J O V I A N N E Y  E M M A N U E L  C R U Z, piano (P H I L I P P I N E S)

JOVIANNEY EMMANUEL CRUZ is the most internationally awarded Filipino concert pianist. He was a prizewinner in the Jose Iturbi (Valencia), the Pilar Bayona (Zaragoza), the Concurs Internacional Maria Canals (Barcelona), and the Jaen International Piano Competitions in Spain, the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York, the Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition in Milan, and the International Competition for Piano and Orchestra in Sicily. He has also won First Prize in the Bergen Philharmonic Solo Competition, the Haddonfield Symphony Solo Competition, the Queens Symphony Soloists Competition, the New York State Music Teachers Association, and the Five Towns, Great Neck, and Port Washington Piano Competitions. Mr. Cruz has performed as soloist with major orchestras in four continents. He has also amassed hundreds of solo recitals and chamber music collaborations, and constantly conducts master classes all over the world. His participation in music festivals in New York, Germany, Spain, and Malaysia, has given Mr. Cruz critical acclaim. Audiences describe his solo recitals as “sublime”, “colourful”, and “fantastic”, and his performance of Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto was praised as “…technically impeccable”. The New Straits Times called his rendition of Mozart at the International Piano Festival in Kuala Lumpur, “…a thrilling performance of an exquisite interpretation…showed his artistry, his finesse, and his sensitivity as a pianist. He made the piano sing from the first note to the last, every nuance and every phrase beautifully executed.” A former child prodigy, Mr. Cruz began his piano studies at the age of three with his mother, Lourdes Lacson Villanueva-Cruz. At age 6, he was invited to give a command performance at the Malacañang Palace and at age 10, he made his orchestral debut with the Philippine Youth Orchestra after winning First Prize in the National Music Competitions for Young Artists. He was granted scholarships for piano studies abroad, first at the Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, England, and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York where he was a pupil of the eminent piano pedagogue Solomon Mikowsky. At MSM, Mr. Cruz was a winner of both the Preparatory and College Divisions Concerto Competitions and a recipient of the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, the Elva Van Gelder, and the Anne-Marie McDermott Memorial Scholarships. He received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees in Piano Performance, and was awarded the Harold Bauer Award, the most coveted given to a pianist with the highest honors at the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Cruz is a member of the Piano Faculty at the University of the Philippines College of Music. As a mentor, he has produced prize-winning students, while as an artistic director and concert promoter, he is one of the pioneers for the renaissance of Classical Music awareness in the Philippines. Most recently, Mr. Cruz received rave reviews as the featured soloist in the Toyota Classics 2006. In the same year, he was the Founder and Artistic Director of OPUSFEST: The First International Piano Festival Philippines. In 1996, President Fidel V. Ramos conferred on Mr. Cruz The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for his contribution to the Arts. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, has dubbed Mr. Cruz as “…one of the greatest pianists the country has ever produced!”