Ryan Cayabyab
Life And Works
Early Life
Ryan Cayabyab was born on May 4, 1954 in Manila, Philippines. His mother died when he was only 6, and his father struggled to support him and his three other siblings. His mother's dying wish was that none of her children would pursue music as a profession, knowing how hard life is for a musician with meager earnings (she was an opera singer).
Thus, Cayabyab initially took up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. But at the same time, he looked for a job in order to support his studies, and eventually landed with then-Senator Salvador Laurel as accompanist for the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Chorale Ensemble. Noticing Cayabyab's exceptional talent on the piano, Laurel offered Cayabyab a scholarship which would allow Cayabyab to shift his course and pursue an education in music.
And so Cayabyab later graduated from the UP College of Music earning a Bachelor of Music, Major in Composition degree. After that, he became a full time professor for the Department of Composition and Music Theory in the UP Diliman for almost two decades.
At the turn of the century, Cayabyab was about to bring his family and migrate abroad, but when offered by Danding Cojuangco (President of the San Miguel Corporation) a command post that would give him full access in producing and performing new music that would bring forth a fresh wave to the Philippine music scene, Cayabyab accepted the offer. Today he is currently in his 7th year as Executive and Artistic Director of the San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts
[edit] Credentials
As music director, conductor and accompanist, he has performed with leading Philippine music personalities at Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center in New York City; Carnegie Hall (both the Main and Recital halls) in New York; the Kennedy Center and the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.; the Shrine in Los Angeles; the Orpheum in Vancouver; even at the Circus Maximus of the Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
He has traveled as music director in most of the Southeast Asian cities, in the cities of Australia as well as in Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Japan and the United States. He has worked in the same shows with Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra, as well as conducted the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for special performances of American jazz singer Diane Schuur and pianist Jim Chappel.
He has performed as music director in command performances for King Hasan II in Rabat, Morocco, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain in Manila, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in Tangiers, Queen Beatrix at the Noordeinde Palace in The Netherlands, and U.S. President Bill Clinton in Boston, Massachusetts.
In Manila, he has conducted the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cultural Center of the Philippines for a concert of Philippine and American contemporary music; and the Manila Chamber Orchestra for a concert of his original works.
Ryan Cayabyab is a laureate of the Onassis International Cultural Competitions (2nd Prize), having won for original music composition for dance (2001).
He is a TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men) awardee for contemporary Filipino music in 1978. He won the Grand Prize award at the first Metro Manila Popular Music Festival for the song "Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika".
As of 2006, he has won three international Grand Prix awards for his compositions; in the First Seoul Song Festival, in the Voice of Asia Song Festival in the former U.S.S.R., and in the Tokyo Music Festival. He has won the Jingle of the Year award from the Philippine advertising industry as well as Bronze Awardee at the New York Film and Television Awards. He has won a total of ten best movie score awards from the various film award-giving bodies.
[edit] TV
Ryan, Ryan, Musikahan, the television show, has won a total of fourteen awards as Best Television Musical Show and for Mr. Cayabyab, the Best Show Host in various television award-giving bodies. Likewise, as an artist, producer, arranger, and composer, he has won a total of eighteen awards from the recording industry for various commercial recordings. He has produced albums of the popular Filipino teen group Smokey Mountain, Broadway and West End's diva, Lea Salonga, and Spain's internationally-acclaimed singer Julio Iglesias.
In 2006, Cayabyab signed on as a resident judge for the first season of Philippine Idol, offering critiques for the contestants on the reality-talent show. He was said to be personally chosen by the top guns of Philippine Idol, while the other two judges, Pilita Corrales and Francis Magalona, had to undergo auditions. He also composed the them of TV Patrol and The World Tonight in 1992 and it was used until 1996.
