The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through its Plan/Policy Formulation and Programming Division (P/PFPD) – Arts Section, announces winners for the 2020 NCCA COMPOSITION PRIZE together with an Online Awarding Ceremony which will be held on Thursday, November 26, 2020, at 2:00 in the afternoon, via online livestream through the NCCA Facebook/Youtube. To celebrate the winners, their winning works will premier during the awarding ceremony. The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Composition Prize is a biennial award given to deserving composers for each category. Initiated in 2016, it is a competition on concert hall music, which calls for extended works that go beyond popular or traditional music- writing or improvisation, and thus can be better judged or evaluated if codified with acceptable standard notation that may be published and recreated later through a performance. For the 2020 installment of the prize, a call was made last March 2020 for the four categories: Rondalla Ensemble, Chamber Music, Solo Instrument, and Song Cycle. An adjudication was held last September 28, 2020 via Zoom Online and winners were declared by a prestigious jury for the first 3 categories while having no winner for the Song Cycle category.

Raylan Julayco won the prize for the Rondalla Ensemble for his work entitled: “KANSILAY”. Julayco is currently a freshman in the University of the Philippines College of Music majoring in Music Composition. He is also a member of the Kabataang Silay Rondalla and the Kwerdas Filipinas Symphony Rondalla.

Raylan Julayco. Winner for Rondalla Ensemble for his work entitled “KANSILAY”

As for the both Solo Instrument and Chamber Music categories, Okir de Leon garnered both prizes for his piano work entitled: “Piano Sonata No. 1” and his string trio piece entitled: “Magindara”. De Leon is currently finishing his Bachelor of Music in Music Composition at Centro Escolar University Conservatory of Music. He has performed as a violinist in several venues, as a classical guitarist at Paco Park Presents and also as a singer in Kalayaan Hall, New York. He has written music for several student films and a highlight is the performance of his operetta “Estrellita” at the “Culmination of Western Music” at Philippine Woman’s University in 2017.

Okir de Leon.  Winner for Solo Instrument and Chamber Music categories for his piano work entitled: “Piano Sonata No. 1” and his string trio piece entitled: “Magindara”

To celebrate the winners, the NCCA has pivoted into the new normal by hosting an online awarding ceremony to be livestreamed via the commission’s social media platforms. The winning works will be premiered by award-winning musicians, pianist Paolo Panagsagan; The Impossible Trio String Trio; and the Kabataang Silay Rondalla Ensemble. The awarding ceremony will premiere on NCCA’s Facebook and YouTube channel on November 26, 2020, 2:00 in the afternoon.