This document provides biographical information on four prominent Filipino composers: Rodolfo Cornejo, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Lucio D. San Pedro, and Nicanor Abelardo. It outlines their educational backgrounds, notable compositions, teaching careers, and achievements including national honors received. All four composers made significant contributions to the development of classical music in the Philippines.

1. CONTEMPORARY
COMPOSERS

2. RODOLFO CORNEJO
(MAY 15, 1909- AUGUST 11,1991)

3. •Rodolfo Cornejo is the only Filipino composer with
two doctoral degrees in music.
•He finished Doctor of Philosophy Major in
Composition from Neotarian College Kansasin
1947 and Doctor of Music Degree honoris causa
from Chicago College in 1954.
•He is noted for his extraordinary ability to do
impromptu classical improvisation.

4. •Cornejo is considered as “child prodigy”.
•He became the organist at the Pasay Catholic
Church at the age of 8.
•He wrote his 1st composition at the age of 10
entitled “Glissando Waltz”.
•He enrolled at the University of the Philippines,
Conservatory of Music at the age of 14 while he
was still in High School.

5. • He was mentored by Francisco Santiago, Nicanor
Abelardo and Alexander Lippay.
• By the age of 16, he had 26 composition published by the
United Publishing Company, Inc.
• In 1950, he graduated in UP and was offered a teaching
position by then UP President Rafael Palma.
• Some of well-known musicians like Lucio San Pedro,
Felipe de Leon, Candida Bautista and Flora Zarco
studied under him in UP.

6. • He was able to compose around 300 vocal and
instrumental pieces combined.
• Dr. Cornejo’s parents are Miguel Cornejo, Sr. and
Crisanta Soldevilla.
• Some of his famous composition are:
• Piano Trio
• Beneath this Heart of Clay
• Call of Day
• Ruby
• Philippine Fantasy

7. FELIPE PADILLA DE
LEON
(MAY 1, 1912 – DECEMBER 5, 1992)

8. •He was a Filipino classical music composer,
conductor, and scholar.
•He was known for composing different sonatas,
marches, and concertos that reflect the Filipino
identity.
•He was also recognized as a composer who
experienced different regime change throughout
the course of his lifetime.

9. • He was the third of four children by the second marriage
of his mother Natalia Padilla to Juan de Leon. His father
died when he was three years old, leaving his mother to
raise him and his elder half-brother, Pedro P. San Diego.
• In 1927, he took up Fine Arts at the University of the
Philippines, but he had to abandon his studies to make a
living.
• He played the trombone in cabarets and circuses, and
later worked as an assistant conductor of the Nueva Ecija
High School Orchestra, where he started composing
music.

10. •To improve his composing skills he again enrolled
to the University of the Philippines, and
graduated in 1939 with a diploma of music
teacher and conductor.
•He continued his studies under Vittorio Giannini
at the Juilliard School in New York, U.S.
•He was married to Iluminada Mendoza with
whom he had six children.

11. Some of his compositions are:
•Bagong Pagsilang
•Noli Me Tangere
•Awit sa Paglikha ng Bagong Pilipinas
•Magtanim Ay Di Biro
•El Filibusterismo
•Noche Buena

12. LUCIO D. SAN PEDRO
(FEBRUARY 11, 1913 – MARCH 31, 2002)

13. • He was a Filipino composer and teacher who was
proclaimed a National Artist of the Philippines for music
in 1991.
• He came from a family with musical roots and he began
his career early.
• When he was still in his late teens, he succeeded his
deceased grandfather as the local church organist.
• By then, he had already composed songs, hymns, and 2
complete masses for voices and orchestra.

14. • After studying with several prominent musicians in the
Philippines, he took advanced composition training with
Bernard Wagenaar of the Netherlands.
• He also studied harmony and orchestration under
Vittorio Giannini and took classes at Juilliard in 1947.
• His other vocation is teaching.
• He has taught at the Ateneo de Manila University,
virtually all the major music conservatories in Manila
and at the College of Music of the University of the
Philippines, Diliman.

15. •He retired as a full professor in 1978.
•He later received the title “Professor Emeritus”
from the University in 1979.
•He became a faculty member of the Centro
Escolar University Conservatory of Music in
Manila.
•On May 9, 1991, President Corazon C. Aquino
proclaimed San Pedro a National Artist of the
Philippines for Music.

16. •San Pedro died of Cardiac Arrest on March 31,
2002 in Angono, Rizal at the age of 89.
•Many peers from the Order of National Artist
attended his tribute at the Tanghalang
Pambansa, including: Napoleon Abueva, Daisy
Avellana, Leonor Gokingco, Nick Joaquín, Arturo
Luz, José Maceda and Andrea Veneracion.
•Lucio San Pedro was buried in his hometown of
Angono, Rizal.

17. • He was married to Gertrudes San Pedro with whom he
had 3 children.
Lucio Diestro San Pedro’s compositions:
• Sa Ugot ng Duyan
• Sa Lupang Sarili
• Simbang Gabi
• Payapang Daigdig
• Lahing Kayumanggi