Manila Symphony Orchestra Centennial Season Opens with Ballet Manila’s Sleeping Beauty at Aliw Theater
A century does not begin loudly.
It begins with memory, discipline, and the quiet confidence of institutions that have endured.
In March 2026, two pillars of Philippine performing arts step into a shared spotlight. The Manila Symphony Orchestra opens its Centennial Season. Ballet Manila marks its 40th Performance Season. And rather than celebrate separately, they meet at center stage with a work that demands scale, history, and emotional precision: Sleeping Beauty at Aliw Theater.
This is not just an opening night.
It is a statement of artistic lineage.
A SHARED MILESTONE AT ALIW THEATER
On March 13, 2026 at 8 PM, and March 14 and 15, 2026 at 5 PM, audiences will gather at Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City for Ballet Manila’s staging of The Sleeping Beauty with live orchestral accompaniment by the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
The venue itself carries weight. Located within the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex along Roxas Boulevard, Aliw Theater has long hosted large-scale ballet productions, pageants, and symphonic concerts. It is a space built for spectacle, but also for discipline. For tradition. For scale.
Opening both seasons with the same production signals alignment. It tells us that 2026 is not simply about anniversaries. It is about artistic continuity.
THE MUSIC THAT BUILT A BALLET CANON
At the heart of this collaboration is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66. Few ballet scores carry the symphonic depth of this one. Ceremonial fanfares. Courtly marches. Waltzes that glide with regal restraint. Fairy variations colored by distinct orchestration.
Ballet Manila presents its own version choreographed by Lisa Macuja Elizalde, the country’s prima ballerina and artistic director. This staging forms the third installment of her Princess Trilogy, following Cinderella and Snow White.
What distinguishes this interpretation is its emotional framing. The production opens with the Dance of Aurora, a portrait of youthful innocence that quietly foreshadows awakening. Instead of simply narrating a curse and its undoing, this staging suggests that Aurora’s heart was already leaning toward love before the fateful sleep.
It is storytelling through movement. But it is also storytelling through sound.
One highlight is the celebrated Pas de Deux (No. 28), featuring a solo violin passage performed by MSO Concertmaster Alessio Benvenuti. In this moment, the orchestra does not merely accompany. It breathes with the dancers. It shapes tension, romance, and eventual triumph.
This is ballet as symphonic theater.
THE BATON THAT BRIDGES TRADITIONS
On the podium is Alexander Vikulov, Russian conductor of international distinction.
Vikulov made his professional debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in 2002 with Le nozze di Figaro, launching a career that has since included engagements at the Vienna State Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, and Seoul Arts Center. He is permanent guest conductor of the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra “Klassika” and has served as Ballet Manila’s musical director for many years.
His presence matters.
Ballet Manila trains in the Russian Vaganova method, a lineage rooted in St. Petersburg. Tchaikovsky’s score is Russian Romanticism at its height. Vikulov’s interpretive tradition connects that lineage directly to Manila’s stage. This is not imitation. It is transmission.
THE ORCHESTRA AT 100
Founded in 1926, the Manila Symphony Orchestra stands as one of Asia’s oldest orchestras. Through decades marked by war, rebuilding, and cultural renewal, it has sustained symphonic performance in the Philippines.
Now at 100 years, the MSO continues under Music Director Marlon Chen and Executive Director Jeffrey Solares, presenting major concert seasons while nurturing young Filipino musicians through educational and training programs.
The Centennial Season, titled “In Pursuit of Excellence,” includes:
Concert I – Ballet Manila’s Sleeping Beauty
Concert II – From Mozart to Mahler
Concert III – Concert Celebration: 80 Years of Filipino-American Friendship
Concert IV – Opera and Kundiman: The Legacy of Maestra Conching Rosal
Concert V – Cellist Camille Thomas with the MSO
Concert VI – World Premiere: Filipino Master Composers
This is programming that balances European canon, Filipino heritage, and contemporary relevance.
The opening concert sets the tone. Classical discipline. International collaboration. National pride.
HOW TO WATCH
Concert I – Ballet Manila’s Sleeping Beauty
March 13, 2026 – 8 PM
March 14 and 15, 2026 – 5 PM
Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City
Tickets: bit.ly/BuyTicketsBMSleepingBeauty
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Website – www.manilasymphony.com
A hundred years of symphonic memory.
Forty years of disciplined grace.
When the overture begins this March at Aliw Theater, it will not simply signal the start of a ballet. It will mark the continuation of a legacy shaped by musicians, dancers, teachers, and audiences who have believed that excellence is worth sustaining.
The curtain will rise. The strings will swell. And for three evenings in Pasay City, music and movement will remind us that tradition does not fade. It evolves, and it endures.
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