
The 10-year-old music prodigy from Florida is in Detroit to play the lead role in “Anything Is Possible,” a small-budget independent film that’s being produced locally. When he’s not playing Pokemon video games, swimming or reading about mythology, Ethan Bortnick is busy this summer with another activity.
#MOVIE ABOUT CHILD PIANO PRODIGY CODE#
The Code “IGA Approved” will get you through the door Free of Charge. Read below for more information on the film and Ethan from her September 2nd Article in the Detroit Free Press.
#MOVIE ABOUT CHILD PIANO PRODIGY MOVIE#
The concert will be filmed for the indie movie starring Bortnick. He is having a concert at the Redford Theater on Thursday September the 8th at 7:30pm. I received a call this afternoon from the movie set of Ethan Bortnick’s new film. Mama Nena spent majority of her life as an instrument for people to see, hear, and feel the world differently through her music.The staff, parents, students, and friends of Grosse Pointe Music Academy have been invited to a free concert by the producers of a movie starring Ethan Bortnick. She held her last solo concert at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Little Theater in 2003. He is now a Warner artist with his own Spotify channel. The youngest, Eugenio, is a tech entrepreneur who co-founded Ventaja Group, which is involved in distributing prepaid phone cards and Mobile 1, a mobile gadgets retailer.Īlthough none of her five children pursued formal training in classical music, Mama Nena’s grandson, Luis, is classically trained in violin. He also founded Tommy’s Coffee, an independent coffee retailer.

As for Tommy, he is an equities broker and executive working for Philippine Equity Partners. Jun is the co-founder of technology firm MDI Group and also a property developer, specifically the MDI Corporate Center in BGC. Her sons Jun, Tommy, and Eugenio, are now all married with children. Her second daughter, Marianne de Jesus, is a published writer and teacher living in California. Their eldest, Paz Blackett, however, died in 1992 in New York from respiratory illness at only 36 years old.

She had five children with the late Generoso (Oso) Villanueva, Jr. Mama Nena regarded her children as her most treasured gifts. Her unrivaled feat as a pianist merited her the Gawad CCP para sa Sining Pantanghalan in 1997, which recognized her “singular artistry at the piano, for a talent that seems to only get better with the passage of the years, providing younger artists with a standard of excellence to strive for.” People did not only admire her for her exceptional talent, but also her charisma, not to mention her 23-inch waistline! Throughout her career, she was able to play with every Filipino conductor and orchestra of note in the Philippines, including the Philippine Harmonic Orchestra under Maestro Piero Gamba. She also appeared on the same stage as famed orchestras from different corners of the world, such as the Little Symphony of New York, the CBS Symphony, the New Haven Symphony, the NHK Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, the Japan Philharmonic, and the Orchestra Villa de Madrid.Īt her peak, Mama Nena was Manila’s biggest music icon. She also got to collaborate and play chamber music with world-renowned artists like cellists Mstislav Rostropovich, Renato Lucas, and Geronimo Velasco, violinists Rony Rogoff and Oscar Yatco, violist Dino Decena, and contrabassist Antonio Rodriguez at the International Bamboo Organ Festival. Her talent was almost like a passport that took her to different countries, performing in concerts in Japan, China, Spain, France, Ecuador, Hong Kong, London, and New York, among others. Mama Nena spent much of her younger years in the limelight, doing piano recitals one after the other, a testament of her incessant fondness for the beat of music. The child prodigy was truly a rising star! At 15, The New York Times sponsored her to join the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a recital after winning a musical competition.

She eventually earned her Artist’s Diploma in 1956, making her the first Filipino to ever graduate from the prestigious institute.Īt 12, Mama Nena went to Manhattan, New York to perform for a benefit show at Carnegie Hall, one of New York City’s best concert auditoriums that hosted some of the world’s greatest orchestras, instrumentalists, and singers.

She also attended master classes with Vladimir Horowitz and Ilona Kabos. She was under the tutelage of Madame Isabelle Vengerova. Nena as a young prodigy and an adult pianist.įor her formal training, Mama Nena studied at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was honed by some of the greatest artists of their time.
