Biography of Carlos Alberto Ibay

Carlos Alberto Ibay is an accomplished concert pianist and a singer. He was gifted with rich tenor voice and fluent in seven languages. His vocal repertoire ranges from the great American standard to the songs of Italy, Spain, France and the Philippines. As an established concert pianist, he is equally at ease performing the Tchaikovsky B-flat Piano Concerto, improvising on Tatum’s Humoresque or playing his own transcription of Broadway musicals, and could make the audience snap their fingers from his own arrangements from the music of the jazz great artists. After his memorable performance at Liz Smith’s 80th birthday party, she wrote in her New York Post column “Carlos Ibay … blew us away!” Deprived of his sight since birth, he broke every obstacle in his life and come to appreciate the gift that God has given him by sharing his talent to the whole world. Carlos, at age twenty-eight has performed in five continents mesmerizing his audience with his gift of music and his irresistible charisma that leave everyone in awe with his ability to blend his music and speak the language of every country he has performed. This unique talent brought him to the stages of Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York City, The Cultural Center of the Philippines, The Rachmaninoff Center of the Arts in Russia, The Teatro Storchi in Modena, Italy, to the concert halls of Brazil, Australia and Israel. Most recently, he was invited to participate at the 12th Arthur Rubenstein Master Piano Competition in Tel-Aviv as a contestant. Even in this competitive performance, the beauty of his music captured the hearts of the Israeli people that he was invited to come back to Jerusalem to perform for the 60th Israeli Independence Day. Called as “President’s Conference, 60th Year of Israel-USA Friendship, he performed a piano duet with various world’s leader in attendance including President George Bush and his wife Laura. This event was followed by his journey to the ornate historical stages of Italy where he performed at the Teatro Communale Di Carpi and at the Teatro Storchi in Modena, the birthplace of Tenor Luciano Pavarotti. At the Teatro Storchi, he sung with famed Italian soprano, Cecilia Gasdia.


Carlos was born premature with a birth weight of 1 lb. 14 oz. He barely survived his three month stay inside incubator. His gift of music was evident as early as two years old when he climbed the organ and produced the “Twinkle! Twinkle! Little Star” with his tiny fingers at the keyboard. He studied with Thomas Schumacher, then at the University of Maryland and currently teaching at the Eastman Conservatory of Music in Rochester, New York. Carlos is now studying with Dr. Thomas Mastroanni, former dean of the Music Department at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

The demanding challenges of life caused by blindness have hardly discouraged his desire to perform. He continues to build an ever increasing number of devoted followers who recognize his exceptional talent. Whether the venue be a concert or cabaret or be it popular or improvisatory, Carlos’ charisma, wit and the infectious joy imparted through his music make him one of the most unusual and sought after young performer today.

Oh! what a beautiful morning...
Oh! what a beautiful day...

Oh! what a beautiful morning... oh! what a beautiful day... the corn is as high as an elephant's eyes... I was seven years old when my parents brought me to a farm near the Blue Ridge Mountain in rural Bedford, Virginia. It reminded me of a setting of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, "Oklahoma". We stayed in a twelve room hundred year old wooden house. That night, the whining of the milking cows and the deafening chorus of the critters and bugs and the whispering of the sycamore leaves did not bother me.

My excitement grew by the minute as the ticking of the grandfather clock was nearing midnight to announce my eight birthday to be official so I can ask my mom if my soprano voice had sounded lower. Yes, it was my early fascination of musicals that I’ve always imagined myself singing in the leading role of a tenor or the baritone. Indeed, my first public performance at age ten, I sung a Gershwin and a Cole Porter piece. Hardly understanding the lyrics. I concentrated more on how my voice will sound in the microphone.

But it was this inclusion of the songs from musicals on my programs that established the current format of my repertoire. Needless to say, I have waited twenty years and still trying to achieve the right highs and lows of my voice, to record the songs I have come to loved and called it “My Favorite Broadway Musicals”, from the inspiring lyrics of the dynamic duos of Rodgers and Hammerstein II, Lerner and Loewe, Schmidt and Jones, Adler and Ross, Leigh and Darion, to the more contemporary geniuses of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stilgoe and Hart, Meredith Wilson, Lionel Bart. In tribute to these great composers and lyricists, I have selected songs (s) from their works that I consider closest to my heart. I thanked God most of all for this precious gift of music and the privilege to share them to everyone.

Carlos Alberto Ibay, December, 2007