Kanta Filipina

Theresa Calpotura is a classical guitarist, recording artist, and educator whose work bridges the traditions of Western classical music and Filipino musical heritage. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Stephen Aron, and the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Benjamin Verdery, Calpotura has also pursued lute studies with Christopher Morrongiello and jazz guitar with Tony Romano. She currently serves on the guitar faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division.

Kanta Filipina, released in 2010 on VGo Recordings, is Calpotura's debut album and a premiere recording of original, arranged, and transcribed works for solo guitar created in collaboration with Filipino American composer Bayani Mendoza de Leon. The album features twelve tracks that encompass traditional Filipino songs, folk dances, and newly composed works that incorporate Philippine folk and indigenous motifs into the classical guitar idiom. Composers represented include Nicanor Abelardo, Julio Nakpil, Lucio D. San Pedro, Jose P. Rizal, and Leon Ignacio, with arrangements and original compositions by de Leon.

The recording was recognized with the MuKha Arts and Science Prize for 2010, presented by Nobel Laureate Torsten Wiesel in acknowledgment of its contribution to Filipino cultural heritage. Calpotura has also received Yale University's AlumniVentures grant and multiple awards from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. She has performed extensively across the United States and the Philippines, appearing on national and international television and radio programs, and has served on the advisory board of the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts in San Francisco.