Our Story

Founded in 2012 by ABS CBN Chairman Emeritus Eugenio Lopez III, First Philippine Holdings Chairman Federico R. Lopez, and internationally renowned concert pianist Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz, Ang Misyon believes that teaching the youth orchestral music can spark social change in the Philippines.

Ang Misyon was inspired by El Sistema, the globally renowned Venezuelan youth education program that advocates music for social change. The organization also aims to nurture talented, less-privileged youth through the transformative power of orchestral music, all while creating alternative career paths for its beneficiaries in the classical music field.

For almost a decade, it has helped more than one thousand scholars and continues to provide programs that focus on orchestral training and instrument support. Scholars are also given opportunities for local and international performances and to serve as mentors to younger members. Through Ang Misyon, they are able to share the values and skills and they have learned from their teachers and peers.

With the vision of excellence in music performance, Ang Misyon works towards creating a better Philippines.

Our Board

Eugenio Lopez III

Chairman of the Board & Co-founder

Chairman Emeritus of ABS-CBN Corp

Federico R. Lopez

President & Co-founder

Chairman and CEO of First Philippine Holdings Corporation

Oscar M. Lopez

Board Member

Chairman Emeritus of First Philippine Holdings Corporation

Ryan Cayabyab

Board Member

Celebrated Filipino composer, conductor, and music director, National Artist for Music

Charo Santos-Concio

Board Member

Chief Content Officer of ABS-CBN Corporation

Mark Lopez

Board Member

Doris Magsaysay Ho

Board Member

President and CEO of Magsaysay Maritime Corporation

Audie Gemora

Board Member

President, PHILSTAGE and Founder of TSAA – The School of Academics and Arts

Manoling Francisco SJ

Board Member

Liturgical music composer, Assistant Professor of Theology at Ateneo de Manila University

Our Team

Shirley H. Cruz

Vice President

Mickey Muñoz

Executive Director

Guia O. Tieng

Operations Manager

Jennifer Rivera

Partnerships & Communications Manager

Lexter Deo D. Santos

Orchestra Manager & Faculty Head

Marjon Dayo

Partnerships & Communications Coordinator

Rashid Cuales

Instrument Custodian & Asst. Orchestra Manager (OFY)

Aussie Ocampo

Asst. Orchestra Manager (OFY Reserves)

James Bassig

Orchestra Librarian

Ferdie Magallanes

Operations Assistant

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.