On Saturday, July 25, 2015, Instituto Cervantes Manila (ICM) was the venue of A Concert with a Cause featuring DS Duo and the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth Quorum.

DS Duo is formed by David Delgado (violin) and Stefan Schmidt (piano), and was founded in 2006. In the almost one decade of DS Duo’s existence, they have performed in Staatsoper Berlin and in Palacio del Marqués de Salamanca, Madrid, recorded the complete works for violin and piano by Spanish composer Joaquín Turina, and received praise from international critics.

Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY) Quorum is composed of select senior members of OFY. OFY is the performing ensemble of Ang Misyon (The Mission) - patterned after Venezuelan José Antonio Abreu’s El Sistema (The System) - an after-school program that offers underprivileged children the chance to hone their musical abilities through classical music performance.

The one-hour program started with David Delgado and OFY Quorum’s rendition of Pascual Marquina’s España Cañi. It was followed by Carlos Gardel’s Por Una Cabeza.

A video of David Delgado’s performance with the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth Quorum (Por Una Cabeza):

 

Later, Stefan Schmidt joined David Delgado onstage and they performed Edvard Grieg’s Prelude from Holberg Suite, Op. 40, Joaquín Turina’s El Poema de Una Sanluqueña and Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve.

Video of DS Duo - David Delgado and Stefan Schmidt’s rendition of Joaquín Turina’s El Poema de Una Sanluqueña.

 

The duo were joined by the OFY Quorum and they performed Méditation from Thaïs by Jules Massenet. The audience gave them an enthusiastic standing ovation.

A video of DS Duo and OFY Quorum’s Méditation from Thaïs by Jules Massenet:

 

A Concert with a Cause was made possible through the collaboration of Embassy of Spain, Acción Cultural Española and Ang Misyon.

For more information about Ang Misyon, please visit angmisyon.com. To learn more about DS Duo, please visit www.duods.com.