Ejay Yatco, Musical Theater Arranger, Makes It To World Championship Final

Los Angeles, July 18, 2013--Ejay Yatco, 22-year-old musical theater arranger, composer and pianist from the Philippines, whose recent works for American musicals "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Edges" and Filipino rock musical "Sa Wakas" received critical acclaim, has made it to the 17th annual World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) final, where he is set to compete with two other adult instrumentalists: Jonathan Saw, an electronic violinist from Singapore and Stepan Mezencev, a classical violinist from Russia. The winner will be declared Instrumentalist of the World.

WCOPA, an international performing arts talent competition, which kicked off earlier this week, is all set for its final stage of competition at Westin Bonaventure, tomorrow, 7 p.m., with Yatco, Saw, Mezencev and other finalists from 50 countries, who are battling it out on different categories (vocal, dance, acting and modelling). Live HD streaming tickets ($4.99 each) are available at www.wcopa.com.

Via Marielle Mamaclay, WCOPA's past winner, BroadwayWorld.com was able to speak earlier with Yatco who just came back from the final show rehearsals. Among his three competition entries: the abridged, 60-second versions of (1) Frédéric Chopin's Ballade No. 1, (2) Francisco Buencamino Sr.'s Mayón, fantasia de concierto and (3) "Take to the Sky," Yatco's own composition, he has picked Mayón, a sonic depiction of a volcanic eruption, to be his final competition piece.

Prior to flying to Los Angeles, Yatco's long-time piano teacher, Elizabeth Flordeliza, pushed him to learn the unabridged version of Mayón.

"During the semi-final round, among my competition pieces, Mayón got the highest score from the judges," Yatco, a first-time talent show contestant, revealed to BroadwayWorld.com.

"This week-long competition has taught me not to compare myself to other contestants. You need to be in the moment; you need to focus. The violinists [from Singapore, Russia] and I have different musical styles. It all boils down to the music preference of the judges at the final round.

"The most important thing now is to relax the mind [it has been a very stressful week for him] and to have a good time," he said.

Right after WCOPA, he will travel to New York City, sans a chaperone--for the first time-- to reunite with "Sa Wakas" director Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, whose play "Standby," written by Mark-Eugene Garcia and Alfred Solis, and starring Darren Ritchie ("Wonderland," "Little Shop of Horrors"), is running at the New York Musical Theatre Festival until Sunday, July 28.

Yatco's original musical "Toilet" will open February next year at Blue Repertory in Manila, Philippines.

"We're done with the musical's first draft. However, I still need to finish eight more songs; the show has 22 songs," he said.

Below, check out the list of WCOPA grand finalists:

WCOPA 2013 Finalists

JUNIOR-VOCAL GROUP

1525 - Jedijah & Daniah De Villiers - South Africa

JUNIOR-VOCAL

1032 - Lisa Ajax - Sweden
1169 - Alice Rose Gullick - United Kingdom
1281 - Vejcheslav Popovski - Macedonia
1503 - Aldeza Dela Torre - Philippines
1521 - Riana Kuring - United States

JUNIOR-INSTRUMENTALIST

1006 - Danique Kos - Netherlands
1143 - Denilson Gulston - Trinidad and Tobago 1252 - Lightening Drummers Trio - Jamaica

JUNIOR-DANCE GROUP
1446 - Dmitrii and Aleksandra - Russia

JUNIOR -DANCE SOLO
1038 - Rachel Sellner - United States
1063 - Misskew - Australia
1255 - Shannen Tan - Singapore

JUNIOR-ACTING
1090 - Amalia Brignoni - United States
1408 - Kaelin Greg Wills - South Africa
1524 - Daniah De Villiers - South Africa

JUNIOR-MODELS-FEMALE
1063 - Misskew Australia
1235 - Sofia Sanchez - Guatemala
1255 - Shannen Tan - Singapore
1280 - Megan Mare - South Africa
1324 - Mine Fourie - South Africa
1357 - Kaline Du Plessis - Namibia
1398 - Xeniya Mikhailovskaya - Kazakhstan
1415 - Anastasia Dvoryanskaya - Russia

JUNIOR-MODELS-MALE
1375 - Liam Anthony Du Preez - South Africa
1414 - Maxim Terekhov - Russia
1416 - Alexey Dvoryanskiy - Russia

SENIORS-VOCAL GROUP
1218 - Prime Note Emsemble - United States
1250 - Leharia Singers Ministry - Jamaica
1280 - SoulMisters - Singapore
1508 - Gollayan Sisters - Philippines

SENIOR-VOCAL
1078 - Fakhrul Razi Ibrahim - Brunei Darussalam
1123 - Latafale Auva'a - New Zealand
1215 - William Collins - United States
1350 - Muhammad Sharifuddin - Malaysia
1501 - Beverly Caimen - Philippines

SENIOR-INSTRUMENTALIST
1262 - Jonathan Saw - Singapore
1417 - Stepan Mezencev - Russia
1491 - Edison Yatco - Philippines

SENIOR-DANCE GROUP
1320 - Chase and Ashley South Africa
1326 - Sunrise International Dance Company - United States
1354 - Rakon Dance Group - Malaysia
1389 - Rodost Impuls Bohumin - Czech Republic

SENIOR -DANCE SOLO
1030 - Brittany Smith - New Zealand
1154 - Briana Emrich - Australia
1311 - Juan Pino Morales - Colombia
1318 - Ashley Behrens - South Africa

SENIOR ACTING
1264 - Suiyen Smith - South Africa
1266 - Eva-Maria Dinwoodie - South Africa
1442 - Cecile Djunga - France

SENIOR-MODELS-FEMALE
1015 - Kendra McGowan - Canada
1043 - Britt Goodwin - Australia
1261 - Ashleigh White - Singapore
1346 - Sonja Badenhorst - Namibia
1366 - Chanique Rabe - Namibia
1404 - Marina Yakovleva - Russia
1441 - Danielle Smith - South Africa

SENIOR-MODELS-MALE
1021 - Jakub Jenicek - Germany
1242 - Ryan Hunt - Australia
1318 - Ashley Behrens - South Africa
1365 - Wictor von Walden - Sweden
1412 - Nikita Friche - Russia
1433 - Julien Vital - France
1478 - Reynaldo Gorospe - Philippines

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