The first Filipino to win NBC’s The Voice will perform tonight at Pasadena Civic Auditorium in a concert where the backstage story carries as much weight as the headliner.
Producer Zelle DeVilbiss made a deliberate choice: The team bringing Sofronio Vasquez to the 3,000-seat stage would be Filipino-led. Musical direction by Troy Laureta, a Filipino American who has worked with Ariana Grande, David Foster, and Andrea Bocelli. Production by DeVilbiss’s GodZella International, with Filipino Americans throughout the crew.
“Filipino American History Month reminds us that representation happens on and off stage,” DeVilbiss said, explaining how the October cultural observance guided creative decisions for the 7:30 p.m. concert.
The intentionality reflects a broader reckoning with invisibility. “Filipino Americans have often, unfortunately, been absent from the state’s history books and general public knowledge,” said Dr. Robyn Magalit Rodriguez, Professor Emeritus of Asian American Studies at UC Davis and Founder and Executive Director of the Amado Khaya Initiative. “Over the last century, not only have we contributed our labor as agricultural workers in the fields of California, or in hospital rooms across the state, we’ve also taken leadership in advancing workers’ rights for all.”
Tonight’s concert unfolds in Los Angeles County, home to more than 370,000 Filipino residents—more than any single county in the United States. The County proclaimed October 2025 as Filipino American History Month in a measure authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn and coauthored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis.
Vasquez made history in December 2024 when he won The Voice Season 26, delivering coach Michael Bublé his first U.S. franchise victory. “My Filipino brother, you are the hope of so many people,” Bublé told Vasquez during the finale, according to multiple reports from the broadcast.
The win resonated internationally. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Marcos met with Vasquez at Malacañang Palace on January 8, where the president said the Voice win “made Filipinos famous again” and brought immense pride to the Philippines. Vasquez performed “Imagine” and “A Million Dreams” for the First Couple during the courtesy call.
Tonight, Vasquez will be joined by fellow Voice Season 26 contestants Jeremy Beloate, who placed fifth on Team Snoop, and Danny Joseph, who placed fourth on Team Reba, along with front act Mikaela Bautista from American Idol Season 23.
The concert takes place at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, part of the Pasadena Civic Center District listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nearly 3,000-seat theater, dedicated in 1932, has hosted everyone from Ray Charles to Carlos Santana, and regularly films reality talent shows including America’s Got Talent.
The performance is among more than two dozen Filipino American History Month events across Southern California, according to event listings compiled by community organizations and Filipino American media outlets.
The month-long observance commemorates the October 18, 1587 arrival of the first Filipinos in what is now Morro Bay, California. Federally recognized since 2009, the observance prompted a U.S. Senate resolution on September 30 recognizing October 2025 as Filipino American History Month.
The Filipino American National Historical Society, which established the annual observance in 1992, set this year’s theme as “From Quotas to Communities: Filipino American Migration AND Movement,” commemorating the 90th anniversary of the 1935 Filipino Repatriation Act and the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Immigration & Naturalization Act.
Other Southern California events this weekend include the Pinole FAHM Celebration today and the Los Angeles FAHM Festival on Sunday. In downtown Los Angeles, Filled Market partners with Smorgasburg LA for a Filipino American History Month celebration on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at ROW DTLA, featuring Filipino food vendors and cultural programming.
The San Diego Filipino Film Festival, showcasing Filipino and Filipino American cinema, continues through Sunday.
The month culminates with the PWC Larry Itliong Festival on October 18 in Los Angeles, honoring the Filipino American labor leader who founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in 1956 and helped secure the first farmworker union contracts alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
The USC Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena will host “Threads of Identity: Telling Filipinx American Stories through Fashion” on November 22, extending FAHM programming into late fall.
Filipino Americans represent the third-largest Asian American group in the United States, with more than 4 million people identifying as Filipino.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, located at 300 East Green Street, offers convenient parking at 175 S. Euclid Ave. for $15, payable by card or contactless options. Ticket prices vary by seat location, starting as low as $15 for balcony spots and reaching up to $105 for orchestra center seats, with common options around $70, $86, and $90, and can be purchased online through leading ticket vendors such as Eventbrite. Fans are encouraged to secure their spots early and arrive ahead of showtime for an unforgettable live experience with one of Los Angeles’s brightest new stars
