Our Board
Eugenio Lopez III
Federico R. Lopez
Oscar M. Lopez
Ryan Cayabyab
Charo Santos-Concio
Mark Lopez
Doris Magsaysay Ho
Audie Gemora
Manoling Francisco SJ
Music Director and Chief Conductor of Orchestras
Gerard Salonga
GERARD SALONGA is currently the Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur, a position he has held since January 2019. For two seasons he served as Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra from 2016 to 2018, and he was Music Director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra in Manila from 2012 to 2020. In January of 2021, Gerard begins his term as the Music Director and Chief Conductor of Orchestras for Ang Misyon, Inc., which includes the main performing arm, Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY).
He has assisted and covered distinguished conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, Jun Märkl, Hans Graf, Yu Long, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mark Wigglesworth, and Leonard Slatkin, and has also conducted the Philippine Philharmonic, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Kunming Nie-Er Symphony, Evergreen Symphony of Taiwan, Bangkok Symphony, Singapore Symphony, South Denmark Philharmonic, Orchestra Victoria, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
His arrangements have been performed by orchestras such as the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, RTE Concert Orchestra, New York Pops, Guangzhou Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, BBC Symphony, and Royal Philharmonic. Gerard has also collaborated as arranger or conductor with artists like Lea Salonga, Wang Leehom, Wu Tong, Cecile Licad, Tengku Irfan, Michael Ball, Blake, Il Divo, Danielle de Niese, TaikOz, Ksenija Sidorova, Shen Yang, James Ehnes, and The Beach Boys. In 2018 Gerard conducted the Sydney Symphony and TaikOz in the world premiere of Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth’s Breath Of Thunder (concerto for Taiko and orchestra) at the Sydney Opera House, which earned an APRA AMCOS (Australian art music) nomination for Performance Of The Year.
In 2019, he collaborated with pianist Cecile Licad and the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester (South Denmark Philharmonic) on a new recording of the works of George Gershwin for piano and orchestra released on the Danacord label and was immediately invited to make his subscription debut with the orchestra in Sønderborg, Denmark and Flensburg, Germany in 2021.
As a conductor of musical theatre, he has led the orchestras for the Manila stagings of Carousel (1996), They’re Playing Our Song (2000), Dreamgirls (2003), Baby (2004), West Side Story (2008), Sweeney Todd (2009), and Little Women (2010). In 2019 he conducted Sweeney Todd for Atlantis Theatrical in Manila, and in Singapore for Singapore Repertory Theatre. For his work in concerts and theatre, he is a four-time recipient of the Aliw Award for Best Musical Director and twice winner of the Gawad Buhay Philstage Award.
In 2012, Gerard was honored as one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM), the Philippines’ highest civilian award to achievers under the age of 40.
2021 engagements include the South Denmark Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Singapore Symphony Orchestras while continuing his work with the MPO, MPYO, and OFY.