Anna Maria Manalo: mixing culture, teaching in music
by Heidi M Pascual
      After earning her bachelor's degree in piano and violin from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Anna moved to New York to study composition. For 12 years she became an independent musician,  teaching and performing at her best. Teaching was a newfound passion, after mentoring students who joined two orchestras that she herself started. "One of the two orchestras was an all-girl orchestra in the Bronx," she recalled, "while the other was made up of students from the Main conservatories of New York!" Teaching at the Boston Music Company and the Royal Academy for Performing Arts for three years made Anna realize that she wanted to share her love for music with youth. "I became 'Teacher of the Year' and that meant so much to me,? she said.
      Just last year, Anna came back to Madison for personal reasons. "I want to be with my family -- my mom and dad," she said.
      Although Anna grew up in the United States (her family immigrated to the U.S. in the '60s), her parents saw to it that Anna and her siblings know their roots and practice the Filipino culture wherever they are. Anna speaks fluent Tagalog and goes with her parents on their annual medical mission to the Philippines to help needy people in the villages. She is also very active in volunteering for local organizations that seek to preserve the Philippine culture.
      Anna's music has evolved into something she could call her own. "I like to collaborate with poets and other artists to compose songs or short operettas," she said. In pursuing this, Anna ventures into multimedia presentations, like when she collaborated with a dancer to do "Athena Trio" in Boston. She also did a solo violin piece in a completely black stage, with only a spotlight on the singer. "That work is about finding one's way to 'Haven'," she explained. "It's important for artists to take risks." /Now back in Madison, Anna gives individual, private lessons in piano and violin, and focuses her sight and energy on future collaborative work as well as on expanding her career options. "I'd like to audition for programs at UW-Madison in piano pedagogy," she said. "In the future, I'd like to start a concert series in the summer, which would include pedgogical workshops, chamber music for kids, and artists' exchange to bring more Filipino music into American culture."
      Meanwhile, Anna does many things other than music that also come from her heart. She helps her dad organize his PAGASA mission, an annual medical mission in poor areas in the Philippines, which provides free medicines (from local donations) and medical consultations.  Anna also writes for Asian Wisconzine to feature role models in the Philippine-American community thereby helping the magazine strengthen its cultural content.
      Anna loves to teach music. If you (or your child) want to learn how to play the piano or the violin, you may contact Anna at 608-239-0636 or e-mail her at am.manalo@wisc.edu. You may be surprised you'd be learning more than music because she would also educate you about the Filipino culture.
     Anna Maria Manalo still remembers her first piano, a toy keyboard, given to her as a gift when she was three years old. Her mother Monita was her first teacher, who essentially trained her to have an "ear for music," while her dad Felipe exposed her to beautiful melodies of the Philippine kundiman (serenade songs).
      Anna's love for music grew and blossomed into a full-blown passion through the years. She decided to pursue a career in music, not only piano but violin as well. She credits her piano teacher Ann Gesbeck for building up her interest when she was 7 years old, and later Frances Karp, her piano teacher when she was in high school, who saw Anna's potential early on, and entered her into competitions.
      "Mrs. Karp included me as solo performer in several competitions," Anna recalled. "I won several of them." Through playing music with others like the Madison Symphony Orchestra, however, Anna discovered the joy of group harmony. "I enjoyed playing music with them," she said, "it's unlike playing the piano where you are on your own."