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Metro Exclusive: Ryan Cayabyab Talks About the "MaestroClass Concert Series: Love Letters"

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Metro Exclusive: Ryan Cayabyab Talks About the "MaestroClass Concert Series: Love Letters" 

National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab is returning to Rockwell&#x27;s Proscenium Theater for the second chapter of &quot;MaestroClass Concert Series,&quot; this time staged to coincide with Valentine&#x27;s weekend. Fittingly titled Love Letters, the concert—happening on February 13 to 15, 2026—will be a nostalgic show that will highlight OPM classics. Cayabyab, fondly known as Mr. C, picked three of his favorite composers to honor onstage for this concert; it&#x27;s a powerful lineup of three more Cs whose songs defined the golden era of OPM: George Canseco, Jose Mari Chan, and Willy Cruz.The inaugural run of &quot;MaestroClass Concert Series&quot; in November last year featured Mr. C&#x27;s songs, performed alongside Martin Nievera and Lani Misalucha. Looking back on that wonderful experience, staging the first major concert at Rockwell’s state-of-the-art Proscenium Theater, Mr. C told Metro.Style, &quot;I had fun. It was such a fun show. So, we just did not sing, we just did not perform—we had fun, and we&#x27;re going to keep it that way.&quot;<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1768401506080ryan cayabyab maestroclass concert series love letters 1.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="700"/>Ryan Cayabyab | Photo courtesy of Proscenium Theater</div><div> </div>For Love Letters, Mr. C is collaborating with three OPM icons: Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, and Ogie Alcasid. &quot;These are legends of their time,&quot; Mr. C declared, expressing his excitement about working with them. In true masterclass fashion, the process of putting this show together essentially allows Cayabyab to teach and impart his knowledge. But, at the same time, he acknowledges that it&#x27;s incredible to witness such a &quot;masterclass of performance&quot; with these three singers, inspiring him to explore possibilities and experiment with their dynamics. He&#x27;s excited for the audience to also experience this masterclass with Valdez, Legaspi, and Alcasid, whom Mr. C described as &quot;vocal masters.&quot; While the promise of offering new arrangements for their selection of timeless hits is truly something worth looking forward to, Cayabyab also wants to stick to the style and sound that Valdez, Legaspi, and Alcasid are known and well-loved for. &quot;The truth is, I want them to sing it the way they sing it, kasi du&#x27;n sila kilala e,&quot; he said. And so, with a blend of fresh and familiar harmonies and melodies, Love Letters is shaping up to be a nostalgic trip down memory lane—and what better way to relive the classic Filipino love songs than by listening (and singing along) to them this Valentine&#x27;s season?!<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1768402950381ryan cayabyab basil valdez ogie alcasid celeste legaspi love letters proscenium 1.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Celeste Legaspi, Ryan Cayabyab, Basil Valdez, and Ogie Alcasid | Photo courtesy of Proscenium Theater</div><div style="text-align:center"> </div>Hinting at what the audience can expect from &quot;MaestroClass Concert Series: Love Letters,&quot; Mr. C said he has a new arrangement for one of Valdez&#x27;s hit songs, sharing that he&#x27;s served as a music director for Valdez for almost 50 years, so he knows how he performs and what will match his vocals. Among Valdez&#x27;s many hit songs are &quot;Ngayon at Kailanman,&quot; &quot;Hindi Kita Malilimutan,&quot; and &quot;Kastilyong Buhangin.&quot; <div></div>Mr. C has a longtime collaborator in Legaspi, too. &quot;I arranged many of her songs, and there&#x27;s this one song that I&#x27;m so excited to play for her,&quot; he said of the singer behind iconic singles &quot;Mamang Sorbetero&quot; and &quot;Saranggola Ni Pepe.&quot; &quot;I&#x27;m not going to tell you which song is that. It has to be a little more of a surprise.&quot; He has also collaborated with Alcasid for 15 years, and working with the &quot;Nandito Ako&quot; and &quot;Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang&quot; hitmaker is always filled with learning and laughter; Mr. C is sure this new experience with Alcasid will be just as fun for the staging of Love Letters.  <div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1768404110525ryan cayabyab maestroclass concert series love letters 2.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div style="text-align:center"> </div>Making this &quot;MaestroClass Concert Series&quot; show even more special for Mr. C is how this platform allows him to keep the compositions of Canseco, Chan, and Cruz alive. Looking back on his relationships with each of them, he talked about their collaborations. Mr. C used to be the arranger of Chan&#x27;s jingles and songs. He was also an artist under Jem Records, for which Cruz served as CEO, and he and Cruz both assumed the role of a music director for The Ambivalent Crowd. &quot;Of all the composers I&#x27;ve worked with, si Willy siguro &#x27;yung pinakamarami naming experience together kasi we were both music directors. And he played the piano. I also play the piano,&quot; Cayabyab shared. Mr. C also holds dearly the memories he made with Canseco—whom he considers like his older brother, uncle, or even father. &quot;Si George para sa akin, of our time, siya &#x27;yung pinakabalagtas namin. Siya &#x27;yung pinaka Lope K. Santos namin,&quot; Mr. C said, likening Canseco to the Filipino poet, novelist, and essayist. &quot;Ang ganda-ganda niya sumulat ng mga letra. Ang ganda ng mga lyrics niya. Ang ganda ng mga melodya niya.&quot; <div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1768405894065ryan cayabyab basil valdez ogie alcasid celeste legaspi love letters proscenium 2.jpg" style="width:700px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/></div><div style="text-align:center"> </div>&quot;And so, I tell you,&quot; Mr. C declared, &quot;Basil, Celeste, Ogie, and then you have George Canceco&#x27;s songs, Wily Cruz&#x27;s songs, Jose Mari Chan&#x27;s songs. This MaestroClass, level two, Love Letters, will be something to look forward to.&quot;Beyond the featured artists and songs, what&#x27;s also hyping up Mr. C is the opportunity to play on Proscenium Theater&#x27;s Steinway &amp; Sons Model D grand piano. &quot;&#x27;Yung Steinway D is like the top-level Steinway,&quot; Mr. C explained. &quot;It&#x27;s incomparable!&quot; When asked to sum up why Love Letters is the perfect Valentine&#x27;s concert to watch, Mr. C said, &quot;Kailan pa niyo makikita na magsasama sila Basil, Celeste, myself, plus somebody like Ogie Alcasid?...  It&#x27;s very rare for us to actually perform together.&quot; For his &quot;era crowd&quot; and his fellow senior citizens, Mr. C laughed, this is the perfect Valentine&#x27;s Day date because they will be singing the songs that generation likes, &quot;the songs that they grew up with.&quot; This is a love letter to you from the treasure box of seven OPM icons: Ryan Cayabyab, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Ogie Alcasid, Jose Mari Chan, Willy Cruz, and George Canseco. <div>Tickets for Love Letters are now available via <a href="https://premier.ticketworld.com.ph/shows/show.aspx?sh=LOVELETR26" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TicketWorld</a>, both online and at the Power Plant Mall Cinema outlets.</div><div> </div>Photos courtesy of Rockwell and Proscenium Theater

When asked to sum up why "Love Letters" is the perfect Valentine's concert to watch, Ryan Cayabyab said, "Kailan pa niyo makikita na magsasama sila Basil [Valdez], Celeste [Legaspi], myself, plus somebody like Ogie Alcasid?... It's very rare for us to actually perform together."

When asked to sum up why " Love Letters" is the perfect Valentine's concert to watch, Ryan Cayabyab said, " Kailan pa niyo makikita na magsasama sila Basil [Valdez], Celeste [Legaspi], myself, plus somebody like Ogie Alcasid?... It's very rare for us to actually perform together."

Ryan Cayabyab's 'MaestroClass Concert Series: Love Letters' Is a Rare Celebration of OPM Icons

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Ryan Cayabyab's 'MaestroClass Concert Series: Love Letters' Is a Rare Celebration of OPM Icons

Grace Libero

Published January 14, 2026 10:30 PM PHT

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Updated January 23, 2026 04:19 PM PHT

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People

Ryan Cayabyab

Ogie Alcasid

Basil Valdez

Celeste Legaspi

MaestroClass Concert Series

Love Letters

Rockwell

Proscenium Theater

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