RYAN CAYABYAB & FRIENDS CONCERT SERIES

Ultimate Entertainment Inc., together with Resorts World Manila will stage a concert of Mr. Ryan Cayabyab  with his friends Ms. Dulce, Mr. Jett Pangan and Ms. Bituin Escalante on June 28, 2011 at the Newport Performing Arts Theatre. 

RYAN CAYABYAB

In a country known for its musical talent and international singers, only one name stands out as outstanding and special – Ryan Cayabyab. Affectionately called "Mr. C" by Filipinos all around the world, Ryan is well-loved, respected and admired. Prolific in his musical works, Cayabyab's career has been marked by rare musical milestones.

His works range from commissioned full-length ballets, theater musicals, choral pieces, a Mass set to unaccompanied chorus, and orchestral pieces, to commercial recordings of popular music, film scores and television specials.  Ryan was the first Filipino Grand Prize Winner in the 1st Metro Manila Popular Song Festival in 1977. He was recently under public eye during the second half of 2006 as resident judge for the first season of Philippine Idol.

Cayabyab initially took up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in the University of the Philippines, Diliman.  But at the same time, he looked for a job in order to support his studies, and eventually landed with then Senator Salvador Laurel as accompanist for the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Chorale Ensemble. Noticing Cayabyab's exceptional talent on the piano, Laurel offered Cayabyab a scholarship which would allow Cayabyab to shift his course and pursue an education in music.

And so Cayabyab later graduated from the UP College of Music earning a Bachelor of Music, Major in Composition degree.  After that, he became a full time professor for the Department of Composition and Music Theory in the UP Diliman for almost two decades.

In the late 1990s, Cayabyab was about to bring his family and migrate abroad, but when offered by Danding Cojuangco (President of the San Miguel Corporation) a command post that would give him full access in producing and performing new music that would bring forth a fresh wave to the Philippine music scene, Cayabyab accepted the offer.

As music director, conductor and accompanist, he has performed with leading Philippine music personalities at Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center in New York City; Carnegie Hall (both the Main and Recital halls) in New York; the Kennedy Center and the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.; the Shrine in Los Angeles; the Orpheum in Vancouver; even at the Circus Maximus of the Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

He has traveled as music director in most of the Southeast Asian cities, in the cities of Australia as well as in Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Japan and the United States.  He has worked in the same shows with Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra, as well as conducted the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for special performances of American jazz singer Dianne Schuur and pianist Jim Chappel.

He has performed as music director in command performances for King Hasan II in Rabat, Morocco, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain in Manila, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in Tangiers, Queen Beatrix at the Noordeinde Palace in The Netherlands, and U.S. President Bill Clinton in Boston, Massachusetts.

In Manila, he has conducted the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cultural Center of the Philippines for a concert of Philippine and American contemporary music; and the Manila Chamber Orchestra for a concert of his original works.

Ryan, Ryan, Musikahan, Mr. C’s television show, has won a total of fourteen awards as Best Television Musical Show and for Mr. C, the Best Show Host in various television award-giving bodies.  Likewise, as an artist, producer, arranger, and composer, he has won a total of eighteen awards from the recording industry for various commercial recordings. He has produced albums of the popular Filipino teen group Smokey Mountain, Broadway and West End's diva, Lea Salonga, and Spain's internationally-acclaimed singer Julio Iglesias.

In 2006, Cayabyab signed on as a resident judge for the first season of Philippine Idol, offering critiques for the contestants on the reality-talent show.  He was said to be personally chosen by the top guns of Philippine Idol.

Ryan Cayabyab has been a prolific movie composer and among the movies that contain his original works are:

1.     Deathrow (2000)

2.     Azucena (2000)

3.     Kahapon, May Dalawang Bata (1999)

4.     Tatlo...Magkasalo (1998)

5.     Anak ng Bulkan (1997)

6.     Ang Lalaki sa Buhay ni Selya (1997)

7.     Ligaya ang Itawag Mo sa Akin (1997)

8.     Vulcan (1997)

9.     Abot Kamay ang Pangarap (1996)

10.     Inagaw Mo ang Lahat sa Akin (1995)

11.     Closer to Home (1995)

12.     Saan Ka Man Naroroon (1994)

13.     Kailangan Kita (1993)

14.     Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal (1992)

15.     Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (1991)

16.     Toyland ng Dalawang (1989)

17.     Misis Mo, Misis Ko (1988)

18.     Karnal (1984)

19.     Desire (1982)

20.     Aguila (1979)

21.     Masikip, Maluwang... Paraisong Parisukat (1977)

22.     Magandang Gabi sa Inyong Lahat (1976)

Among his many works, his theater musicals Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo have won acclaim and have been performed extensively in the cities of Japan in 1994 and 1996, with a special NHK broadcast in November of 1996, and in Kuala Lumpur in 1996. Another musicale, Magnificat, has logged in almost 200 performances.

His other popular musicals include Katy (words by Jose Javier Reyes), Alikabok, Ilustrado and the classic pop-ballet Rama Hari (words by 2006 National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera). His latest opera, Spoliarium (libretto by Fides Cuyugan-Asensio), premiered in February 2003 at the Tanghalan Nicanor Abelardo of the CCP, and is to be followed by another opera also with Asensio, Mariang Makiling at Ang Mga Nuno sa Punso, with music also by Ryan Cayabyab.

Ryan Cayabyab is 2004's Gawad CCP Awardee for Music.  On February 2, 1999, he was selected as one of the 100 awardees of the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts . He became the first recipient of the Antonio C. Barreiro Achievement Award on 4 May 1996 for significant and lasting contributions to the growth and development of Filipino music. Likewise, on 18 June 1996, Awit Awards, the recording industry awards, awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award for "invaluable contribution and outstanding achievements in the promotion and development of Filipino music." The University of the Philippines Alumni Association has conferred upon him the Professional Award in music for the year 1998.

            Ryan Cayabyab receiving his award for Misa 2000 in the Onassis International Cultural Competition in Greece.

Ryan Cayabyab is a laureate of the Onassis International Cultural Competitions (2nd Prize), having won for original music composition for dance (2001).

He is a TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men) awardee for contemporary Filipino music in 1978. He won the Grand Prize award at the first Metro Manila Popular Song Festival for the song "Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika".

As of 2006, he has won three international Grand Prix awards for his compositions: in the First Seoul Song Festival, in the Voice of Asia Song Festival in the former U.S.S.R., and in the Tokyo Music Festival.  He has won the Jingle of the Year award from the Philippine advertising industry as well as Bronze Awardee at the New York Film and Television Awards.  He has won a total of ten best movie score awards from the various film award-giving bodies.

Ryan Cayabyab was also the Executive and Artistic Director of the San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts.  He was the conductor of the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra (SMPO) and the San Miguel Master Chorale (SMMC). Under his direction, the SMPO and the SMMC have recorded seven award-winning albums to date: Great Filipino Love Songs (2004), Great Original Pilipino Music by Ryan Cayabyab (2004), The Sacred Works of Ryan Cayabyab (2004), Pasko I and Pasko II (2005), Great Original Pilipino Music from the Movies (2006), and Dancing in the Rain (2006).

JUNE 1, 2011  "PRESSCON"