A THOMASIAN trumpet soloist performed with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in its 35th season last April 13 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Under the baton of Japanese conductor Yoshikazu Fukumara, the concert opened with English composer Fredrick Delius’s “The Walk to the Paradise Garden,” which narrated the tragic story of Sali and Vrenchen from the opera “Village Romeo and Juliet.”
It was followed by the performance of Raymond Deleon, an alumnus of the Conservatory of Music, of the “Concerto in E-Flat for Trumpet and Orchestra,” a three-movement concerto of allegro-andante-allegro rhythm, by Austrian composer Franz Haydn.
“It’s not very often that an orchestra features a trumpet soloist in a concert. And it might be a very long time since the orchestra performed the Haydn Trumpet Concerto,” Deleon told the Varsitarian in an interview.
The concert was capped by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s “El Sombrero de Tres Picos.”
Deleon received the University’s 2004 and 2005 Benavides Award for International Excellence in Music and won in the 2012 Seattle Philharmonic Don Bushell Concerto Competition.
“With all the challenges, my life at UST as a trumpet player, taught me how to be resilient during hard times. I will never forget all the strategies that I had to use to make things work [which I also] apply in my career,” Deleon said.
