BACOLOD City – The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra will open the 14th Bacolaodiat Festival with a free open-air concert at the Bacolod City Government Center on Feb. 1.
The concert – which was made possible through the partnership of the Bacolaodiat Festival, Inc. and the city government – will begin 7 p.m., according to the Bacolod City Public Information Office.
The city hall is the main venue of the five-day Bacolaodiat, an annual local celebration to welcome the Chinese New Year.
Before the Feb. 1 concert, the 80-member Philharmomic Orchestra will also hold a concert at the SMX Convention Center on Jan. 31.
The orchestra – which recently celebrated its 45th anniversary – chose Bacolod as one of its concert venues for its 36th season under Maestro Yoshikazu Fukumura and associate conductor Herminigildo Ranera.
“Bacolod has to grow in all aspects, including culture,” said Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
He added that the concert will “boost our efforts to revive our people’s interest in the performing arts.”
Councilor Em Ang, the concert’s project manager, said she has been meeting with Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) president Arsenio Lizaso and other CCP officials since last year to make sure that the Bacolod concert is included in the 2019 concert calendar of the Philharmonic Orchestra./PN
