In celebration of Buwan Ng Wika, “Opera at Kundiman: The Legacy of Maestra Conching Rosal” is presented by the Manila Symphony Orchestra Foundation, Inc. and Standard Insurance, co-presented by EastWest Bank, ACMobility, and BYD, in partnership with Far Eastern University, under the season title “In Pursuit of Excellence: CELEBRATION - The MSO Centennial Season”.
For many music lovers today, it may come as a surprise that one of the world's most celebrated operas was performed in Tagalog.
On August 29, 1956, exactly seventy years ago, the Manila Symphony Orchestra staged Georges Bizet's opera, “Carmen” (1875) at the Far Eastern University (FEU) Auditorium, which served as the orchestra's home throughout much of the 1950s. Celebrating its 98th anniversary this year, FEU remains one of the country's foremost educational and cultural institutions. Its auditorium, inaugurated in 1949, is a celebrated Art Deco masterpiece designed by National Artist for Architecture Pablo Antonio Sr.