Grammy Award-winning cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio takes the spotlight in upcoming PPO concert

Grammy Award-winning cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio hopes to change Pinoy perception on classical music as she takes the center stage for the Concert II: Triumph of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra on November 15, 7:30pm, at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati.

The second offering of the PPO’s 40th concert season commences with Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, op.34, a five-movement suite based on Spanish folk melodies. Music history shows that Rimsky-Korsakov originally intended to write the work for a solo violin with orchestra, but he settled on an orchestral work to convey the lively melodies.

The program culminates with German composer Robert Schumann’s Symphony no. 2, op.61, C Major. Known for piano music, lieder (songs), and orchestral music, the Romantic-era composer started working on the classic piece in 1845, but it took him 10 months to finish because of his aural nerve medical condition. Symphony No. 2 was first performed in 1846, at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting.

Sant’Ambrogio, meanwhile, will be performing Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, op.85, E minor, with the country’s leading orchestra under the baton of PPO music director and principal conductor Maestro Grzegorz Nowak.

First performed in London in 1919, this Elgar’s classic cellist piece is sombre work that reflects the sorrow faced by the composer’s native land during the tail-end of World War I.

Always pushing the boundaries of classical music and looking for new ways to draw in new audiences, the award-winning cellist first leapt to international attention when she was a winner at the International Tchaikovsky Violoncello Competition in Moscow, Russia. From then on, she has appeared as a soloist in concerts of various orchestras in Beijing, Boston, Budapest, Chicago, Prague, Osaka, and San Francisco, USA, among others.

A founding member of the Eroica Trio, the award-winning cellist has performed with Sting and Joshua Bell in the production of Twin Spirits, featuring the love affair between composer Robert Schumann and pianist Clara. Tracks from her Dreaming solo CD have been featured in various film soundtracks, including the opening title of HBO award-winning documentary A Matter of Taste.

Sant’Ambrogio started her cello studies with her father John, a principal cellist of the St. Louis Symphony. At 16, she was invited on full scholarship to study with David Soyer at the Curtis Institute of Music where she received her high school diploma.

Three years later, world renowned cellist Leonard Rose invited Sant’Ambrogio to study at The Juilliard School. Within weeks of arriving, she won the All-Juilliard Schumann Cello Concerto Competition, resulting in the first of many performances at Lincoln Center.

Catch cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio in a spectacular evening of music that you definitely won’t want to miss on November 15, 7:30pm, at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater. Secure your seats now at https://premier.ticketworld.com.ph/shows/show.aspx. For inquiries, contact the CCP Box Office at +63 931 033 0880 or email salesandpromotions@culturalcenter.gov.ph.