Life

Lucrecia Roces Kasilag was born in San Fernando

San Fernando

-Argentina:*San Fernando, Buenos Aires, city of Greater Buenos Aires*San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, capital of Catamarca province-Mexico:*San Fernando, Chiapas*San Fernando, Coahuila*San Fernando, Durango*San Fernando, Tamaulipas...

, La Union

La Unión

La Union or La Unión may refer to:-Colombia:*La Unión, Antioquia*La Unión, Nariño*La Unión, Sucre*La Unión, Valle del Cauca-Peru:*La Unión Province, Peru...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, of parents Marcial Kasilag and Asuncion Roces Kasilag. She grew up in Paco

Paco

Paco is - together with Pancho - the Spanish nickname for Francisco, as in Pancho Villa, the legendary Mexican revolutionary.The nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order...

, Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, and studied at the Philippine Women's University

Philippine Women's University

The Philippine Women's University is a non-sectarian academic institution for men and women in the Philippines, founded in 1919 as the Philippine Women's College by Filipino women who envisioned a school that would prepare young women for leadership and service...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She also studied music at St. Scholastica’s College in Singalong, Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, with Sister Baptista Battig, graduating with a teaching degree. After completing her studies, Kasilag made an international tour as a concert pianist, but eventually had to give up a performing career due to a congenital weakness in one hand.

From 1946 to 1947, Kasilag taught at the University of the Philippines’ Conservatory of Music and worked as secretary-registrar at Philippines Women's University. During World War II, she took up composition, and on 1 December 1945, she performed her own compositions in a concert at Philippine Women's University. She completed a Bachelor of Music degree in 1949, and then attended the Eastman School of Music

Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

 in Rochester, New York

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

, studying theory with Allen I. McHose  and composition with Wayne Barlow

Wayne Barlow

Wayne B. Barlow was an American composer of contemporary classical music...

. Kasilag returned to the Philippines, and in 1953 she was appointed Dean of the Philippines Women's University College of Music and Fine Arts.

Kasilag has been instrumental in developing Philippine music and culture. She founded the Bayanihan Folks Arts Center for research and theatrical presentations, and has been closely involved with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company.

Honors and awards

• Honorary Doctor of Music from Centro Escolar University, 1975
• Honorary Doctor of Laws from the Philippine Women’s University, 1980
• Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from St. John’s University in New York, 1981
• National Artist in the Philippines, 1989

Works

Kasilag's works include more than 250 compositions including orchestral, chamber, vocal, organ, piano, sacred, dance, operetta, theatre, incidental and electronic music. She often incorporated Philippine folk music and traditional music. Selected works include:

• April Morning (Fantasie Tone-Poem) (1941)
• Theme and Variations (based on a Filipino folk tune “Walay Angay”) (1950)
• Elegy on Mt. Pinatubo (1991)
• Toccata for Percussions and Winds (1958)
• Divertissement for Piano and Orchestra (1960)
• Legend of the Sarimanok (1963)
• Filiasiana (1965)
• Dularawan (1969)