The cello soloists of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) are dominated by men from Mstislav Rostropovich to Pierre Fournier, from Antonio Meneses to Chino Bolipata and Renato Lucas, among others.
In the second season concert on the 40th year of the PPO, a Grammy award-winning American cellist named Sara Sant’ Ambrogio took center stage as soloist in the emotionally challenging Elgar Concerto earlier interpreted by the then 15-year-old Damodar das Castillo and former PPO principal cellist Lucas.
Like our own Cecile Licad, Sant’ Ambrogio studied in Curtis with David Soyer of the Guarnerius Quartet and later on moved to study with Leonard Rose in Juilliard where she won nearly all school competitions.
“Cecile Licad was one of the first musicians I met when I first came to New York City at age 15. She was already finished with Curtis and living in New York where I met her there with Peter Serkin. She has always been so kind to me and an extraordinary musician. I still see her often because we lived in the same building for years in New York! Small world! She was really excited when I told her I was coming to the Philippines to perform.”
Indeed Curtis has a special place in her heart. “Curtis was the perfect place for me at 16! I learned so much and was so very prepared when I went to Juilliard three years later to study with Leonard Rose. Three weeks after I arrived at Juilliard, I won the cello competition there and had my first Lincoln Center performance of the Schumann Cello Concerto.”
Then it was winning competitions one after the other culminating in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. “I think that competitions serve a purpose, especially if you do not have a mentor or possibilities of concerts, but it is incredibly subjective. At Tchaikovsky Competition the year I was competing there, it was a 22-member jury and 21 were either from Russia or Eastern Europe. This was during the USSR period. I think it was amazing that as an American I was able to win a medal since it was so slanted against us at that time.”
The Moscow competition wasn’t really the turning point in her career. “I think the turning point in my career was actually quite a few years before Tchaikovsky Competition. When I was 15 years old, Alexander Schneider heard me play and invited me to come to New York City from St. Louis Missouri to perform at Carnegie Hall.”
In the audience at Carnegie Hall while she played a Bach Suite were Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Jamie Laredo and many others. The next day she played for David Soyer of the Guarnerius Quartet and he invited her to come to Curtis to study with him. After that, it was one competition after another, culminating in the Tchaikovsky in Moscow. I think that competitions serve a purpose, especially if you do not have a mentor or possibilities of concerts, but it is incredibly subjective. At Tchaikovsky Competition the year I was competing there, it was a 22-member jury and 21 were either from Russia or Eastern Europe-this was during the USSR period. I think it was amazing that as an American I was able to win a medal since it was so slanted against us at that time.”
For her, audiences are the same whether she is performing in Beijing or San Francisco. “One of the things that is so magical about being a musician is that no matter where you perform or what language the audience speaks, we all speak the language of music. We all share the same passions, loves, heartbreaks and tragedies. Music somehow brings us together and heals our wounds. I find that after taking a journey with an audience, no matter where I am, I feel so hopeful for humanity and so much love for us all.”
In the beginning, her favorite cellists are what she describes as from the “old guard.” His father, a principal cellist from St. Louis Symphony, was her first teacher. “He introduced me to Gregor Piatagorsky who is a hero of my father’s youth and Rostropovich. I love how passionate they are and how vulnerable they make themselves to the audience. I feel that when you walk off the stage, you must not have hidden any part of your soul. You must infuse the music with all your emotions!”
Like Licad, she also loves the challenge of chamber music as a founding member of the Eroica Trio. “I love how alive you have to be when you are on stage with two other fine musicians playing spontaneously and finding new depths in each piece of music. Every night I perform a piece, it is different. The mood of the audience, the acoustics of the hall, the emotions I am feeling all shape each performance. When you are on stage with just two other musicians that you respect and admire, the possibilities are endless and that is often where the magic happens!”