Aurelio Estanislao

A native of Bocaue, Bulacan, The Philippines, Aurelio Estanislao (1926-1978) held a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, magna cum laude from the University of the Philippines. He was the first Filipino to win a Premier Prix du Chant from the Conservatoire Nationale du Musique de Paris. He earned a Master of Arts degree in European History from the Sorbonne University. He also undertook graduate studies in Voice at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and with Lotte Lehmann at the Music Academy of the West in Sta.Barbara, California. His voice teachers had been Maestra Jovita Fuentes at the University of the Philippines; Paulet, Martinelli and Bernac in France; Mme Lehmann in the United States. Estanislao was the winner in second prizes in the International Music Competitions of Munich, Germany (1954); Geneva, Switzerland (1954); and Den Bosch, The Netherlands (1958). He performed in several music festivals in Europe and the United States in the 1950s. His extensive involvement in legitimate theatre, television, operas, zarzuelas and Broadway musicales in the Philippines has earned for him numerous awards. At the time of his death, Estanislao was Professor of Voice, Professor of European Hstory and Languages, Chairman of the Voice and Music Theatre Department at the University of the Philippines, and a mainstay of the award winning television program Aawitan Kita . the Teatro Pilipino nd Channel 4's Musika ng Lahi.