Organizations/Performing Group:

PTGP, member, 2017-present

Awards and Recognition:

Timpalak Kundiman (Winner), National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2018
1st place, University of the Philippines Centennial Piano Concerto Competition, 2008
2nd place, National Music Competitions for Young Artists, 2004
2nd place, University of the Philippines Concerto Competition, 2004
2nd place, National Music Competitions for Young Artists, 1998
3rd place, National Music Competitions for Young Artists, 1995

CD Recording:

1.Orchestral pianist - PPO "Serenata: Well Loved Philippine Folk Songs and Melodies"
2.Solo piano - Malikmata by Antonio Molina from "Saysay Himig: An Anthology of Transcultural Filipino Music CD 1"

Recent Performances:

1.Collaborating artist - SEA Guitar Festival and Performance Awards (Indonesia 2019)
2.Collaborating artist - Lina Matsuda Violin Recital at the Steinway Boutique (2019)
3.Collaborating artist - Recital at the Vietnam Academy of Music (Vietnam 2018)
4.Collaborating artist- SEA Guitar Festival and Performance Awards (Thailand 2018)
5.Soloist - Extremely Beethoven - Concerti Nos. 1 and 5 (2018)
6.Soloist and Collaborating artist - Haruki Murakami Festival Manila (2018)



Born and raised in Cotabato City, April Dawnena Merced-Misa started playing the piano at age four. She started competing at age nine and her early feats granted her a full scholarship to both the Philippine High School for the Arts and later at the University of the Philippines where she was a consistent college and university scholar.

As a result of winning 1st prize in the UP Centennial Piano Concerto Competition, Misa had her orchestral debut with the UP Orchestra, playing Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 in Bb Major. She has also been featured as a soloist with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) in 2016, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in C Major under the baton of Maestro Tetsuji Honna at the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

As a solo and chamber musician, Misa has performed in Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and was a guest artist at the South East Asia Guitar Festival, Silpakorn International Guitar Festival in Thailand. In 2018, she collaborated with the Hiroko Kokubu Jazz Trio and 1966 Quartet from Japan for the Haruki Murakami Festival in Manila. On that same year, she joined and won NCCA’s Timpalak Kundiman with lyricist Vim Nadera for her composition “Pag-ibig”. From 2013-2017, she frequently performed with PPO as an orchestral pianist.

Her mentors include Abelardo Galang, Reynaldo Reyes, Augusto Espino, Nita Abrogar-Quinto, Avelina Manalo and Evelyn Cabrera-Rosal. Currently, Misa is an Assistant Professor of the Keyboard Department of the College of Music.