“Opera vs. Broadway” for Sendong’s survivors

LISTENING to a mishmash of operatic arias and Broadway hits, as though an iPod shuffle was being executed as a “sensurround” experience, is a lovely way to spend an evening. It turns lovelier because this one happened on a Monday, unexpectedly and pleasantly jump-starting a week of hard work.

When visiting Hong Kong baritone Wayne Yeh and the Philippines’ Lissa Romero de Guia, with dependable piano accompanist Mary Anne Espina, engaged in a mock battle called “Opera vs. Broadway,” it was in the name of philanthropy. EDSA Shangri-La Hotel offered its capacious Isla Ballroom rent-free for this benefit concert for Typhoon Sendong survivors.

Yeh and de Guia are volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation, a non-government organization (NGO) that continues to give trauma relief to adult and child survivors of the disaster in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities. The foundation has 145 chapters worldwide with the Philippine chapter involved in helping rehabilitate Bilibid prison inmates and survivors of super-typhoons.

Denise Celdran, the foundation’s breath works instructor, said what sets this NGO’s work apart is its focus on removing stress and negative emotions through simple breathing, sound meditation techniques and yoga stretches. An audio-visual presentation before the concert showed how the survivors became calm and more optimistic after they learned these exercises in the tent cities or basketball courts.

She added that these exercises put smiles back on people’s faces and peace in their minds, enabling them to function better and relish donated food, clothes and temporary shelter.  Celdran pointed out how many thousands more need to be reached and empowered.

 LISSA ROMERO DE GUIA

 Thus, what de Guia called “a ping pong between opera and Broadway” was thought up to raise more funds for volunteers who will help restart other lives.

A sidelight was a silent auction for the same cause featuring works donated by these visual artists: Tosha and Gus  Albor, Wesley Valenzuela, Stephanie Lopez, Felix Bacolor, Kidlat and Kabunyan de Guia, Oliver Olivete and Marisa Romero.

Observing how people get mired in past traumas and worry unnecessarily about the future, Celdran said the foundation teaches people “to be in the present, to be in the moment” so they could them live “artfully, gracefully, peacefully.”

She said these are possible by learning how to manage the mind, emotions, stored memories, intellect that passes judgment, ego that expresses and processes bad memories. This management of all layers of experience, she said, leads to a self that can contribute to improving society.

 WAYNE YEH

Lanky baritone Yeh, whose credits include singing as a lad before Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and appearing in Opera Hong Kong’s productions of Turandot, Mozart’s Requiem, Carmen, among others, continues to train with voice coaches Rita Patane and Pietro Spagnoli in Milan, Italy. That night, he entered from the back of the ballroom, clad in black tuxedo and pants, white bowtie and dark glasses. He held a cordless mic and warbled “Figaro” from The Barber of Seville while shaking hands with some members of the audience.

The rest of the evening he alternated use of the center stage with de Guia. Her theater experience includes being in the original German cast of Miss Saigon in Stuttgart, the Narrator in the original German cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (the first Filipina to play that role on the international stage), and playing Gigi in Miss Saigon, United Kingdom tour.

Semi-retired from theater after going into writing, she showed that she still had “it,” a wide vocal range. She moved from alto in South Pacific’s “Bali Hai” to middle range and to a belter of a soprano in “Home” from The Wiz.

She displayed her acting chops without a costume change. In her black and gray long dress with a panuelo top, she was a flirt in “I Enjoy Being a Girl” from Flower Drum Song, a besotted Eliza in “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady, a tragic Eponine in “On My Own” from Les Miserables, a noble woman in “Something Wonderful,” a wistful illicit lover in the medley “I Have Dreamed” and “We Kiss in a Shadow” from The King and I, which she reprised with Yeh in a duet after an earlier song on one-upmanship with him, Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better” from Annie Get Your Gun.

The practice of breath work enabled de Guia to hold notes far longer than possible. This had a heavily partial audience cheering for her. Similarly, Yeh tried to match her with his solos of “Our Father,” “Ave Maria,” “You Raise Me Up” and encores (“O Sole Mio” and “Santa Lucia”).

Inspirational teacher Sri Ravi Shankar defined music as “sound in harmony, silence in clarity.” That night, silence and sound came together without clashing.--Elizabeth Lolarga

First published by Vera Files/Yahoo Philippines, March 31, 2012
Photos by  RONALD VERZO

Mock battle between opera and Broadway to answer cry in the dark

The inbox delivered another call for help. Our very own Lissa Romero of Baguio and Quezon Cities, one of the few Pinays I know who can sing German lieders, will perform with Hong Kong-based opera singer Wayne Yeh on March 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Isla Ballroom at EDSA Shangri-la Hotel for a worthy cause--the Sendong survivors.
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In the early hours of Dec. 17, 2011, Typhoon Sendong produced a flood of epic proportions that swept away entire communities located in the path of destructive water in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City.

On that day, any semblance of normality was swept away and replaced with the horrific reality of over 3,000 persons dead or missing, the grief of orphaned children as well as orphaned parents, 342,000 persons displaced and housed in evacuation centers or tent cities, trying to pick up the pieces of their nearly unrecognizable lives.

Typhoon Sendong left its indelible marks not only on the landscape, but on the psyches of its victims as well. To date, 56 people have attempted to or succeeded in taking their own lives, and in some heartbreaking cases, the suicides were young children. Teenage pregnancy, as well as cases of rape and incest, are on the rise in tent cities and evacuation centers where privacy is almost non-existent, and the inhabitants have no recourse to relieve their increased and prolonged tensions.

Art of Living Teacher and Cagayan de Oro resident Julie Ang was one of the lucky ones, living only 500 meters away from those who were swept away by the floods. She sprang immediately into action, driving through mud and rocky roads to evacuation centers and gave Art of Living workshops designed for trauma relief such as Breath Water Sound (BWS), as well as the Part 1 Breathworks course, designed to give participants stress relief and physical and mental benefits through yoga, simple breathing techniques and meditation.

With the help of volunteer Art of Living teachers who flew in from Manila, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, as well as partnerships with NGOs in CDO and Iligan devoted to relief and rehabilitation (such as Save the Children and Child Fund), over 2,000 people received this much-needed “psychosocial intervention”. But there are thousands more that haven’t been reached, and Julie’s phone has been ringing non-stop as organizations take notice of the positive effect BWS and Part 1 courses have on the participants, and requests flood in for more of these workshops to be given.

Hong Kong-based opera singer and full-time Art of Living teacher Wayne Yeh and musical theater performer and Art of Living volunteer Lissa de Guia met when they found themselves giving a BWS workshop to children in Indahag in Cagayan de Oro City. Three days later, they found themselves singing together at a quickly organized fundraising dinner, in between teaching courses. Their chemistry and skilled performances inspired the Art of Living community to organize a bigger fundraising event to raise resources needed to sustain their efforts to continue giving their courses in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

Wayne and Lissa agree that divine providence is what brought them together on the same volunteer mission, and they are pleased that they are asked to share their blessings in more than one way with those affected by Typhoon Sendong.

Wayne has been singing since the age of nine, and was a member of Young Friends of Opera New Zealand and performed for renowned soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. He joined Opera Hong Kong in 2005 and has sung in Turandot, Mozart’s Requiem,Carmen, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Romeo and Juliette, Aida, Manon and Verdi’s Requiem.

In 2009, he won the Hong Kong Youth Singing Festival in operatic aria, open class male. In the same year, Wayne made his European debut as a soloist in Offenburg, Germany and later in the Helsinki Peace Concert at Valkoinen Sali, Finland. He was also invited by the International Association for Human Values to perform at the Corporate Culture and Spirituality Conference held at the European Parliament. He continues to train under notable voice coaches Rita Patane and Pietro Spagnoli in Milan, Italy.

Lissa’s musical theater career began as she joined the original German cast of Miss Saigon in Stuttgart. She also played the role of Narrator in the original German cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the first Filipina to play the role on the international stage. She understudied the role of Mimi in the original German cast of RENT, and played the role of Gigi in Miss Saigon UK Tour.

She attended the full-time acting program in HB Studio, New York, where she trained in voice under Tony and Emmy Award-winner Helen Gallagher. After “retiring” from a full-time theater career, Lissa shifted to a career in writing, and has written for international documentaries (LABAN: The Meaning of the EDSA Revolution), as well as respected publications as Town and Country and Esquire Philippines. She is also a writer of books, and is currently working on a biography.

In their March 26, 2012 fundraising show "Opera vs Broadway: A Benefit Concert for Typhoon Sendong Survivors," Wayne and Lissa stage a mock battle between Opera and Broadway, setting the tone with the song “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” from the hit musical Annie Get Your Gun by Irving Berlin. Wayne proves Opera’s case as he sings favorites such as Figaro, Toreador and Bella Sicome, while Lissa retaliates with eleventh-hour solos from Broadway and West End favorites such as Les Miserábles, Miss Saigon, King and I and The Wiz. This Opera and Broadway mash-up is unprecedented, but as thrilling as it sounds, it is only an excuse for these two artists to continue showing their love to those in need. It is their hope that these fundraising activities will sustain the efforts of Art of Living Philippines in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, so that each and every person affected by Sendong receives not only relief, but also the tools for living better, more peaceful lives.

The Art of Living Foundation is one of the largest volunteer-based non-profit educational, charitable and humanitarian organizations holding special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. The Art of Living Foundation also focuses on conflict resolution, disaster and trauma relief, poverty alleviation, empowerment for women, prisoner rehabilitation, and environmental sustainability. Today it has chapters in over 145 countries. More than 100 million people worldwide have participated in the Art of Living workshops. The programs are found to engender a greater sense of belongingness as well as a feeling of responsibility towards humanity as a whole.

In the Philippines, Art of Living volunteers have received accolades for their work in rehabilitation programs for inmates at Bilibid prison, and in trauma-relief efforts following typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, and Sendong. Volunteers have teamed up with the Red Cross to provide trauma relief workshops (called the Breath Water Sound program) to thousands of people in evacuation centers. Breath Water Sound uses meditation, yoga and breathing techniques to help manage the stress of those suffering from traumatic events.