“High art” seems worn but it does accurately describe Renato B. Lucas, who was destined for a career as a man of music. Lucas was privileged to have studied at the University of the Philippines, San Francisco Conservatory of Music (USA), Royal Northern College of Music (England), Hochschule fuer Musik Detmold (Germany) and Universitaet der Kunst Berlin (Germany).

He held the Principal Cellist position of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for three decades and appeared as soloist and conductor on various occasions with many ensembles, including the Manila Symphony Orchestra, Manila Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Manila, the Metro Manila Symphony Orchestra and the UST Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed in various music festivals, cello recitals and chamber music performances, including the CCP’s Filipino Artist Series, Coke Bolipata’s Pundaquit Arts Festival, and the Las Pinas Bamboo Organ Festival to name a few.

His versatility is much sought after. He has worked with practically the whole spectrum of music through his varied collaborations, which include pop icons Ryan Cayabyab and Basil Valdez, contemporary choreographers such as Myra Beltran and Nonoy Froilan, film scores with Nonong Buencamino and the late Marilou Diaz-Abaya, and a vast array of contemporary composers from the all around the Asia-Pacific Region. A notable recent collaboration includes accompanying the renowned Filipina pianist Cecile Licad with the Pundaquit Chamber Orchestra.

Memorable concerts include the monumental Dvorak Cello Concerto with the State Philharmonic Brno (Czech) which featured Lucas in their Asian tour, as Principal Cellist of the ASEAN Symphony Orchestra, and as featured soloist of Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for many of its concerts here and abroad. His discography includes recordings with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s Homecoming I Concert of Bruch’s Kol Nidre, which drew rave reviews and was released on CD. A recent CD recording, entitled ROMANZA (Tawid/Ivory with Raul Sunico), received the 2006 Awit Awards for Best Instrumental Recording.

Lucas currently holds an Associate Professorship at the University of Santo Tomas. He gained a Ph.D. in History from the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School with his thesis on the History of the Symphony Orchestra in the Philippines and is a Research Fellow for the University’s Research Center for Culture, Education and Social Issues. Recent appointments includes his tenure as the Secretary General of the National Music Competition for Young Artist (NAMCYA).

Praised for his “lush, exuberant tones“ and “ravishing lyrical moments” Antoni Josef Inacay is a gifted cellist born in Manila, Philippines. Under the tutelage of Wilfredo Pasamba and Renato Lucas, he completed his bachelor's degree from St. Scholastica's College, Manila on full scholarship granted by the Battig Foundation and a recipient of the Sr. Baptista Battig Certificate of Merit. in 2005 when he won the top prize at the Philippine's National Music Competition for Young Artists.

While enrolled in the studio of Rhonda Rider at The Boston Conservatory, Mr. Inacay was a member of the Boston Conservatory Honors Quartet. He also participated in music festivals such as the Cellofest! at the Texas Christian University, The Cello Seminar of Music at Salem, The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Upon his return from his studies abroad, he has been a cello faculty at St. Scholastica’s College, Manila, St, Paul University, Manila, and The Manila Symhpony Orchestra Music Academy. Currently he is a cello faculty at University of Santo Tomas, and Philippine Women’s University. As a cellist, he was featured by the Cultural Center of the Philippine’s Filipino Artist Series and Manila Chamber Orchestra’s Young Artist Series. He was a featured soloist during the MSO’s 2014-2015 concert season, and the University of Santo Tomas Symphony Orchestra in 2016. A couple of years later In 2018, he formed the Manila Piano Trio with Berlin-based pianist Abelardo Galang II, and esteemed violinist Denise Santos-Huang. Their mission and vision is to bring piano trio music by Filipino composers in the world stage. Together they have performed in Manila, Xiamen, and Cairo, Egypt. Armed with a passion to further express the cello's versatility, Mr. Inacay helped form and establish an experimental-alternative-rock band called Silent Sanctuary where he plays the cello and electric cello. Increasing local fame and reputation with the youth resulted in invitations for them to play concerts all over the Philippines' major cities, schools and events. With the band he composed, arranged, produced and recorded songs independently, and with recording contracts under Universal Records, Philippines, Ivory Music and Video, and Ditto Music.

Concert artist and mentor to musicians, Gina Medina Perez has devoted her life to the advancement of violin playing in the Philippines. She concertizes as soloist in the different orchestras in the Philippines and is active in chamber and orchestral music. She has been at various times the concertmaster of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, the Festival Orchestra of the Bamboo Organ International Festival, and the Asian Youth Orchestra. She has also been the conductor of the Philippine Research for Developing Instrumental Soloist (PREDIS).

Gina is a recipient of many scholarships and grants from international and national organizations. She has represented the country and done recitals in numerous occasions in Asia, America, and Europe. She is currently a freelance musician for national and international orchestras. Her recent collaborations include the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra and a 2020 virtual performance with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. As a devoted mentor to aspiring musicians, her students have also won national and international competitions, represented the country in festivals and workshops abroad, and been accepted in prestigious music schools. She also does outreach violin lessons and masterclasses.

In line with her advocacy to uplift the teaching standard of stringed instruments in the Philippines, Gina worked alongside four other colleagues (Salonga, Decena, Huang, and Inacay) to found the Filipino String Teachers Association whose mission is to build a connected, competent, music-literate Filipino citizenry through education and performance opportunities. She teaches at University of Santo Tomas, Philippine High School for the Arts and St. Paul University Manila Graduate Studies. She has previously held the post of Chairman of the Bowed and Plucked Strings and Chamber music category in the National Music Competition for Young Artist and was the coordinator of the Symphonic Instrumental Department at the UST Conservatory of Music where she handled the string, brass, woodwind, and percussion departments.

Gina has a master’s degree in Violin Performance, chamber music emphasis at the San Francisco State University under Fred Lifsitz of the Alexander Quartet. She took her Professional Diploma for Violin Performance at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts under Pavel Prantl and Barry Wilde. Her undergraduate studies were at St. Scholastica’s College under the tutelage of Professor Basilio Manalo. She is currently finishing her Doctor of Musical Arts at the St. Paul University. In pursuit of learning, Gina is currently being trained as a Suzuki teacher.

As an educator for over 20 years, Denise Santos Huang is a coach and mentor to her studio composed of violinists of various ages, where her students have qualified for Interlochen Arts Academy, Asian Youth Orchestra, Weber State University and have also landed auditions for IASAS, AMIS and professional orchestras in Metro Manila. She is.an adjunct faculty member at the Philippine Women’s University, and has served as faculty member at the St. Scholastica’s College of Music from 2010 to 2017, Philippine High School for the Arts, and is the current Strings Division Chair for the National Music Competition for Young Artists.

Denise has played several solo concerts with orchestra as well as chamber music engagements throughout the Philippines, the USA, Asia and Egypt. She has held leadership positions in various local orchestras such as the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Manila Symphony Orchestra, and FilharmoniKa and toured Europe with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra as a young violinist, having performed at top concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw, among others. She has collaborated in concert with the country’s top musicians including Carmencita Sipin-Aspiras, Carolyn Cheng, Alejandro Consolacion II, Mary Anne Espina, Marianne Fajardo, Ivar Fojas, Abelardo Galang II, Hiyas Hila, Mariel Ilusorio, Anjo Inacay, Renato Lucas, Gina Medina-Perez and Greg Zuniega. Aside from playing classical music, she has also played for many pop recordings, TV commercials, musicals and international acts such as Phantom of the Opera, Kinky Boots, Richard Clayderman, Michael Buble and New Opera Singapore’s production of Britten’s Turn of the Screw. A founding member of the Manila Piano Trio, she actively promotes the performance of Filipino chamber music and seeks to provide performance and scholarship opportunities to the youth.

She participated in the Managing the Arts Program at the Asian Institute of Management in 2003 and as an arts organizer enjoys performing for and producing charity concerts, hosting foreign artists in master classes and fundraising events for the benefit of educational causes.

Denise holds a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance at San Francisco State University as a Pone, Morrison, Nagel and Creative Arts scholar under Jassen Todorov and the Alexander String Quartet. She received her Bachelor of Music degree and early music training with Basilio Manalo, Arturo Molina and Socorro Medina- Hara as a PREDIS and Battig scholar from St. Scholastica’s College, Manila, where she graduated as valedictorian of her class. A life-long learner, her current interests include Suzuki early violin pedagogical training and music technology.