Bio of Raul M. Sunico, pianist

Philippine pianist Raul M. Sunico, praised for his "unusual gifts of lyricism and poetry in his playing, as well as great brilliance," by his eminent mentor, Sascha Gorodnitzki, has earned international recognition as a concert pianist, orchestral soloist and a composer-arranger of Philippine music.

Excelling in a number of international competitions, he won the silver medal in the Viotti International Piano Competition in Vercelli, Italy, was a finalist in the Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy and received the Henry Cowell Prize in the University of Maryland International Piano Competition in the United States. He has also served on the juries of the Bergen Philharmonic Competition in New Jersey, Piyabhand Sanitwongse Piano Competition in Bangkok, Thailand; the Manila Symphony Competition, the Jeffrey Ching Piano Competition and the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines Competition in Manila. For all his accomplishments, he was chosen as a TOYM (The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines) Awardee for Music in 1986. He was also conferred a 1996 PAMANA Presidential Award for Overseas Filipinos, 1998 University of the Philippines Professional Award, 1998 Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award, given by the City of Manila, 1999 KATHA Award for Best Solo Instrumental Recording, given by the Philippine Recording Industry, 2003 Diamond Jubilee Award by the U.P. Chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi International Honor Society, 2005 Aliw Award as best male classical instrumentalist, 2006 Awit Award for Best Instrumental Recording, and the 2008 UST Dangal Outstanding Artist Award.

Sunico has been active in the international concert scene, having given solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Kosovo, Japan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and the Philippines. In the United States, he has performed at the Lincoln Center, Weill Recital hall, Merkin Hall and Town Hall in New York; the Knoxville World's Fair in Tennessee; Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as performance halls in about 20 states. In connection with the 1998 Philippine Centennial, he had also lectured on and performed Philippine music in China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Spain.

Sunico first attracted attention when he won the Manila Symphony Orchestra's Young Artists' Auditions performing the Liszt Concerto No. 1 conducted by Dr. Herbert Zipper. He later became a featured soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Transylvania Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), Towson Community Orchestra (Maryland, USA), Taiwan Normal University Wind Orchestra, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Manila Symphony Orchestra, the Manila Chamber Orchestra, University of the Philippines Symphony Orchestra and the University of Santo Tomas Symphony Orchestra. He had performed with notable conductors including Enrique Batiz, Pierro Gamba, Garyth Nair, Helen Quach, Redentor Romero, Luis Valencia, Oscar Yatco, Ruggiero Barbieri, Sergio Esmilla, Eugene Castillo, and Herminigildo Ranera.

Sunico has recorded more than forty compact discs and cassettes, including fifteeen volumes of Filipino folk songs and kundimans that he arranged for classical piano. Other recordings feature concertos by Grieg, Saint-Saens, Ravel, as well as by Lucino Sacramento; solo classical pieces; popular American songs set to piano; chamber and duo piano music.

In addition to his performing and recording activities, he has embarked on a series of projects on music education. In collaboration with Tawid Publications, he had written piano arrangements of different folk songs of the Philippines in a 5-volume series entitled Himig which garnered the 1995 Ceres Alabado Award for Children's Books (Manila). He has also arranged and recorded various songs of the Philippine revolution of 1896-98 in commemoration of its centennial in a compact disc and book series entitled "Mga Awit ng Himagsikan", containing choral and piano arrangements. He is currently the music author of the textbook series ("Musika at Sining") for elementary grades 3, 4, 5 and 6, which were officially approved by the Department of Education Culture & Sports (DECS) in Manila for official use in public schools throughout the Philippines since 1999.

Sunico graduated from the University of the Philippines with the degrees of Bachelor of Music (cum laude), Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Master of Statistics. A scholarship from the Young Artists' Foundation of the Philippines enabled him to attend the Juilliard School in New York, where he received a Master of Music degree. Further grants from the Amon Foundation and the New York University helped him obtain a Doctor of Philosophy degree, major in Piano Performance, from the latter, where his dissertation featured a performance guide to the Philippine Piano Concertos. He was also conferred a Doctor of Humanities degree, honoris causa, by the Far Eastern University in March 2006.

Sunico is concurrently the Artistic Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Dean of the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music. His further involvement with various organizations includes official roles in the Klassikal Music Foundation, Philippine High School for the Arts, Foundation for the Musical Filipino, Youth Development Organization of the Philippines, and the Sunico Foundation for Arts and Technology.