05/21/2026
This AAPI Heritage Month, we celebrate the remarkable contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islander musicians — especially our very own Artistic Director and Conductor, Dr. Frederick B. Mabalot, a Filipino American conductor and composer whose leadership, artistry, and passion continue to inspire our community and beyond through music.
We also proudly highlight our recent collaboration with outstanding Filipino and Filipino American vocal artists during our April 18&19 performances of Mozart’s "Solemn Vespers" and "Great Mass in C Minor": soprano Emilie Kealani, a 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition District Winner (Philadelphia), recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, who made her Opera Philadelphia debut last year and will join San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program this summer in leading roles; mezzo-soprano Michelle Mariposa, a National Winner of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a Washington National Opera Cafritz Young Artist, whose recent Carnegie Hall performance with the WNO was praised by The New York Times as “the evening’s most jaw-dropping instrument, with a plummy tone, easy resonance, and effortless carrying power”; tenor Jared Esguerra, who sings with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and will make his role and company debut as Alfredo in La Traviata with the Opera Company of Middlebury; and Christopher Arceo, award winning choral conductor and bass-baritone who, as a voice pedagogue, has guided some of the most prominent young singers in the Philippines today. With Arceo, they have won competitions locally and internationally.
