Lakambini Zaguirre Ramos

LAKAMBINI ZAGUIRRE-RAMOS, concert pianist, teacher, accompanist, Music Director, choir director, organist and cantor - received her Bachelor's Degree in Music at St. Joseph's College in Quezon City, Philippines in 1955, having studied with Avelina Manalo, In 1957, she won first prize in a National Piano Competition in Manila which awarded her, under the tutorship of Benjamin Tupas, the Cardinal Spellman Scholarship to attend Pope Pius XII Institute in Florence, Italy, where she earned her Master's Degree in Music with Wilhelm Gillert. She took post graduate courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Sienna, Italy, and at Juilliard and Teacher's College in New York, and studied with Martin Canin.

      Ms. Ramos was a  third prize winner in the  1956 Tschaikowsky competition in Manila and won two silver medals in the 1984 International Annual Piano Recording Competition sponsored by the American College of Musicians, National Piano Guild of Piano Teachers in the United States.

      She has given lecture-recitals in the Philippines, Australia,  San Francisco, New York and Rhode Island. She performs and has recorded  the original music of Filipino composers, a varied collection of piano pieces in different styles in her repertoire ALAY I; has a recording of Chopin music; and a recent  CD recording of her own piano compositions, 3 versions of the Happy Birthday.

      In 1989, Mrs. Ramos, became the 4th Director of Music at St. Michael's Church in Co-op City, Bronx, New York, and since then, has composed liturgical music for the Catholic church. She has also provided yearly concerts for St. Michael's, until she left in 2000.

      She is a board member of the Piano Teachers' Congress of N.Y., and chairman of the Lawrence Dilsner Scholarship Auditions; the Associated Music Teacher's League of N.Y.; the Brooklyn Music Teachers' Guild; the Westchester's Musicians' Guild;  the National Pastoral Musicians; and the American College of Musicians, National Piano Guild of Piano Teachers in the United States, of which she is also an adjudicator.

      Lakambini was the daughter of Dr. Jaime C. Zaguirre, famous psychiatrist and former director of the UERMMC Psychiatry division, and a former teacher and assistant principal of Kamuning Elementary School, Engracia Abarquez Zaguirre.

      She is married to architect Romualdo A. Ramos of Balayan, Batangas, and they have a daughter, Maria (Ginky) who is a photographer and computer expert . Lakambini's only sister, Bituin is a psychologist married to Remigio Almonte, tailor, and they have a young son, JP.