Fil-Am sisters excelling
in music competitions

Sisters Michaela and Bettina Jaranilla De Guzman, former students of St. Scholastica’s Academy in Bacolod City, are making the Filipino community in California proud with their talent in music.

Michaela, 11, plays the violin and was recently tapped to join the concert of the Filipino-American Symphony Orchestra Youth Ensemble and joined FASO concert in July at Ford Theater in Hollywood.

Her sister Bettina, 9, won third place in the vocal competition of Angel Cup Hollywood International Youth World Championship in July this year.

Being with the FASO enables Michaela, a 7th grader at St. Genevieve Elementary School, Panorama City, California, to be in the company of talented Filipino-American musicians based in Los Angeles.

Robert Shroder, the orchestra’s artistic director and conductor, said the group provides not only an enriching orchestral Filipino music experience to the community but serves as a vehicle for promoting and supporting talented Fil-American musicians and artists.

FASO will have a major Christmas concert on December 16.

Bettina, meanwhile, is a 4th grade student in St. Genevieve Elementary School, and was the only Filipino who joined in the Angel Cup competition, where she sang “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid movie, and “A Whole New World” from the movie Aladdin.

The Angel Cup World Championship in USA is organized by the International Youth Culture and Arts Association, with the mission to gather talented young artists in the world to demonstrate their talent.

Bettina won third place at the competition where 70 performers from different countries, ages 8-18 years old, also joined.

The De Guzman sisters are daughters of Dr. Victor and Jessa De Guzman, the latter an alumna of SSA and daughter of Roberto and Belinda Jaranilla of Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod City.

The elder Roberto was former president of the Parish Pastoral Council of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Villamonte and his son, Robert Jr., is now the parish priest of St. Joseph Church in Pomona, California.

Michaela and Bettina studied at SSA in Bacolod when their father was the medical director of M3 Dialysis, Inc. and their mother was working as guidance counselor at Bacolod Tay Tung High School.*NAB