Regalado Jose

Professor Regalado Jose has been identified for nearly four decades with the concert stage in
the Philippines. A renowned concert pianist, his career had very dramatic beginnings. At his debut, shortly after his graduation from U.P. in 1946, with a Teacher’s Diploma in Music, and just in his teens, he was performing Chopin’s “Polonaise in A Flat Major” when an unscheduled blackout occurred. Unperturbed, he continued this and succeeding numbers in total darkness, displaying his “cool” mastery of the compositions. The incident was a front page item the following morning.

After numerous concert tours and a stint a the U.P. Conservatory of Music as Instructor, he
received a fellowship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland where
he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1952, and a Master’s degree and an Artist’s
Diploma in 1953. At Peabody, he won so many awards and scholarships that his piano professor, the Hungarian Erno Balogh, commented: “He took everything but the building.”

He also was, at the time, conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, and of the Metro
Manila Symphony Orchestra, being the backbone of Concert at the Park during its first six years.

In 1983-84, he was a visiting professor in piano at the National Institute of Arts in Taipei.
He conducted the Institute’s orchestra in a tour throughout Taiwan.

He served as judge in the 1985 Asia-Pacific Piano Competition for Youth held in Taiwan,
along with six other judges from Asian countries, Germany, and the U.S.A.

At present, Prof. Jose is a Professor Emeritus at the University of the Philippines.

Last January 22, 2002 The UP College of Music Piano Department gave Prof. Regaldo Jose
a tribute as a pianist, conductor, mentor, and as a family man..