ABOUT ROWENA ARRIETA

Hailed by the judges of the highly prestigious 1982 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow as “the youngest and most promising of 82 contestants”, Miss Arrieta was given the title of “Laureate,” winning Fifth Prize and a Special Prize. To this date, Rowena is the only Filipino who has attained this honor. In 1986, Rowena won 1st Prize at the Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition in Spain and 1st Prize in the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York.

Miss Arrieta started to play the piano at the age of two and started to read notes at age three. At age five, she had written her first musical composition. She received her first musical training in the Philippines under the tutelage of Leonila Celino of the Philippine Women’s Conservatory of Music, Regalado Jose and Reynaldo Reyes of the University of the Philippines College of Music, and Mrs. Carmencita Arambulo of the Greenhills Music Studio. Rowena was one of the first graduates of the Philippines High School of the Arts in Mt. Makiling, Philippines.

In 1985, she received her Masters Degree from the renowned Moscow State Conservatory with highest honors, the Western equivalent of summa cum laude, as student of Russian National Artist Yevgeny Malinin. While in Russia she also earned a degree in Russian Language Pedagogy. She later
did her Professional Studies at the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky and as a recipient of the Elva Van Gelder Memorial Scholarship.

In her NY debut recital at the Alice Tully Hall, at Lincoln Center, The New York Times described her playing as having “a fevered demonic intensity” and “a gentle, sublime introspection.”

Likewise, the US Daily News called her “a combination of purity and fire.” Rowena has performed in various cities in the former Soviet Union, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong, United States, and her native Philippines. She played as soloist at the Moscow Radio-TV Orchestra, Orquesta de Radio Television España, Valencia Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Manhattan Philharmonia, National Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

Her other awards include the Ten Outstanding Women in the National Service (Philippines, 1989), Presidential Awards in Performance (Philippines, 1978–1979), and 2nd prize as song writer/lyricist in the 1979 Metro Pop Music Festival (Philippines).

Miss Arrieta has been a faculty member of the National Piano Teachers Guild (USA) since 1990 and has consistently been in its honor roll. In 2009, she was inducted in the Hall of Fame of the US National Piano Teachers Guild.

Rowena is also a published best-selling author of the book “Unstoppable” which she collaborated with 13 other authors. It reached #! international best-seller status in 2019 on Amazon’s Global platform. In 2023, she released a piano album entitled “Piano Favorites” which is available on many streaming platforms.