE's Tiffany about 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 this August 9 and 16 — and the X-factor shared by each of the pianists contributing to a program of Classical era and turn-of-the-20th-century masters.  M...

Formed over a decade earlier by music-loving Japanese expats, the Manila Chamber Music Ensemble stepped out into new territory last year with a public concert ushering in an exciting era of engagement with local audiences and Filipino artists. The ensemble's violist Hideki Nagae and pianist Mariko Okeda are joined by clarinetist Herald Sison in a trio offering of Mozart, Bruch and Glinka this...

Technology might spell the difference between organists surviving and thriving. AJ Consolacion II joins this MAESTRO FILIPINO with DZFE's Tiffany as he shares music from his second Hauptwerk Organ Concert, a beautiful program of English organ music.  MAESTRO FILIPINO is DZFE's program on the Philippine classical music scene. (For a broadcast schedule, visit dzfe.febc.ph.) Music on the prog...

A late bloomer by his own admission, Rimher Manubay closed a decade of studies in choral conducting by mounting and conducting the Asian premiere of Eric Whitacre's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑒𝑖𝑙. Moreover, he is the newly-appointed Secretary General of the Philippine Choral Directors Association. Rimher joins Tiffany this MAESTRO FILIPINO as we take in excerpts from the stirring Whitacre debut.   MAESTRO FI...

Who doesn't love a good comeback story? Guitarist Bernardo Soler sold his guitar, thinking it the end of a glorious dream. Never did he imagine he would return to classical guitar some three decades later. Join DZFE's Tiffany on this week’s MAESTRO FILIPINO to hear more from Soler, in an interview and a couple of pieces captured in-studio. 

The last time Male ENsemble Philippines featured on DZFE in 2023, the ensemble had no idea they would be taking home laurels from their first international competition just months later. We have them back as they prepare to set off on tour this year — and just in time (as of the first airing of this program) for their send-off concert, 𝗔 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗨𝗦, happening tonight. MEn's Ily Maniano, Tomas...

One does not become a musician to be comfortable. Pianist Brian Berino is at a crossroads. He joins this week’s MAESTRO FILIPINO with DZFE’s Tiffany (Sat 1200h, Sun 2400h, Thu 2000) to deliver a studio recital — Bach, Granados, Scriabin, Chopin — and to muse on the path ahead.

This National Heritage Month, Rachelle Gerodias-Park is Sylvia La Torre in a new concert tribute to the legend of stage, studio, airwaves and screen — 𝑰𝒃𝒚𝒂𝒏𝒈, 𝑴𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒍 𝑲𝒊𝒕𝒂! Rachelle and baritone Byeong-In Park join DZFE's Tiffany on MAESTRO FILIPINO for studio performances of music associated with La Torre, and to discuss the big question that set the tribute in motion. 

The Manila Symphony Orchestra begins on the road to its centenary year with 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒, 80 years after the orchestra mounted a landmark series of concerts in post-liberation Manila.  Classical music was not mainstream them; neither is it today, says the MSO's Executive Director Jeffrey Solares, but it continues to have a vital part to play, and the long history of the orchestra shines a h...

With 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑰 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈, the debut album of the Aleron Early Music Ensemble, the all-male choral ensemble ALERON begins realizing a long-held dream to create recordings completely devoted to early music. Manager Kevin Maske and resident conductor Karl San Jose talk motivation, music, sound-creation and how the album is not actually about sleep — this MAESTRO FILIPINO with DZFE's Tiffany.

Young musicians of the ensemble Pasipo have arranged a pageant of some of opera's colorful heroines. Ahead of the Cultural Arts Events Organizer concert 𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 on May 3, sopranos Angeli Benipayo and Marielle Tuason, together with Pasipo's musical director, pianist Gabriel Ferros Paguirigan, join DZFE's Tiffany on MAESTRO FILIPINO.

The country's first symphonic rondalla, Kuwerdas Filipinas, and an international roster of eight composers meet on the uncharted frontier of literature newly written for the pioneering ensemble: A concert series, 𝐷𝑖𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑔: 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑘𝑎 𝑛𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑎, 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑘𝑎 𝑛𝑔 𝑃𝑎𝑔𝑘𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑎, recently marked the 20th anniversary of the Strings of Unity, the rondalla and plucked string festival out of which Kuwerdas Filipina...

"What is truth?" The urgency of the need to explore the question drove the creators of 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑜 from idea to a full-fledged original musical of epic scope in just one year. Writer-director Eldrin Veloso, composer Yanni Robeniol and musical director Pauline Arejola explain why they staked everything on this ambitious musical, a first for all three in many ways, and why you should go see Pilat...

Mezzo-soprano Michelle Mariposa is one of five victors at this year's Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, one of the most prestigious and influential singing competitions globally, distinguished by its scale, history, and career-launching potential on the landscape of international vocal contests. On this MAESTRO FILIPINO, Michelle joins DZFE's Tiffany to reflect on...

The UP Symphony Orchestra's commitment to new music and Filipino composers, generous initiatives such as its Repertory Reading events, make it one of our most vibrant local orchestras. Ahead of its April 11 concert "By Her Hand" featuring orchestral works by women, assistant conductor Noemi Binag and orchestra manager Bernice Go join DZFE's Tiffany for some very lively conversation...

The fight for the arts can be lonely, but it doesn't have to be. ACOPEI (the Association of Cultural Offices in Philippine Educational Institutions) was formed over a decade ago to bring together educators, culture workers, arts administrators, student artists — anyone at all advocating for the arts in an academic context — in collaborative synergy. Ahead of ACOPEI's 11th National Conferen...

In the wake of international successes and personal loss, he came to the Philippines for love and found a musical rebirth besides. Violinist Alessio Benvenuti's story is one for the books; hear it this MAESTRO FILIPINO with DZFE's Tiffany (Sat 1200h, replaying Sun 2400h & Thu 2000h) ahead of his performance with pianist Mariel Ilusorio in "Musica Sine Tempore", the inaugural co...

Pianist Rowena Arrieta vividly remembers her landmark win at the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, her student years at the Moscow State Conservatory under the tutelage of Russian National Artist Yevgeny Malinin, and the selfless guidance of teacher Carmencita Arambulo, that helped get her there. On MAESTRO FILIPINO, she joins DZFE’s Tiffany for an interview ahead of her solo stint...

The theatrical is as essential as the musical, and so this small opera company has set itself a goal of granting new audiences the opportunity to experience a fully-staged opera annually. In the wake of the Puccini centenary, Lyric Opera of the Philippines goes for big drama with 𝘛𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘢. DZFE's Tiffany is joined by the three singers taking on the main roles — soprano Ana Feleo, tenor Sherwin So...

Early music and the preservation of Philippine organ culture are one aspect of The International Bamboo Organ Festival; another is the broader advocacy for the pipe organ in liturgical music. Featuring in the culminating concert of the International Bamboo Organ Festival this year, "The Splendor of Choral Music" Singer Pauline Arejola and UP Los Baños Choral Ensemble join this MAESTRO FILI...

A landmark Philippine performance of Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers — with the Collegium Vocale Manila, Manila Baroque Ensemble and Belgian period ensemble InAlto — is at the center of the 50th International Bamboo Organ Festival. This MAESTRO FILIPINO, singers Karl San Jose and Rimher Manubay join DZFE's Tiffany in the first of two programs on this special iteration of the country's sol...

It may well be the most striking and adventurous concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra's 40th season, with a program consisting entirely of Philippine premieres, including the world debut of "Wings of Hope", commissioned from Polish-British composer Roxanna Panufnik. To realize its vision, the PPO moves to the Manila Metropolitan Theater. PPO Music Director Grzegorz Nowak gr...

It's been 50 years since Raul Sunico not only learned Sacramento's "Maharlika" concerto, but memorized it overnight, and so performed it for its first audience at Malacañang at two o'clock in the morning. Another incredible fact: The MSO and Jeffrey Solares will be performing with Dr Sunico for the first time at the February 6 concert. Lots to cover this MAESTRO FILIPINO with D...

History repeated itself for the Ligao National High School Voice and the St. Paul College Pasig High School Chorales—both winning in their respective categories at NAMCYA 2014, they did so again at NAMCYA 2024. Conductors Celger Venzon and Sheila Fetalvero tell us how that came about as the winning choirs wrap up the MAESTRO FILIPINO feature on last year’s National Music Competitions for Young Art...