The PPO Instrument Petting Zoo continues with its live online program with featured trombonist Ricson Poonin on Sunday, July 12, at 4pm via the PPO Facebook page.
For his instrument petting zoo session, Ricson will share to the audience about the trombone and demonstrate how it is played. He will also perform classical pieces suited for the trombone.
Ricson earned his Bachelor of Music, Major in Trombone Performance degree at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 2012. He also received a certificate of recognition for outstanding ensemble performance, and won first prize in the UST Solo Competition. While pursuing his college degree, he won first prize in the 2009 National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) Solo Category C held in the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and travelled all over Asia as a member of the Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO–2011) and the Southeast Asian Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble (SAYOWE–2005-2006 and 2008-2010). He became the bass trombone player of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in 2012, and then went on a three-year leave, to pursue graduate studies at Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
At Peabody, Ricson earned his Masters of Music in Trombone Performance in 2016, and finished his Graduate Performance Degree the following year. He received the James Winship Lewis Memorial Prize Performance Award and performed Johann de Meij’s T-bone Concerto as the featured soloist of the Peabody Wind Ensemble’s concert in December 2016. He also won first prize in the Peabody excerpts competition. He actively performed in school as principal trombonist of Peabody Concert Orchestra, and as assistant principal trombone of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and in the Peabody Conductors Orchestra, training under conductors Marin Alsop, Hannu Lintu, Gustav Meier, Hajime Teri Murai, Leon Fleischer and Edward Polochik. He also played in a multitude of other Peabody Ensembles including the Trombody Peabones trombone choir, the Peabody Jazz Ensemble, the Fourtissimo Trombone Quartet, and the Marquee Brass Quintet. His Marquee Brass Quintet was chosen to participate in the Artist-in-Residency program in Mesa, Arizona; El Paso, Texas and in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in the Ensemble Connect marketing workshop in Carnegie Hall, New York City. He was also part of the International Trombone Association’s Guinness record of having the most number of trombone players performing at a single event in Lincoln Center in New York.
Since his return to Manila in July 2017, Ricson has been featured as soloist in the January 2018 Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra season concert, and has been assigned to play first trombone in the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. He also joined the Asia in Resonance in Tokyo Japan in July 2019 as one of the Philippine representatives. He currently teaches trombone in St. Scholastica’s College and at the University of Santo Tomas.
A project of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the instrument petting zoo aims to promote appreciation for musical instruments of the orchestra and its music among children and families. It is held every Sunday at 4pm, and runs for several months.
Catch the Musical Instruments Appreciation Series on the official PPO Facebook page.
