Film Concerts Philippines, the country’s leading producer of live-to-film concerts, announced Film Music Legends, a new concert series presenting film music in a standalone orchestral format, without film projection.
Photo: FILharmoniKA/Instagram
Each installment will explore a composer’s wider body of work, featuring well-known scores alongside pieces rarely performed live. Selected programs will also bring together works by multiple composers connected by a shared theme, genre, or period in film history.
The series is curated by maestro Gerard Salonga, founder and musical director of the Filharmonika Orchestra, who developed the programming in collaboration with Mikhail Schemm, founder and CEO of Third Culture Entertainment Inc., the company behind Film Concerts Philippines. Salonga has conducted an extensive repertoire of film scores throughout his career, both in the Philippines and internationally.
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“This is an exciting new series of concerts dedicated to celebrating the music of these composers,” Salonga said. “Yes, the music was originally composed for film, but as you will hear, these pieces can stand up very well on their own as concert pieces. I’m convinced that many of these works will become part of the ‘classical’ symphonic repertoire. Over the course of music history, many pieces originally intended for a different purpose—such as opera overtures by Rossini, incidental music composed for plays by the likes of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, and even Korngold’s film music—have become part of the symphonic concert repertoire.”
“One of the things I look forward to most is presenting these pieces in the world-class acoustical environment of the Proscenium, which is the proper setting for symphonic music. No microphones or amplification, just great natural acoustics to share these works with the audience in the best possible light: great music with a fantastic orchestra, in a fabulous-sounding concert hall designed for classical music. This combination makes for a complete experience. It was a delight to curate these programs with Mikhail,” he added.
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Film Music Legends will be presented at the Proscenium Theater, an intimate 776-seat performing arts venue at Rockwell Center in Makati. Designed with the acoustic expertise of Müller-BBM, the theater’s main hall allows the full depth and detail of orchestral music to be heard through its natural acoustics, without microphones or amplification.
“At Proscenium, we designed our theater to be a home for great music, because great music deserves a space where it can be truly heard and appreciated,” said Tracey Castillo, vice president and chief marketing officer of Rockwell Land Corporation.
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“The Film Music Legends series is a wonderful opportunity to do just that. We are grateful to be the venue for a thoughtfully selected repertoire that brings some of the most iconic compositions written for cinema into an intimate concert setting. We’re delighted to welcome Film Concerts Philippines and the Filharmonika Orchestra to Proscenium, and to bring this exceptional music to our community,” she added.
Three concerts will be presented throughout 2027. The series opens in January with The Music of John Williams: 95th Birthday Tribute, honoring the legendary “Maestro of the Movies” and his enduring contribution to cinema. The program will feature music from Harry Potter, Saving Private Ryan, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Superman, Star Wars, Amistad, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Fiddler on the Roof.
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In May, Italian Film Music Legends will celebrate the works of Ennio Morricone, Nino Rator, and Nicola Piovani—composers behind the music of such films as Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and The Godfather, among many others.
The series will conclude in September with a program featuring heroic and villainous scores from across film history, spanning horror, thrillers, Westerns, and superhero films.
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“It was a pleasure developing the program with Gerard. We’re both excited to take a more curated approach to presenting film music. The popular films and soundtracks featured in our concerts are audience favourites, but it has long been our goal to introduce audiences here to a broader repertoire, including deeper cuts from film music. Being able to do this through our own original concert series makes it all the more exciting,” Mikhail Schemm noted, sharing his vision for giving audiences the opportunity to experience and appreciate film music independently of the films for which it was composed.
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An exclusive Film Concerts Philippines pre-sale for the first installment, The Music of John Williams: 95th Birthday Tribute, began last October 12, 2026. Audiences may subscribe at filmconcerts.ph/community to receive early access.
A separate pre-sale for Rockwell employees, residents, and tenants also opened on October 15, 2026.
Meanwhile, public ticket sales also started last October 20, 2026 via Ticketmelon.com.
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