Citation: Fides Cuyugan Asensio written by Roland Raymond Roldan on August 12, 2015, (commissioned by the Cultural Center of the Philippines)

CITATION

FIDES CUYUGAN ASENSIO, soprano, actress, music theatre producer, librettist, voice teacher par excellence leads a generation of music theatre artists in more than half a century, espousing fervour for the performing arts, advocating values of artistry, feminism and nationalism in her performances, productions and written works. 

Her career spanning more than sixty years, Fides is a recipient of various awards and honors, among them Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa conferred by the Philippine Women’s University; Gawad Buhay Award Philstage 2013; Gawad Siglo ng Aliw, 1999 Aliw Awards Foundation; Best Musical Show Host, 1994 Star Awards, Philippine Movie Press Club; and Asia Opera Award, Seoul, South Korea 1990 and 1993. 

She is the first Filipino  accepted in the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, and has garnered praise in her performances of Giancarlo Menotti's The Telephone, Gaetano Donizetti's  Lucia di Lamermoor, and Ramon Santos' Mapulang Bituin, Eliseo Pajaros' Binhi ng Kalayaan, Lucresia Kasilag's Dularawan, and Felipe de Leon's  Noli Me Tangere. 

Fides also easily wears various hats as director of Hansel and Gretel, Il Segreto di Susanna, L'Enfant Prodigue, La Serva Perdona, Tales of Hoffman, Larawan ng Himagsikan,  Romeo and Juliet and Don Giovanni; as television host to shows Sunday Sweet Sunday and A Little Night of Music;  and as actress in movies Mana,  Aparisyon, Nino and Oro, Plata, Mata. 

As librettist, she worked with composers of varying musical disciplines, with Larawan at Kababaihan: Mukha at Maskara and Why Flowers Bloom in May by Lucrecia Kasilag; Spoliarium by Ryan Cayabyab; Mayo Bisperas ng Liwanag by Rey Paguio; Song of Joseph and Legend of M: Marya Makiling at Mga Nuno sa Punso by Raymond and Jeannelle Roldan; and La Loba Negra, by Francisco Feliciano.

As a teacher of voice she mentored opera singers, theatre artists and music personalities Margarita Yulo-Gomez, Camille Lopez-Molina, Andion Fernandez, Johanna Cabili, Lemuel Cuento, Jonathan Badon, Nazer Salcedo, Marvin Gayramon, Emily Britanico-Morales, Luz Tolentino, Karla Gutierrez, Ana Feleo and Lara Maigue, to name a few.

 The Gawad CCP para sa Sining (Music) is given on this 16th of September 2015 to Fides Cuyugan Asensio.