Classical Japanese Artists Comes to Manila for Mar. 20 One Night Concert at UP Abelardo Hall

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Independent Philippine Art Ventures, Inc., presents THREE, TWO, ONE…ARAI ! - an afternoon of contemporary and classical guitar music with three outstanding artists from Japan namely Tomonori Arai, soloist and Takashi Endo and Eisei Tanigawa of the Trussardi Duo.

THREE, TWO, ONE…ARAI ! will be held on March 20 (Sunday) - 5:30 p.m. at the UP Abelardo Hall Auditorium located at the UP College of Music, UP Diliman, QC.

The repertoire includes classical and samba music as solos, duets, and trios.

Two promising young Filipino guitarists, Sting Asistores, 15, and Marlee Pabico, 18, both from the Philippine High School for the Arts, are slated to open the concert.

The concert is supported by Japan Foundation-Manila, and is part of the 60th anniversary celebration of Philippine-Japanese Friendship.

Concertgoers are encouraged to enjoy the UP campus that bustles with activity on Sundays. People hike, bike, walk, picnic, fly kites. The family-oriented concert will be a good way to cap a Sunday.

Philstage Gawad Buhay!’s 2015 Nominations Out

Wazzup Pilipinas!
Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Mabining Mandirigma,” a reappraisal in musical form of the heroism and legacy of Apolinario Mabini that featured the radical casting of a female actor in the role of the revolutionary patriot, took the lead in the 2015 nominations for the Gawad Buhay!, the Philstage Awards for the Performing Arts, with 13 nods in the performance and technical categories.

Following “Mabining Mandirigma” is the Philippine Educational Theater Association’s “Arbol de Fuego,” which transposed Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” to the haciendas of Negros in the martial law era, with 12 nominations.

Receiving 10 nominations each are 9 Works Theatrical’s production of the Broadway musical “La Cage aux Folles,” the Philippine premiere of Larry Kramer’s AIDS drama “The Normal Heart” staged by Actor’s Actors Inc. and The Necessary Theatre, and Ballet Philippines’ Christmas presentation “Peter Pan.”

Now on its eighth year, Gawad Buhay! is the first-ever industry awards exclusively for the performing arts juried by an independent panel of critics, scholars, artists and theater enthusiasts. Outstanding individual and group achievements in various artistic and technical aspects of play, musical and dance productions and performances are honored based on quarterly citations deliberated by members of the jury who are required to watch all productions of Philstage member-companies for the entire year.

PH Set to Become World’s Next Tourism Hub

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Tourism has become one of the major economic drivers in the Philippines, marked with strong, continued, and uninterrupted growth in both visitor arrivals and receipts, making the country ripe to become the world’s next tourism destination.

According to the Department of Tourism, tourism remained profitable and accounted for an estimated US$5.0 billion or P227.62 billion worth of international visitor receipts in 2015. This is 5.92% greater than the 2014 total earnings, with the month of December 2015 yielding the peak of all tourism activities at P23.47 billion and the month of September 2015 registering the highest growth of 24.24%.

Korea continued to be the top spending market with visitor spending amounting to P66.55 billion for the year 2015. The United States ranked second with P42.31 billion, followed by Australia with P12.83 billion, overtaking Japan which provided P12.20 billion to take the fourth spot. Completing the top five spending markets is China with visitor spending of P10.19 billion.

For the year 2015, tourists spend an average of P4,888.82. They also spent heavily last year, with an average per capita expenditure of P48,350.44. Their average length of stay in the country is registered at around 10 nights.