Gilopez Kabayao - FSTA Artist Feature

Meet GILOPEZ KABAYAO, Filipino Violin Virtuoso! Sections: 00:15 What is your most memorable performance experience? 00:38 What makes it important or memorable to you? 01:23 Who among the legendary violinists do you admire the most? 02:23 What was your encounter with David Oistrakh in the Queen Elizabeth Competition? 03:25 What motivates you to teach and what are your goals in teaching? 04:07 What can you share about practicing? 05:10 What do Filipinos need to raise the standard of violin pedagogy and performance in our country? 05:42 What is your vision for music in the Philippines, with regards to the standards of strings performance and pedagogy? 07:15 What do you think is your greatest contribution to music in the Philippines? GILOPEZ KABAYAO, Filipino Violin Virtuoso The name GILOPEZ KABAYAO will always be associated with violin playing of the highest standard, of a concert career that has spanned for almost seven decades, bringing his virtuosity to major concert halls in Asia, North America and Western Europe. He holds the record of being the only Filipino violinist to debut at the famed Carnegie Hall to critical success at 19. To quote the New York Times, "The young Filipino violinist, Gilopez Kabayao, who appeared at Carnegie Hall, has all the earmarks of a true virtuoso. There is style and authority about his playing, a splendid technique, and even a touch of that natural exhibitionism which is an essential part of the virtuoso's equipment. With his great gifts, Gilopez Kabayao already has a place among the finest of our younger violin virtuosi." His lasting contribution to the cultural and musical growth in the Philippines, however, beyond putting the map of the Philippines thru his repeated and highly acclaimed violin concerts and recitals in many parts of the world, is his one-man crusade of bringing the beauty of classical music to Filipinos from all walks of life in the barrios, schools, open air stadiums almost immediately after his Carnegie Hall success and went on for more than six decades. He saw the need for the Filipinos to experience the joys and power of the kind of music that 'can soothe the savage breast." His lecture-recitals in schools for students of all levels, and public recitals in most unlikely places like hospital corridors, cockpits, marketplaces, boxing arenas are legendary and have earned for himself the President Ramon Magsaysay Award for Outstanding community service, along with the TOYM Ten Outstandiing Young Men Award, the Presidential Award of Merit for Music, and two Doctorate Degrees honoris causa from the University of the Philippines and Central Philippine University. ---------------------- FSTA sits with the pillars of the Philippine string community in our "Artist Series." Being generous musicians and teachers at heart, they have graciously agreed to share their knowledge and experience that span decades and continents to the next generation of rising Filipino musicians. Credits: Featured artist: Gilopez Kabayao Audio mixing and Video editing by Kimwell del Rosario of Musiko Azri Productions, CANADA Music used: Selections from "The Folk Songs" album by Corazon Kabayao and Gilopez Kabayao Pictures shared are from the Kabayao family, and the Facebook page "Gilopez Kabayao: Artist for the People"