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Jovanni-Rey Verceles de Pedro: Outstanding Pinoy Pianist
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THE Isabelle Bond Gold Medal Award is England’s Trinity College of Music’s highest award for excellence in performance. Each year, six outstanding students who have displayed consistent flair, musicianship and professionalism during the course of their studies are chosen by the head of each of Trinity’s performance faculty to compete for this prestigious award. A few days ago, on September 25, after an evening of exceptional performances by the crème de la crème of Trinity College of Music students, Filipino American pianist Jovanni-Rey de Pedro was awarded the Isabelle Bond Gold Medal. Only 26 years old, De Pedro received the award following a moving performance of My foolish heart (Jazz Standard) by Ned Washington and Victor Young and Sonata para Piano, Op 22 by Alberto Ginastera.

An outstanding pianist whose sensitivity and intelligence shine through each of his exceptional performances, Jovanni-Rey has been called a “performer of musical depth and exciting virtuosity.” Since his debut in 1997, Jovanni’s playing has been heard in churches and concert venues throughout the United States, Canada, England, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Philippines – recently performing Brahms’ First Piano Concerto with the UST Symphony in Manila and Mozart’s Concerto K. 466 with the Vienna Residenz Orchester.

Born in West Covina, California on August 4, 1982 to Remi and Trina Verceles de Pedro, Jovanni-Rey studied at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Baldwin Park and at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. With a scholarship from the ASCAP/Leiber and Stoller Foundations, the gifted pianist studied six years in the Vienna Conservatory of Music from 2001-2007, completing his Artists Diploma in Piano Performance in 2007 with high distinction. He just recently finished his Masters of Music in Piano Performance from the Trinity College of Music in England, where he received the School’s highest award, the Isabelle Bond Gold Medal. Currently, De Pedro is studying for his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance in a joint program between the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University London.

Coming from a family of musicians from Laoag City in the Philippines, Jovanni-Rey studied piano at the age of three with his father, Remy de Pedro, who is a graduate of Centro Escolar Conservatory of Music in Manila and currently the Music Director for the Filipino Choir of St. John (Mahiwaga Singers) in Baldwin Park, CA. His grandfather, Jose L. Pedro and great-grandfather, Nemesio Pedro were both composers.

His younger sister, Jorena-Marie, is a violinist/singer currently studying Music Management at the University of the Pacific.

As a pianist, De Pedro has received scholarships from many distinguished organizations such as the Trinity College of Music Scholarship, England (2007), the Rotary Club Graben Scholarship, Austria (2007), the Hannah Adler Scholarship, American Women’s Association in Vienna (2006) and the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles.    

He has won all the major prizes at the Vienna Conservatory of Music such as the 2003 Boesendorfer Stipendium, the overall prize of the Fidelio Competition given by the City of Vienna’s Cultural Affairs Department, and the 2007 Rotary Club Graben Stipendium.

In most of the national and international competitions that he has participated in, De Pedro has been the top prizewinner; First Place Winner in the 2008 Rodney Davidson Piano Competition in UK; in the 2007 John Longmire Beethoven Competition at the Trinity College of Music, UK; in the 2003 International Pacific Piano Competition in Canada; in the 2003 BNP International Choral Competition, USA; in the 2003 Filipino Association of Anaheim Hills Choral Competition, USA; in the 2001 United States Open Music Competition ; in the 2001 Music Academy of North Carolina Piano Competition; in the 2000 United States Open Music Competition and in the 2000 Missouri Western State College Young Artists Piano Competition. De Pedro was awarded the second place in the 2007 Beethoven Society of Europe Intercollegiate Piano Competition in UK; in the 16th International Ibiza Piano Competition, Spain (2003); and in the 1999 BNP International Choral Competition, USA. He also received a Distinguished Musician Mention at the IBLA Grand Prix, Italy in 2001.

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