Banaue, Lemuel, Mary Anne in Maningning event

Founded in 2001, the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI) has been organizing activities aimed at encouraging creativity and recognizing, awarding, and nurturing outstanding and talented young poets and artists 28 years old and below, the same age when Maningning died. During odd-numbered years, poetry competition in Filipino, English and Chinese is held and during even-numbered years, painting competition, two fields in the arts where Maningning excelled.

This year, on its 10th anniversary, MMAFI will award the winners of the 2011 Maningning Trilingual Poetry Competition back to back with a concert featuring soprano Banaue Miclat-Janssen, tenor Lemuel dela Cruz and pianist Mary Anne Espina. The event celebrating art, music and poetry will be held Sept. 29 at 7 P.M. at the GT-Toyota UP Asian Center Auditorium, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. The concert which will highlight best loved classical and Broadway songs, classical Filipino songs and Chinese songs will be directed by Jerry Respeto. Stage & design and lighting is by Ohm David.

CONCERT PERFORMERS

Banaue Miclat-Janssen is an all-around opera singer, actress and dancer. She teaches at the Ateneo de Manila University and UP. With a master of fine arts (MFA) degree in acting from the City University of New York’s Brooklyn College and Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts from the UP Diliman, she also had vocal training under CUNY's Judylee Vivier, Robert A. Carpenter and Evelyn Mandac. She had master classes under F. Murray Abraham, Ruth Maleczech, Agnieszka Holland, Andrew Wade (RSC), Dee Cannon (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), and Vernon Morris (Shakespeare). Banaue had a stint as supernumerary at the famed Metropolitan Opera, New York, in productions of Salome, Faust, La Boheme, Don Carlo, I Puritani and La Traviata. In 2007, she had a solo concert titled Banaue Sings Opera with tenor Dondi Ong at the UP Church of the Risen Lord, and Mabuhay! Banaue at Abelardo with the Mabuhay Singers in 2009 at the UP Abelardo Hall.

Considered one of the Philipines' acclaimed tenors, Lemuel dela Cruz graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor of Music degree under Maestra Salvacion Oppus Yniguez. He went to the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts and finished his professional diploma in Opera Studies with distinction. He has sung in numerous operas, including Basilio and Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Gaston in La Traviata, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Ruiz in Il Trovatore and Remendado in Carmen. He is with the faculty of the UST Conservatory of Music.

Known for her excellence in both chamber and opera music, Mary Anne Espina is one of the most sought-after collaborating artists in the country today. From 1993 to the present, she has maintained an exceptionally hectic musical career. Mary Anne earned her Master of Arts in Music degree, summa cum laude, from the UST Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of renowned Filipino pianists Manuel Maramba, OSB and Raul Sunico, Ph.D, Dean of the UST Conservatory of Music. She finished her undergraduate studies at the St. Scholastica's College of Music. Her previous mentors include Ms. Myrna Damaso and Ms. Erlinda Fule, former Dean of the UST Conservatory of Music. She is with the faculty of the UST Conservatory of Music.


MANINGNING POETRY PAST WINNERS

Grand winners in the 3 divisions of the Poetry Competition will each receive P28,000.00 together with a Julie Lluch sculpture trophy. The grand winners and the 2nd and 3rd Prize will each receive special hardbound edition of the books Voice from the Underworld : A Book of Verses (Maningning C. Miclat, Anvil, 2000, 2002), Beauty for Ashes: Remembering Maningning (edited by Mario Ignacio Miclat & Romulo Baquiran, Jr., Anvil, 2001) Beyond the Great Wall (Mario, Alma, Maningning & Banaue Miclat, 2006 National Book Award winner, Anvil, 2006, 2007)) and Secrets of the Eighteen Mansions ( Mario I Miclat, Anvil, September 2010, January 2011 ). The latter was long-listed at the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize.
Past grand winners of the Maningning Miclat Poetry Awards are Naya Valdellon (English) and Joselito delos Reyes (Filipino) in 2003 (no winner in Chinese) , Allan Pastrana (English), Joseph de Luna Saguid (Filipino) and Ye Cai-sheng (Chinese) in 2005, Raymond John de Borja (English), Erica Clariz delos Reyes (Filipino) and Chen Si-yuan (Chinese) in 2007, and Mikael de Lara Co (English), Kristian Cordero (Filipino) and Chen Liang (Chinese) in 2009.

2011 POETRY AWARDS
For this year’s event, a poem from the winning Filipino collection will be read by the multi-talented singer, actor and dancer, Roeder Camanag. Teacher and Tanghalang Ateneo actress Diana Laserna will read a poem from the winning English collection while DLSU professor and English & Chinese writer Shirley Lua will read the Chinese poem.
Tickets are at PhP500.00, free seating. For ticket reservation, call Maningning Foundation 812-4885/6, 0918-9057311, Pambie Herrera, 0906-4333147, Mila Dumlao,981-8500 loc. 3577, 0917-3524939.