Lucrecia "King" Roces Kasilag was born in
San Fernando,
La Union Philippines, the third of the six children of Marcial Kasilag Sr., a civil engineer, and his wife Asuncion Roces Ganancial, a violinist and a violin teacher. She was Kasilag's first
solfeggio teacher. The second was Doña Concha Cuervo, who was a strict Spanish woman. Kasilag later studied under Doña Pura Villanueva, during which time performed her first public piece,
Felix Mendelssohn's
May Breezes, at a student recital when she was ten years old. During World War II, she took up composition, and on 1 December 1945, she performed her own compositions in a concert at
Philippine Women's University. From 1946 to 1947, Kasilag taught at the
University of the Philippines’ Conservatory of Music and worked as secretary-registrar at Philippines Women's University. She completed a
Bachelor of Music in 1949, and then attended the
Eastman School of Music in
Rochester, New York, studying theory with
Allen I. McHose and composition with
Wayne Barlow. Kasilag returned to the Philippines, and in 1953 she was appointed Dean of the Philippines Women's University College of Music and Fine Arts. After completing her studies, Kasilag made an international tour as a concert pianist, but eventually had to give up a performing career due to a congenital weakness in one hand. Kasilag was instrumental in developing Philippine music and culture. She founded the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center for research and theatrical presentations, and was closely involved with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company. She was also a former president of the
Cultural Center of the Philippines, head of the
Asian Composers League, Chairperson of the
Philippine Society for Music Education, and was one of the pioneers of the
Bayanihan Dance Company. She is credited for having written more than 350 musical compositions, ranging from
folksongs to
opera to
orchestral works, and was composing up to the year before her death. Lucrecia Roces Kasilag died due to pneumonia on August 16, 2008, fifteen days before her 90th birthday, in Manila, Philippines. == Selected works ==