16/07/2018
***LYDIA WALTON IGNACIO TRIBUTE***
THE CRS NATIONAL COMPETITIONS IS AWARDING A NEW CD RECORDING GRANT PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION COSTS!
Visit www.crsnews.org to download the Competitions Application for More Information!
CRS Vice President and Co-Founder, Lydia Walton Ignacio, attended the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music in Manila, earning a bachelor’s degree in music. Later she became the first prize competition winner of the National Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, open to the most gifted pianists throughout the Philippines. She represented the Conservatory in numerous concerts, including a performance of said Concerto with the Manila Symphony, the nations leading orchestra. This lead to a scholarship from the Music Foundation of the Philippines to study abroad, where she simultaneously received a scholarship from the Peabody Conservatory of Music studying piano with Mieczyslaw Munz and Leon Fleisher. Their, she earned the Masters Degree and Artist Diploma. She was also awarded the Institutes Lillian Gutman Memorial Prize for excellence in piano performance. For years, she taught at the Combs College of Music and performed as company pianist for Pennsylvania Ballet, where she performed the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, with the ballet orchestra in addition to many other events. A much sought after recording artist, she participated in more than 100 composers recordings, many of them world premieres, including prestigious artists from the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and celebrated artists from the Juilliard, Curtis Institute and University faculty throughout the US. She also taught piano and accompanied students in repertoire classes at the Peabody Conservatory. The Philadelphia Inquirer gave due credit for her vast number of CD recordings and the New York Times commented on her performance of the Mendelssohn Sonata, stating…” accompanist, Lydia Walton Ignacio, shape these large scale pieces pliantly yet firmly.” Needless to say, her colleagues, friends and students will miss Lydia Walton Ignacio, who gave so much in music, but expected little in return.
