Leo P. Olobia
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About the CD:
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I have un upcoming CD eintitled "Piano
Potpourri", a selection of my favorite classical, broadway and
standard music. It is currently being edited and mastered in Vancouver,
Canada. As soon as the final product is released it will be posted here for
your listening enjoyment.
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about leo...
Leo started in the cruise industry in 1994 when Virgilio Del Rosario, a
talent agent in Manila heard him play Chopin's Scherzo in Bb Minor. It was a
5-minute audition that landed him on the MS Statendam from Holland America
Line to play in a sextet comrprising 2 violins, a flute, guitar, base and
Leo as the pianist. It was a 9-month journey around the world visiting all
continents.
Following his first contract as side member, Leo was offered to lead his own
strings group aboard MS Noordam that toured in the Caribbean and Alaska.
This contract proved to be his toughest one being his first time to handle a
group of talented musicians from UP and several orchestras in Manila. Leo
reckons: I had to write arrangements of a lot of my favorite Broadway tunes
and there was very little time for my solo pieces, so in a way I lost my
classical touch during that time.
After leading Rosario Strings for two years, Leo obtained a tourist
visa for the US in Quebec, Canada which allowed him to visit his sister in
Florida.
During breakfast one day, Leonita, his sister, said: why don't you call
Carnival Cruise Line and ask for a solo piano gig? Sure enough he did and
from
that call he got the Cocktail Piano job for 4 years until Leo made it to the
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line where he has been Piano Intermissionist aboard
Explorer, Empress and Voyager of the Seas vessels for the last 4 years.