21 June 2008

FILIPINO PIANIST RAUL SUNICO PERFORMS IN SYDNEY

            Filipino pianist Raul Sunico performed at the Conservatory of Music of Sydney on June 13, a gala event among a series of many events celebrating the 110th anniversary of Philippine Independence in New South Wales.

            The Philippine Consulate General in Sydney invited Dr. Sunico to Australia and to perform in a solo piano concert at the Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

            Sunico serenaded the audience with an one-and-a-half hour repertoire which included works by Chopin, Liszt, Enrique Granados, Francisco Buencamino, Ernani Cuenco, and Constancio de Guzman.

            Sunico’s performance was well-applauded by the audience, which included New South Wales Governor Professor Marie Bashir, Member of Parliament Daryl Maguire, Lord Mayors Greg Matthews and Kerry Pascoe, members of the consular corps, and officials and members of the Filipino Community.

            The ovation at the end of the performance drew an encore piece, a transliteration of an operatic piece by Wagner, in honor of Governor Bashir, who is an aficionado of Wagner. Governor Bashir is the ex oficio representative of the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

            Sunico is an internationally-known concert pianist who has performed in solo concerts all over the world. The dean of the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, he is the recipient of a number of international awards and citations. He is also a prolific music arranger, having composed piano arrangements for popular Philippine kundiman, folk and contemporary music, which he performs at his overseas concerts.

            The Filipino audience, Australian officials, and diplomatic officers echoed one sentiment about the concert’s soloist – that Sunico is an excellent musician and his performance was brilliant.

            The concert of Dr. Raul Sunico is part of the Philippine Consulate’s programme to promote Philippine art and culture in Sydney. The Consulate had facilitated the participation of writer Dr. Jose Dalisay at the Sydney Writer’s Forum and film director Brillante Mendoza at the Sydney Film Festival, which showed the films Tirador and Foster Child.