Lucrecia Roces Kasilag (1918–2008) was a Filipino composer and pianist. She is particularly known for incorporating indigenous Filipino instruments into orchestral productions.
Lucrecia “King” Roces Kasilag was born in San Fernando, La Union Philippines, and grew up in Paco, Manila. She studied at the Philippine Women’s University and at St. Scholastica’s College in Malate, Manila. She completed a Bachelor of Music in 1949, and then attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, studying theory with Allen I. McHose and composition with Wayne Barlow. Kasilag returned to the Philippines, and in 1953 she was appointed Dean of the Philippines Women’s University College of Music and Fine Arts.
After completing her studies, Kasilag made an international tour as a concert pianist, but eventually had to give up a performing career due to a congenital weakness in one hand.
Kasilag was instrumental in developing Philippine music and culture. She founded the Bayanihan Folks Arts Center for research and theatrical presentations, and was closely involved with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company.
She was also a former president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, head of the Asian Composers League, Chairperson of the Philippine Society for Music Education, and was one of the pioneers of the Bayanihan Dance Company. She is credited for having written more than 350 musical compositions, ranging from folksongs to opera to orchestral works, and was composing up to the year before she died, at age 89.