07 May 2012 - Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, H.E. Victoria S. Bataclan joined the audience of Europeans and Filipinos that gave several standing ovations to Michael Lao Cu, Filipino piano virtuoso, during his solo piano concert held on May 4.

With the theme "REFLETS Musique des Philippines et d'ailleurs (Reflections: Music from the Philippines and elsewhere)," the concert held at the prestigious Philharmonie Luxembourg showcased the works of great Filipino composers played side by side with the western classics that inspired their creation.

Mr. Cu's repertoire included works by Philippine National Artists Bernardino Custodio, Francisco Buencamino, Augusto Espino, Ramon Santos and Nicanor Abelardo.  These Filipino classics were performed back-to-back with western ones by composers from Russia (Rachmaninov), France (Debussy, Ravel), the U.S. (Gottschalk), Hungary (Bartok) and South America (Ginastera).

The concert was organized as a fundraising activity by the Luxembourg-Philippines Action for Development (LPAD), one of the major Filipino community organizations in Luxembourg and WEGA Aide Humanitaire, a non-governmental organization. This event was also under the patronage of the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Luxembourg and aimed to introduce the Philippines and its culture to Europe through music.

The proceeds of the recital are intended for projects of LPAD and WEGA in the Philippines that are currently focused on sustainable development, environmental protection and women empowerment in the Mindanao region.

This is Mr. Cu's second piano concert, the first one held at the Banque de Luxembourg on 13 February 2012.

Mr. Cu holds a Master's Diploma with Distinction at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels Belgium and a Music Degree in Piano Performance, Summa Cum Laude from Towson University in Maryland, USA. He has already joined a number of competitions both in the Philippines and abroad (United States and Belgium) and had won awards/citations from these. - END