Violinist Marian Mayuga was born in Manila, Philippines. She is currently a Violin Fellow of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has performed in leading positions with the ensemble, including concertmaster and principal second violin. As a Civic Fellow, Marian has performed with Hilary Hahn at the Chicago Symphony Center, and worked closely with Jessie Montgomery, Rachael Barton Pine, Eighth Blackbird, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Hailed for her “remarkable ability to extract myriad sonorities from [her instrument] and modulate between them with hairpin agility” (Chicago Classical Review), Marian is a two-time top prize winner of the Philippine National Music Competition for Young Artists in the Junior and Senior Divisions, where she also won Best Interpretation of the Contest Piece in the latter category.

This season, she is a featured artist for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Chicago’s WFMT radio station, and the Filipino-American Music Foundation. Other engagements include performances with The Florida Orchestra, Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, and New World Symphony Orchestra.

Marian holds degrees from the University of South Florida, DePaul University, and the University of the Philippines. Her primary teachers include Dr. Carolyn Stuart, Dr. Olga Kaler, and Prof. Arturo Molina.

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist. He played his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra, and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival. He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

His recordings include the complete Sonatas of L. van Beethoven with cellist Tobias Werner, Sonatas by Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff with cellist Joseph Johnson, the Rachmaninoff Sonata with cellist Evan Drachman, and the Chopin and Grieg Sonatas, also with Evan Drachman. He is featured in the award-winning recording “Songs My Father Taught Me” with Lynn Harrell, produced by Louise Frank and WFMT-Chicago.

Mr. Asuncion is the Founder, and Artistic and Board Director of FilAm Music Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship and performance. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 2007 from the University of Maryland under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. Victor Santiago Asuncion is a Steinway artist.