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As
composer
CV / Résumé
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to download
Word file]
Bio
Charisse
Baldoria, pianist, has performed as solo recitalist, chamber musician,
or orchestral soloist in the United States, the Philippines, Europe, and Australia.
She is also a prizewinner of several national and international competitions.
Since age eight, she had won numerous first prizes in competitions
in her home country the Philippines--twice in the National Music
Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA), twice in the National Yamaha
Electone Festival, the Jeffrey Ching Piano Sonata Competition, and the
University of the Philippines College of Music Piano Competition, winning
over college students while she was still in high school.
Miss Baldoria then proceeded to win competitions in the United States and internationally. She won the University of Michigan Concerto Competition twice (in 1999 and 2002) during her studies there, a rare feat, performing both times as orchestral soloist at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. In 1999, she was a piano Finalist in the 1999 Ducrest Young Artist International Competition. In 2002, she won First Prize in the Society for Musical Arts Young Artist Competition held in Ann Arbor. She garnered the Semifinalist award given to the top eight competitors in the 2003 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and won Fourth Prize in the 2003 San Antonio International Piano Competition. In 2004, she was selected from rigorous worldwide auditions to compete in the Sydney International Competition of Australia, regarded as one of the great competitions of the world, finishing as Semifinalist.
In 2005,
Miss Baldoria gave a lecture-recital in Spain at the College of
Music Society International Conference held in
Alcalá de
Henares (Madrid). She presented on possible relationships between the
original folk influences and performance considerations, specifically on
piano music by Manuel de Falla and Karol Szymanowski. Since then, she
has further cultivated her interest in Spanish music and culture, giving
lecture-demonstrations on Spanish piano music.
Miss
Baldoria came to the United States as a Fulbright scholar from the
Philippines. She finished her master's and doctorate at Michigan and where
she was the recipient of numerous scholarships, including the Barbour
Scholarship--an award given to "Asian women of the highest academic
and professional caliber."
A prodigious talent, Charisse started playing the piano by ear just before
she turned five. She begged her parents to buy her a piano, and when the
piano was finally delivered to their home, she sat down and immediately
picked up songs by ear. With no musicians in her family, Charisse, who
was gifted
with perfect pitch, learned, arranged, and improvised numerous songs by
herself without any musical training. Eventually, she took formal piano
lessons at the University of the Philippines when she was seven, under
Prof. Nita Abrogar Quinto, starting the stream of first prize winnings.
But Charisse was gifted not only in piano. She graduated as class valedictorian in grade school, high school, and college. She also garnered awards as a high school debater. Since her college days, she has composed and arranged commercial and electronic music.
Click
here to learn more about her composing and arranging
Charisse finished her bachelor's degree in music, summa cum laude,
at the University of the Philippines, studying with Prof. Quinto. At the University of Michigan, she studied with Logan Skelton, and
took harpsichord lessons with Edward Parmentier and fortepiano coachings
with Penelope Crawford. She has taken master classes and private lessons with
various teachers and performers, including Boris Petrushansky,
Gyorgy Sandor,
Tamás Ungar, Robert Roux,
Diane Andersen, Eugene Pridonoff, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Gabriel
Kwok, John Owings, Harold Martina, Maria Gambarian, and Dang Thai Son.
In 2002, she
was awarded a full scholarship in the Young Artists Program of the prestigious
TCU-Cliburn Institute, and participated in the Prague International Piano Masterclasses.
Her repertoire interests are diverse, ranging from early music to the 21st
century. She has been instrumental in establishing the new
harpsichord and early music program at the University of the Philippines
where she now teaches as an Associate Professor.
Charisse Baldoria is also a chamber musician, having been a member of the Satori Chamber Players
for three years while living in Pennsylvania. She is currently
preparing programs of Spanish music.
Miss Baldoria has an active interest in writing, having published
some of her works in poetry magazines in the United States. Her
current pet project involves writing narratives and essays about her
travels.
Other interests include scuba diving, digital, print, and slide SLR photography, world travel, languages, flamenco, and Brazilian music.
Click here for samples of her performances.
CV / Résumé
[click
to download Word file]