PAGDIRIWANG PHILIPPINE FESTIVAL 2024
Janna Peña
Filipina pianist Jannina Eliana (Janna) G. Peña was recently awarded First Prize in the 2022 BIG ARTS Classical Music Scholarship competition and the GCC 2020 Artist of the Year. She is a top-prize winner in her country, having garnered first prize and Best in Contest Piece in the Piano Teachers’ Guild of the Philippines Beethoven Competition and second prize in the National Music Competition for Young Artists, among others. She has given solo concerts at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the National Arts Center. She has also performed as a soloist with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and the Manila Symphony Orchestra. Aside from the Philippines, she has performed in concert venues in Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, and the United States. She enjoys engaging herself in chamber music and collaborations with other artists of different fields. The Trio Veritas was recently selected as a finalist in the 2021-2022 MTNA Chamber Music Competition. The Peña-Akromova Piano Duo won the Delray Prize of the 2018 Lynn Chamber Competition.
Janna strongly believes in the importance of music education and community engagement. She is currently a teaching assistant at the University of Houston (UH), where she teaches group piano classes to undergraduate students. She is also a teaching fellow at UH’s Community Arts Academy, where she teaches individual piano lessons and group classes. She is a certified Asia Region Suzuki Association piano teacher and registered member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She has organized and taught in various music workshops and outreach programs, such as Developing Youth Leadership Through the Arts, a week-long arts and music camp held in Manila, and the Museo Pambata Children’s Arts Fest 2014 & 2016. She was also the assistant director of the first Makiling Music Festival.
She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance under the tutelage of Dr. Roberta Rust at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music, where she graduated Summa cum Laude and was a recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and The Harold and Patricia Toppel (2021-2022) and Nettie Birnbach Endowed Scholarships (2020-2021). In her younger years, Janna graduated valedictorian at the Philippine High School for the Arts under the guidance of Prof. Carmencita Arambulo, and was a recipient of the four-year CCP Scholarship award. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance & Pedagogy at UH Moores School of Music.