Lucrecia Roces Kasilag | |
|---|---|
 Lucrecia Roces Kasilag on a 2018 stamp of the Philippines | |
| Born | Lucrecia Roces (1918-08-31)August 31, 1918 |
| Died | August 16, 2008(2008-08-16) (aged 89) Manila, Philippines |
| Occupation(s) | Composer and pianist |
| Known for | incorporationg indigenous filipino instruments of into orchestral productions |
| Awards |  Order of National Artists of the Philippines |
Lucrecia Roces Kasilag (31 August 1918 – 16 August 2008)[1] was aFilipino composer and pianist. She is particularly known for incorporating indigenous Filipino instruments into orchestral productions.
Lucrecia "King" Roces Kasilag was born inSan Fernando,La UnionPhilippines, the third of the six children of Marcial Kasilag Sr., a civil engineer, and his wife Asuncion Roces Ganancial, a violinist and a violin teacher.[2]: 87–88 She was Kasilag's firstsolfeggio teacher. The second was Doña Concha Cuervo, who was a strict Spanish woman. Kasilag later studied under Doña Pura Villanueva, during which time performed her first public piece,Felix Mendelssohn'sMay Breezes, at a student recital when she was ten years old.[2]
Kasilag grew up inPaco,Manila, where she was educated at Paco Elementary School and graduated valedictorian in 1930. She then transferred toPhilippine Women's University for high school, where in 1933 she also graduated as valedictorian. For college, she graduatedcum laude in 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English, in the same university. She also studied music atSt. Scholastica’s College inMalate,Manila, withSister Baptista Battig, graduating with a Music Teacher's Diploma, major in piano, in 1939.[2]: 89 [3]
During World War II, she took up composition, and on 1 December 1945, she performed her own compositions in a concert atPhilippine Women's University. From 1946 to 1947, Kasilag taught at theUniversity of the Philippines’ Conservatory of Music and worked as secretary-registrar at Philippines Women's University.[citation needed]
She completed aBachelor of Music in 1949, and then attended theEastman School of Music inRochester, New York, studying theory withAllen I. McHose and composition withWayne Barlow. Kasilag returned to the Philippines, and in 1953 she was appointed Dean of the Philippines Women's University College of Music and Fine Arts.[4]
After completing her studies, Kasilag made an international tour as a concert pianist, but eventually had to give up a performing career due to a congenital weakness in one hand.[citation needed]
Kasilag was instrumental in developing Philippine music and culture. She founded the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center for research and theatrical presentations, and was closely involved with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company.[5]
She was also a former president of theCultural Center of the Philippines, head of theAsian Composers League, Chairperson of thePhilippine Society for Music Education, and was one of the pioneers of theBayanihan Dance Company. She is credited for having written more than 350 musical compositions, ranging fromfolksongs toopera toorchestral works, and was composing up to the year before she died, at age 89.[citation needed]
Lucrecia Roces Kasilag died due to pneumonia on August 16, 2008, fifteen days before her 90th birthday, in Manila, Philippines.[6]
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