ABOUT THE TEACHER:
The studio was founded in 1990 by Marilou Padilla Gallardo, noted educator and respected piano and organ instructor with more than 30 years of experience in the field of music education and the keyboard performing arts.
Mrs. Gallardo, principal operator and director of the studio has been the recipient of multiple music awards and grants.The studio has a large following of students from the Metro Washington DC,Northern Virginia and the Southern Maryland areas.
In 2002, she also founded the MPG Keyboard Artists and Friends,Inc. ,a non profit organization with a 501(c) 3 status recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as well as the State of Maryland sponsoring cultural and community concert events to promote awareness in the keyboard performing arts.
Mrs Gallardo is the current chief executive officer of the organization.
She is an active member of the following organizations:
1. The Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)
2. The Maryland State Music Teachers Association(MSMTA)
3. National Guild of Piano Teachers (NGPT)
4. Prince George's County Music Teachers Association (PGMTA)
Some of her other noteworthy achievements are as follows:
1. Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award – Jordan Kitts Music: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1989 when she was music instructor and in-house concert artist at the Jordan Kitts Music from 1982-1990.
As of present, the Marilou Padilla Gallardo Piano/Organ/Keyboard Studio has been rated as one of the best teaching studios in the metropolitan WashingtonD.C./Maryland and Virginia area consistently from 2016,2017,2018,2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
2. Adjudicator during Yamaha Electone Festivals (local and regional keyboard competitions) held in the Metro Washington D.C. areas between 1984-1991
3. Maryland State Music Teachers Association (MSMTA) 2003 recipient of the Jordan Kitts Music Grant. This grant, recently renamed the Judith Ferencz Memorial Grant has been awarded to outstanding members of the MSMTA in recognition of teacher excellence in student development of piano students in the state of Maryland.
4. Served as a member of an international jury of the piano competition sponsored by the World Pedagogy Piano Conference (WPPC) held in Atlanta, Georgia in 2006.
5.Studio director and Principal instructor of the Marilou Padilla Gallardo Piano/Organ/Keyboard Studio since 1990 through this current year 2020.
Mrs. Gallardo, principal operator and director of the studio has been the recipient of multiple music awards and grants.The studio has a large following of students from the Metro Washington DC,Northern Virginia and the Southern Maryland areas.
In 2002, she also founded the MPG Keyboard Artists and Friends,Inc. ,a non profit organization with a 501(c) 3 status recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as well as the State of Maryland sponsoring cultural and community concert events to promote awareness in the keyboard performing arts.
Mrs Gallardo is the current chief executive officer of the organization.
She is an active member of the following organizations:
1. The Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)
2. The Maryland State Music Teachers Association(MSMTA)
3. National Guild of Piano Teachers (NGPT)
4. Prince George's County Music Teachers Association (PGMTA)
Some of her other noteworthy achievements are as follows:
1. Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award – Jordan Kitts Music: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1989 when she was music instructor and in-house concert artist at the Jordan Kitts Music from 1982-1990.
As of present, the Marilou Padilla Gallardo Piano/Organ/Keyboard Studio has been rated as one of the best teaching studios in the metropolitan WashingtonD.C./Maryland and Virginia area consistently from 2016,2017,2018,2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
2. Adjudicator during Yamaha Electone Festivals (local and regional keyboard competitions) held in the Metro Washington D.C. areas between 1984-1991
3. Maryland State Music Teachers Association (MSMTA) 2003 recipient of the Jordan Kitts Music Grant. This grant, recently renamed the Judith Ferencz Memorial Grant has been awarded to outstanding members of the MSMTA in recognition of teacher excellence in student development of piano students in the state of Maryland.
4. Served as a member of an international jury of the piano competition sponsored by the World Pedagogy Piano Conference (WPPC) held in Atlanta, Georgia in 2006.
5.Studio director and Principal instructor of the Marilou Padilla Gallardo Piano/Organ/Keyboard Studio since 1990 through this current year 2020.
EDUCATION
Marilou Padilla Gallardo studied piano performance at the University of Santo Tomas, (Manila, Philippines) under the tutelage of eminent professor, pianist, composer, and former Manila Symphony Orchestra conductor- Professor Bernardino F. Custodio.
Mrs.Gallardo was also the recipient of the prestigious United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) fellowship in music studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston,Massachussetts.
Among her other mentors of note were Professor Lucino T. Sacramento, classical Philippine composer from whom she took special classes in classical counterpoint and orchestration. In her early teens, she studied jazz harmony and popular arrangement under two famous Philippine musical directors, bandleaders, and film scorers-Miguel Velarde Jr. and Francisco Buencamino Jr.
Mrs. Gallardo is a consistent attendee and participant of many current national and international piano conferences and conventions for continuing advancement in piano technique and new trends in keyboard music.
EARLY YEARS
At the young age of 14, Ms. Gallardo was selected to perform keyboards in the orchestra in Dulang Bayan’s “Kapit Bahay”, a zarzuela musical production marking the revival of the Manila Grand Opera House, a production of Philippine National Artist director Lamberto Avellana with musical direction by bandleader and composer, Mike Velarde Jr.
At the age of fifteen, her performance career was launched in a major keyboard production, “Kinabukasan”, sponsored by the Yamaha School of Music as Yamaha Electone artist at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Since then, Ms.Gallardo performed extensively as a concert artist in major Philippine cities and also internationally in Japan and Taiwan. She was featured in many television shows on the electronic organ and keyboards. She performed for the First Lady of the Philippines, Mrs. Imelda Romualdez Marcos as well as many foreign ambassadors and dignitaries visiting the Philippines.
Mrs. Marilou Padilla Gallardo was also selected as one of the Philippines ten young ambassadors of goodwill by the Children’s Museum Library Inc.(CMLI) foundation and was given the Talent Award; performing and traveling all over the Philippines and internationally in Taiwan and Japan as a Talent Ambassador of Goodwill representing the Philippines under the joint sponsorship of the CMLI Foundation and the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
She was one of the first recipients of the prestigious ALIW Award in the late 1970's by the ALIW Awards Foundation for her notable achievements in the keyboard performing arts in the Philippine entertainment arts community.
Ms. Gallardo also performed and toured extensively in major US cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, El Paso, Haddonfield (NJ), Washington DC,as well as New York City notably for the Philippine Consulate and the Filipino communities in the United States.
At the age of fifteen, her performance career was launched in a major keyboard production, “Kinabukasan”, sponsored by the Yamaha School of Music as Yamaha Electone artist at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Since then, Ms.Gallardo performed extensively as a concert artist in major Philippine cities and also internationally in Japan and Taiwan. She was featured in many television shows on the electronic organ and keyboards. She performed for the First Lady of the Philippines, Mrs. Imelda Romualdez Marcos as well as many foreign ambassadors and dignitaries visiting the Philippines.
Mrs. Marilou Padilla Gallardo was also selected as one of the Philippines ten young ambassadors of goodwill by the Children’s Museum Library Inc.(CMLI) foundation and was given the Talent Award; performing and traveling all over the Philippines and internationally in Taiwan and Japan as a Talent Ambassador of Goodwill representing the Philippines under the joint sponsorship of the CMLI Foundation and the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
She was one of the first recipients of the prestigious ALIW Award in the late 1970's by the ALIW Awards Foundation for her notable achievements in the keyboard performing arts in the Philippine entertainment arts community.
Ms. Gallardo also performed and toured extensively in major US cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, El Paso, Haddonfield (NJ), Washington DC,as well as New York City notably for the Philippine Consulate and the Filipino communities in the United States.