The Life and Works of Philippine Commonwealth Composer Rodolfo Cornejo: A Lecture-Recital
The Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, in partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Fulbright Philippines, invites you to a lecture-recital on the life and works of Philippine Commonwealth composer Rodolfo Cornejo.
The lecture-recital, featuring Dr Karen Fatima R Francisco and Dr Peter John Marie L Porticos, will focus on the composer’s musical of works written and performed under the auspices of the Commonwealth government in exile during World War II.
This event, made possible with support from the Kwan Laurel Donation to the School of Humanities, is open to the public. To register, please scan the QR code or visit this link.
About the performers
Karen Fatima R Francisco, PhD
Dr Karen Fatima Francisco studied at the University of the Philippines College of Music with pianist and conductor Regalado Jose. After graduating magna cum laude, she was granted a scholarship from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to pursue her masters as a soloist at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, Germany. She earned her PhD in Music, specializing in Music Performance under the guidance of Reynaldo Reyes and Dr Abelardo Galang II at the Philippine Women’s University. Her international career as a pianist, chamber musician, and accompanist has included concerts in the Philippines, USA, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland.
In 2023, Dr Francisco was a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, focusing on researching the life and compositions of Rodolfo Cornejo, a composer from the Philippine Commonwealth era. She also collaborated with Dr Peter Porticos to record Cornejo’s first Philippine Rhapsody for an NCCA Competitive Grant awarded to Ateneo de Manila University, where she teaches music at its Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Peter John Marie L Porticos
Dr Peter Porticos finished a Diplominstrumentalist (Master of Music equivalent) degree in Piano Performance under Prof Walter Olbertz at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin and has attended intensive masterclasses in German Lieder with Prof Norman Shetler at the Universitjät Mozarteum in Salzburg. He has given concerts in Slovenia, France and Germany and was on a second German concert tour with German violinist Annette Mettenleiter in April 2013. He has performed as soloist of the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra under Rodel Colmenar and of the UST Symphony Orchestra under Herminigildo Ranera, Jeffrey Solares, Reynato Resureccion, and Vienna-based concert pianist and conductor Aries Caces.
An active soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in concerts at the Philamlife Theater, BDO Tower, Paco Park Presents, Concert at the Park, the Pundaquit Chamber Music Festival and at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, including its Filipino Artists Series. Porticos also holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree from the Ateneo de Manila and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance, magna cum laude, from the UST Conservatory of Music, where he is faculty.