Keeping 'La Traviata Exposed' real

Music and stage director Camille Lopez Molina

After a lull of three years, the Verdi opera La Traviata returns onstage on Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ayala Museum in Makati City. The reason? "Basically because the right voices for it are there," said Camille Lopez Molina, music and stage director.

The story of Violetta, a courtesan, her ardent suitor Alfredo and his interfering father Giorgio may be a tale as old as time, but it has something to say in the 21st century with the rising incidence of HIV AIDS. The subject of a prostitute with a heart of gold may no longer be "as touchy as it was in Verdi’s time," Lopez Molina observed, "but certainly the issues that made it a sensitive subject still exist: prostitution, class discrimination, sexism."

Anna Migallos as Violetta

Nomher Nival as Alfredo

Asked how she tweaked the opera, which features soprano Anna Migallos, tenor Nomher Nival and bass baritone Noel Azcona with the Viva Voce Ensemble, and why the word "exposed" was added to the title, she answerd, "La Traviata Exposed is just refocusing attention from production aspects--costumes, sets, orchestra, personalities--back to the opera itself (music, text, voices). It serves a two-way purpose which resonates deeply with me. One, to give the singers, a chance to vocally, musically and emotionally connect with the opera--keep it real, so to speak--and two, by doing so, help the audience gain a deeper connection, a more truly ‘up close and personal’ experience of opera itself, not the spectacle of it. Give them a reason to want more of the music, not just the show. Granted, it is a theatrical art form, but the ‘theater’ aspect of it stems directly from the music and the text. Just because we don’t have a full production doesn’t mean we can’t have the full emotional experience of the opera."

For tickets, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or the Cultural Arts Events Organizer at tel. nos. 782-7164, 0918-3473027 and 0920-9540053. Tickets at Php 1,000, Php 700 (for senior citizens), Php 500 and Php 300 (for students).

Photos from the Facebook accounts of Lopez Molina, Migallos and Nival

Camille Lopez Molina and her love of music and singing

Camille Lopez Molina

The word “chiaroscuro” may be inextricable from the world of painting. This hasn’t stopped soprano Camille Lopez Molina and pianist Najib Ismail from choosing it to be part of their coming concert’s title, “Love in Chiaroscuro,” on Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Ayala Museum in Makati.

While they brainstormed about the repertoire, they started choosing songs based on what they felt strongly about. Molina said, “You want your audience to enjoy your performance. But they only receive and reciprocate the performers’ own enjoyment. The terms ‘nuance,’ ‘expression,’ ‘colors,’ ‘shades,’ ‘levels,’ ‘layers,’ ‘contrasts’ can refer to the voice, text, music and personal references. Chiaroscuro, referring to the play of light and shade in painting, drawing, photography and other visual arts, seemed to be the word that articulated most clearly what we meant.”

Among her personal preferences in the program are: Liszt’s “Sonata de Petraca,” Wagner’s portrayal of love in “Wessendonk Song,” “Song to the Moon” from Dvorak's “Rusalka” which, by the way, she voiced in the Peque Gallaga film “Sonata” wherein Cherie Gil played a diva who had seen better days.

Although Molina sings with the vocal ensemble Viva Voce of which she is founder-artistic director, she seldom holds solo concerts. “Love in Chiaroscuro” is the first since 2010. After her students Myramae Meneses, Renee Michaela Fajardo and Anna Dinah Migallos were featured in the concert “Divas: The Beauty of the Soprano Voice” in April this year, Joseph Uy of the Cultural Arts Events Organizer and Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation (MCOF) asked this writer to go up to Molina to the holding room and tell her she was being lined up next on the second half of this year.

She recalled with a laugh, “The decision was clinched for me. I was given a date and told to have a recital. ’Yun na ’yon (That was that)!” As two of the country’s top voice teachers, she and her husband Pablo are overjoyed at the triumphant acceptance of Fajardo and Meneses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and recently, Migallos’s being the star of the night at an Indonesia Opera Society event in Jakarta.

She said on the effectiveness of her team teaching with Pablo: “His is the technical brain. I’m more on the application and interpretation. There is a sense of validation which is fulfilling (when our students make it abroad). After the initial thrill, it always boils down to what are we doing next? What else can be improved? There’s always something to improve, if not vocally, then maybe physically, or as is usually the case, mentally. Singing is coordination, a synthesis of physicality, emotions, artistry, intellect, energy, etc. Since we are constantly evolving as human beings, then the process of learning is never-ending.”

Ismail assured that Thursday’s concert would have hugot songs, meaning, the song’s interpretation comes from somewhere deep. Molina said, “Najib and I are similar in how we go into the music so our repertoire is a true collaboration. We bounce opinions back and forth. He knows my voice and what I can do. I know him and what he loves to play. So yes, these songs are straight from our hearts and guts.”

Asked to comment on the film “Florence Foster Jenkins” and its tone-deaf protagonist, she said, “I loved it. It expressed so much of what lovers of music feel, of what all musicians and artists feel about their craft. It wasn’t about Florence’s lack of talent, but how much she loved singing because she loved the music.”

For tickets, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or the MCOF, tel. nos. 997-9483, 782-7164 or cell phone nos. 0920-9540053 and 0918-347-3027.

Published in the online edition of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sept. 14, 2016

Pure, unplugged

Prof. Arturo Molina leading the 90-year-old Manila Symphony Orchestra, the oldest in the country and in Asia

The new performing arts venue at the Circuit Makati (formerly the Sta. Ana racetrack) allows for instrumentalists and vocalists to perform without anything to enhance the sound. "Pure, unplugged" was how Jeffrey Solares, executive director of the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO), described the sound when the MSO played its final run-through this Saturday before the concert "Love in the Time of Opera" started.

Billed as a pre-Valentine concert, the event came to be within less than a month when an MSO concert was postponed and something had to replace it since some musicians are full-time salaried people and had to be involved in something. Solares sounded out Camille Lopez Molina, artistic director and vocal coach of Viva Voce, because he believed that an opera-based concert was the easiest to sell.

She was game, and the team-up with the orchestra was set in place. It was also an opportunity to help raise funds for the travel and living expenses of the two Viva Voce members, sopranos Myramae Meneses and Renee Michaela Fajardo, when they fly to London in August as scholars of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. (Incidentally, MSO bassoonist Ariel Perez is a Guildhall alumnus and full scholar, too.)

Also in Viva Voce's favor was the availability of tenor Arthur Espiritu and baritone Noel Azcona. The same went for stage actors Nonie Buencamino and Teenee Chan who waived their fees and gave their all for love of music. The universe was conspiring for this show to succeed.

The audience was treated to steamy love duets, all the more amazing because the singers-actors could twist and turn their bodies while not losing a beat, not affecting their voices' volume. There were physically unusual pairings like the one between the towering hulk of a tenor in Mark Bautista and the sweet and petite Iona Ventocilla, who has the role of Mimi down pat, in the timeless "O Soave Fanciulla" from La Boheme. But then opera is where suspension of belief is called for. The role of tubercular Mimi is more often than not sung by a robust soprano.

As Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, Lopez Molina had the build and dignity of age to match Azcona's Count Danilo. Theirs was a subtle battle of the sexes that ended with love triumphant.

Glenda Liao (in orange gown) is Monica and Raymond Yadao is Lukas in their duet "Makikiliti Kang Totoo" from the Severino Reyes zarzuela Walang Sugat.

But the duet that blew my head away was not between a man and a woman in the throes of passionate love but the obvious affection between two girls walking by a river and gathering flowers: Lakmé, daughter of a Brahmin priest and played by Meneses, and servant Mallika, played by Fajardo, from Delibes' French opera Lakme. This famous flower duet has been sung by superstar pairings from Korea's gift to the world Sumi Jo and Ah-Kyung Lee to Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca to grand dames of opera Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne. Now we have a Meneses and Fajardo to hold a candle to them.

It was the MSO's and Viva Voce's first time to perform at the ProMac Spotlight Center. Surely, this is a sign of more enchanted evenings to come. Kudos to everyone involved in this production!

A choral rendition of Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" served as the encore after the concert closed with Bernstein's "Tonight" and balcony scene. Among those in the picture are Meneses, Chan and Anna Migallos. Photos by Pinky Lolarga Susi

Casting tensions, anxieties away in this beach house

Casting tensions, anxieties away in this beach house

Meeting Venus

Flutist Christopher Oracion and soprano Camille Lopez Molina

There are many things I'm grateful for in my life, "In My Life" a la Beatles. One is having decided to consciously immerse myself in generic cultural work--helping in whatever capacity, mainly setting aside riches of time and health for something I love to see with my eyes, listen to with my ears while there's still some clarity in those senses. Somewhere along the way, the heart and the mind, invisible to the world, except through an ECG or a brain scan, combine to make the experience whole. Art and music have a way of making one's life whole and not a hole (ha! poor pun there!).

Two, I've met up close and personal the people who the group ABBA once had a ready song for: "Thank You for the Music."

Three, despite my schedule, the decision continues to enrich my soul, the kind of enrichment that can take me all the way to death's threshold. And I won't be afraid, no, sir, I won't.

The experience of art is always like meeting Venus to crib the title of a movie, kinda based on the Wagner opera Tannhauser and which I thoroughly enjoyed (saw it twice on the wide screen) in the '90s.

When I think of Venus, I think of soprano Camille Lopez Molina, the founding mama of Viva Voce, the group of classically trained singers. The members and more outside it make up the core of a Philippine operatic scene that is slowly being coveted by some parts of Asia that don't have the inborn musicality of Pinoys and Pinays.

I've watched Viva Voce as an ensemble or as soloists, tandems or trios, and I've always left the event venue sometimes in tears but renewed, revived, restored. Better yet, resurrected.

Ma'am Cams, as she's called by her students, once shared something she wrote, and Cams, I wish to claim it as my Tosca "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore" credo for the rest of my mortal days:

"The reward? The reward is the work itself. In the end, all the accolades, the rejections, the praise, the criticisms - all are just part of the road. Sometimes they make the journey easier, sometimes they make it more difficult. You find a way to navigate through them and you move on.

"Then you come to a crossroads and you have to choose which direction to take. What do you really want to do? Where do you really want to go? Only you can decide, because only you know.

"And you end up with people who are going in the same direction. A different journey, but the same direction, and you welcome each one as you get to know them, or you leave them, or they leave you.

"And life goes on. And work goes on. Thank God!"

Thank God, indeed!

P.S. This morning's reflection is made possible through a Joni Mitchell full album, particularly the song "Come In from the Cold."

Knucklehead Nelly

While watching soprano Nelly Miricioiu's animus and duende take over her at Monday's press conference, I was reminded of a fictional character that I've always identified with in my pre-teen years when St. Paul College of Quezon City mounted the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. There before me at Cravings Restaurant's function room at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall was a living, breathing, laughing Nellie Forbush, the cockeyed optimist herself.

After her two-hour or more "recital" of her life from childhood to today, I called the Emile De Becque of my life to gush about La Nelly, what a force of life she is, how her statements apply not just to singing but to writing and the living of a creative life and how she deserves wider coverage in mass media. At which point, Rolly, my husband, started singing phrases from the song "Volare", and I doubled up laughing. The cab driver must've thought I had gone insane!

Below are photos of Ms. Miricioiu, alone, with her husband Barry Kirk, with our friends in media and the music world. Thank you, Pagcor, Amara Resort, Cravings and all who're making Ms. Nelly's visit an occasion for her to think about returning in the near future. Cue for me to die happy.

Quotable Nelly: "It's an amazing feeling to be back. I didn't intend to leave Romania. I felt I could be an artist and a patriot at the same time." She defected from Romania and was granted British citizenship, but she still sings at events that benefit Romanian charities. Photos by Babeth Lolarga

The Miricioiu-Kirk couple chooses their first meal for the day. The evening before when they had just arrived from London, she passed the drinks menu to Barry and said, "Darling, choose the wine. You're the specialist."

She's also a screwball kind of comedienne in the Lucille Ball mold. She always manages to keep writer Pablo Tariman in stitches. She calls him "a quiet boy from the province." Now that sets those of us who know him laughing.

A conductor once told the young Nelly who was a bundle of nervous energy: "You have expression in your little finger. That is enough." She considered that a good tip because it enables the music's simplicity and elegance to emerge.

With film critic Mario Hernando

With soprano Glenda Velasco Liao who won't be in the masterclass at Ayala Museum but will be part of the technical staff operating the supertitles

With Al Andres, one of the hardworking associates of Culture Arts Events Organizers who doesn't look like he has lost his entire shirt wardrobe from risking all to push and market concerts like tomorrow's "Nelly Miricioiu: Live in Manila" at 8 p.m. at Meralco Theater

With small but terrific soprano Myramae Tapia Meneses whose solo voice soared at the Manila Cathedral and Luneta Grandstand during the visit of Pope Francis

Romania's and the Philippines' soprano greats Nelly and Camille Lopez Molina, respectively. Love Nelly's polka-dot stockings!

With Angel Reyes Nacino of the Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation

This guy's dopamine level will remain at a high level for the rest of 2015. This is all the loving he needs.

A little afternoon music in one's brief life

Soprano Myramae Meneses, second from right, with the other members of Viva Voce, leads the singing of Francisco Santiago's "Pilipinas Kong Mahal" that ended the second and last part of "Complicated the Concert" at the Lopez Museum and Library. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

The second time around "Complicated the Concert" was as lovely as the first, if not lovelier and more colorful in terms of costume and production details.

Camille Lopez Molina, Viva Voce founder who also served as assisting artist on the piano to the 10 classical singers (many, if not all, of them her students in voice), promised us earlier: "We've tweaked the program so it will be interesting even to those who saw the first concert."

We were at the May 31 concert, a prelude to June's historical milestones (Rizal's birthday and Philippine Independence Day). During that performance of art songs, from bel canto arias to kundimans, what struck the listener/viewer was the program's potent political content as images from the exhibit of Leslie de Chavez, Mike Adrao and Ea Torrado were flashed on one side of the wall, alternating with more slides of the museum's permanent collection of works by Filipino masters and photos of notorious figures in front-page news. (The exhibit, by the way, has been extended until tomorrow, Aug. 4.)

During the July 19 re-staging at the same venue, the singers' formal wear and an elevated platform that served as stage added a dramatic element. And this time the "tweaking" that Lopez Molina did with the program drew more dramatic responses. This audience member found herself copiously and silently weeping at Kristine Marie Balingcos' interpretation of Catalini's "Ebben, ne andro lontana" from the opera La Wally, a heroine's death aria before she throws herself in an avalanche. It's not an ordinary soprano who can acquit herself with that aria, especially if one has heard versions by Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi or the young Angela Gheorghiu.

Certain types of music invite that kind of visceral response. By the time tenor Ivan Niccolo Nery was singing Schumann's "Stille Tränen," to mean "Silent Tears," with a slide closeup of an unknown man, a survivor of supertyphoon Yolanda aboard a C 130 plane that was evacuating him and hundreds of other survivors from Tacloban, Leyte, my handkerchief was soaked.

Romance filled the afternoon air with soprano Myramae Meneses' "Ah! Love but a Day." Not included in the first staging, this is from a song cycle by American composer Amy Beach with lyrics by the English poet Robert Browning: "Ah, Love, but a day,/And the world has changed!/The sun's away,/And the bird estranged;/The wind has dropped,/And the sky's deranged;/Summer has stopped./Look in my eyes!/Wilt thou change too?/Should I fear surprise?/Shall I find aught new /In the old and dear,/In the good and true,/With the changing year?"

But it was upon hearing for the very first time baritone Raymond Yadao sing Juan Celis Bautista's kundiman "Parang Maghapon Lamang" that one felt as though one's Filipino chest was being cut open without anesthesia. Levi Celerio's haunting lyrics tell of youth wasted. Even if it feels like the length of a life, whether it ends at age 27 or at age 88, is long in earth-time, in the eyes of Eternity, it is only the equivalent of an afternoon.

Ang buhay ko’y maghapon lang pala
Tila isang saglit sa akin ang ngumingiting umaga!
May awit ang ibong tanda ng pag-asa!
Pagsapit ng hapon, ay!, kay lungkot sa puso kong nagdurusa!
Kung katotohanan ay ganyan,
Bakit sinayang ko yaong unang sigla ng aking buhay!
Di na magbabalik kahit na kaylan man
O! ang buhay pala ay parang maghapon lamang!

Camille Lopez Molina and Myramae Meneses bracket two similarly dressed music fans (the blogger and Mercy Lactao Fabros).

With Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation's Joseph Uy, tenors Nomher Nival and Ivan Niccolo Nery. Joseph once reassured me during a sad period in my life (I never seem to run out of these periods): "A golden tone from a good singer's voice erases all the frustrations in life." Amen to that, Joseph, amen.

Classical music singers who work their butts off and like it

Viva Voce, which is made up of members who are soloists in their own right, will have a repeat performance of "Complicated the Concert" on July 19 at 2 p.m. at the Lopez Museum and Library, Benpres bldg., Exchange road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

With Typhoon Glenda veering away from the country after exacting another round of damage to life and property and with the storm signal down, the show must go on for Viva Voce's "Complicated the Concert." This is a repeat performance of an earlier acclaimed concert of patriotic hymns and more lamentations in song form, all inspired by the museum's permanent exhibition and current ones of visual and performing artists Leslie de Chavez, Mike Adrao and Ea Torrado.

Led by soprano and voice professor Camille Lopez Molina, who is also the group's accompanist, Viva Voce originated as an intensive summer voice workshop intended to provide young classical singers with a venue where they could master their craft.

Lopez Molina said, "It was designed to help them conquer the challenges of performing as soloists. The first Viva Voce workshop was held in 2010, the last in 2012. From there we have evolved into a performing group of singers. The group is just a temporary haven to help iron out vocal performance problems of each individual. It's a sort of halfway house between being a student and a professional. We teach these kids not just how to sing and perform but also to give them a heads up on the business side of the profession, the ethics, the risks, the requirements."

Viva Voce was also a good reason to go up to Baguio. Their head said, "Gawa tayo ng gimik para maka-stay sa Baguio ng matagal-tagal sa summer!"

The first batch of facilitators in 2010 were tenors John Glenn Gaerlan and Randy Gilongo, Pablo Molina (Camille's husband and also a singer) and she. Their pianists were Peter Porticos and Camille's mother, Dr. Myrna Lopez.

Viva Voce founder Camille Lopez Molina Photo from her Facebook profile

Lopez Molina had already attended many voice workshops in the US and Canada. Being a natural teacher, she thought she could combine and adapt the formats she learned abroad "to suit our resources and our participants' needs."

In the second batch of facilitators were soprano Rica Nepomuceno, pianist Najib Ismail and actor Nonie Buencamino. The 2012 workshop was a dream come true with such luminaries as tenor Arthur Espiritu, soprano and professor Irma Potenciano and Dr. Jonathan Malicsi as facilitators. The workshop content included singing diction sessions, text analysis, interpretation sessions and career talks.

Their Baguio summers weren't all sight-seeing and sleeping till noon. Activities lined up daily were physical exercises for stretching, breathing and support, and muscular coordination, vocalizations, games, individual lessons, masterclasses and recitals.

Lopez Molina continued, "We were lucky that Glenn found good venues for us to use, particularly the Convent of the Holy Spirit on Pacdal Road. The place is far from the noise of the city center. There is a hilltop on the property where we would have morning exercises in the open. It's a strenuous climb, it was a challenge to drag ourselves up there every morning, but the effort was so worth it."

Excellence is one of Viva Voce's guiding principles, if not THE guiding principle. It is, as the founder put it, "the only way you can make a living from classical singing. Your attitude reflects your artistry, and artistry is what you can sell, not just your talent. There are a lot of really talented people who can't break into this field because of an attitude of mediocrity. Puwede na just doesn't cut it. You have to be the best person for the job. That means working your butt off to master your instrument and learn your craft."

She described excellence as a quality that "challenges you, keeps your artistry fresh and gets you noticed. Anybody can sing classically or operatically, but not anybody can actually be a classical or an opera singer. Excellence means you don't make a distinction between 'Philippine standards' and world-class. And it's more fun when you have others with you learning the same things."

Technically, Viva Voce isn't a chorus or a choir. Lopez Molina explained, "Viva Voce is composed of soloists who sing as an ensemble, which includes chorus work in operas, oratorios and masses. But the thrust is different. The focus of a choir is the sound of the whole group, to sound as one. An ensemble puts more emphasis on individuals performing together and finding a common musical 'groove' or vibe but with each person's sound still clearly defined."

To prepare for "Complicated the Concert," what the Viva Voce members did, upon the invitation of Lopez Museum consultant Ricky Francisco (who joined the 2012 Baguio workshop), was to view the art works. He explained everything to them from the concept of the entire exhibit to each artist's work's significance and intention.

Then the group put their heads together on how they could somehow incorporate or weave the works in the songs. This led to the use the slides and subtitling since they already have a projector and floor-to-ceiling screen installed.

Lopez Molina recalled the process of selecting their program repertoire: "I let the art works guide us. We took each work literally, asking ourselves, 'What do you see?' We chose each number in the repertoire literally like what is the song saying? From there I chose real-life photographs that are relevant to both painting and song. These connected us to the real and present world. This process made me see much more behind the text of the songs and the visual content of the art works. I realized how intertwined our individual identities and our psyche as a nation are to our nation's history."

Asked if the meaning of plaintive love songs could also be expanded to the idea of bayang inaapi, she nodded vigorously, saying, "Definitely!" - Elizabeth Lolarga

Clear, uncomplicated, thought-provoking | Vera Files

Clear, uncomplicated, thought-provoking | Vera Files

A Mass that is anything but petite | Vera Files

A Mass that is anything but petite | Vera Files

A Mass that is anything but petite

It is anything but petite. But that is how Petite Messe Solennelle by Gioachino Rossini, pillar of the bel canto opera era and composer of the opera The Barber of Seville, is officially described.

The mass, the Christmas offering on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Ayala Museum on Makati Ave., Makati City, has a stellar line-up: tenor Arthur Espiritu, sopranos Camille Lopez Molina and Margarita Giannelli, baritone Noel Azcona and 16 Viva Voce singers, including Myramae Meneses.

Espiritu and Ismail

Margarita Giannelli

Najib Ismail, who will be the accompanist with Farley Asuncion on a second piano, said, "This late work by Rossini was called petite not because of its length but because of its scale. It was conceived for four soloists, a double vocal quartet, two pianos and a harmonium compared to his Stabat Mater which is for vocal soloists, a big choir and orchestra."

He continued, "It's petite because ideally it can be performed in a small venue, making it more intimate in a way without sacrificing the grandeur of the work. In terms of an orchestral feel, this is provided by two pianos with the harmonium providing the wind section of an actual orchestra. This work was later transcribed by the composer for soloists, choir and orchestra, which I personally feel loses the petite, intimate feel of the work."
Asked why he and the soloists chose this work, he answered, "It's beautiful. Many months ago, Arthur, Camille, Margarita and I were looking for a beautiful work that we can do that will involve our young singers as well. Also, it is a great opportunity for us to work together as musicians."

Baritone Noel Azcona

Azcona said their plans for the Rossini mass "came out as an impromptu thing. We messaged each other. Najib came up with the idea of the Petite Messe Solennelle. We were all excited. It is perfect because of its transitional melodies and deeper romantic theme."

Camille Lopez Molina

Lopez Molina added, "We talked about what piece we wanted to sing with each other because we had so much fun in MusicArtes's production of 'Best of Opera' in June. Early December sounded good because I'm due to give birth on the 14th, Margarita's coming home with her family for the holidays, Noel's leaving for his studies in the US and Arthur's leaving for his engagements later in the month. Arthur proposed it to MCO Foundation's Joseph Uy."

Azcona explained the appeal of the Mass: "It calls for a small, intimate group. Of course, singing with the country's finest singers will be exciting experience. I'm sure the audience will find the work spiritually appropriate in these times. What an excellent way to convey our sentiments in these hard times."

Lopez Molina hopes for "an emotional response.”
“Given the gravity of the Yolanda devastation and the solemnity of Rossini's music, there should be a chord struck deep down inside us somewhere," she said.

As one of two artistic directors of the production (the other is Gideon Bendicion), she said, "This piece is more
difficult than anything Viva Voce has tackled before. The music is so rich, the harmonies and progressions complex and unusual. It's taking all we've got to learn and perform it. Our conductor, Gideon, and I have our hands full drilling the group. It has been more or less two weeks of intensive rehearsals."

Azcona performed the work 10 years ago at the International Las Piñas Bamboo Organ Festival, recalling, "It was my first professional singing gig. I was quite nervous because of the compositional complexities. Studying it was tedious but rewarding. It's not your usual Rossini music. It's fantastic!"

Espiritu with Meneses and his wife Christine

Espiritu, who started out as "a huge pop guy," following Gary Valenciano's moves and singing style, said learning to love the classics is easy. "All you need is one passionate person. All it takes is a moment of exposure. I feel passionately about outreach programs."

He said classical musicians work hard on their materials. "We find out about character, we read the classics in literature. When I did Nixon in China (he played Mao Zedong ), I read up. Let's give people this chance to hear this music we love."

The other Viva Voce members, the most promising opera singers today, are: Kristine Balingcos, Lovelle Inoferio, Millicent Lao, Aissa Guilatco, Iona Ventocilla, Roxy Aldiosa, Tanya Corcuera, Antonio Ferrer, Carlo Falcis, Ivan Niccolo Nery, Paolo Gallon, Jairus Gonzalez, Raymond Yadao, Yen Dilig and Zip de Guzman. --Elizabeth Lolarga

For tickets, call the Cultural Arts Events Organizer, tel. no. 782-7164 or cell phone 0918-3473027, MCO Foundation at 750-0768 or 0920-954-0053, or TicketWorld at 891-9999.

Espiritu sings again at Ayala Museum in a benefit concert for super typhoon Yolanda survivors Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. For tickets for "Arthur Espiritu and Friends," call Paula Fernandez, 759-8288 local 31.

Originally published by Vera Files, Nov. 28, 2013.

Mme. Butterfly cast features best from Ph, Japan, Mexico

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
Opera is getting big-time exposure at the CCP this year thanks to the indefatigable effort of the present CCP president Raul Sunico who is succeeding in networking with people and institutions that are opera-friendly.

Truth to tell, staging opera is a noteworthy endeavor but getting the resources to be able to finance it is another story.

After CCP’s successful team up with Korean opera group with La Traviata,  Madama Butterfly is up at the   CCP main theater  next month (June 22-23) this time in association with MusicArtes, Inc. 

Mako Nishimoto

This new Puccini revival features Japanese soprano Mako Nishimoto, Mexican tenor Dante Alcalá,  Filipina soprano Camille Lopez Molina and international baritone Andrew Fernando, with Gerard Salonga conducting the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. 
In the early 80s, Madama Butterfly was seen at the CCP with the Cio Cio San of Israeli soprano Atarah  Hazzan (a last-minute replacement for the indisposed Japanese soprano Yasuko Hayashi) and the Pinkerton of  Vincenzo Manno and the Susuki of Joann Grillo.
I don’t recall any exceptional singer in this production but I do remember the ravishing performance of the Philippine Philharmonic under conductor Henry Lewis, ex-husband of mezzo icon Marlyn Horne and both close friends of the late Pavarotti.

In 1994, the Art and Music group of Joseph Uy presented a gem of a Cio Cio San in the person of Japanese soprano Yoko Watanabe who later passed away because of cancer. At that time, she was the best Butterfly in the US and European circuit and when I finally heard her, I thought she was the main highlight of that production.
It may be noted that between 1915 and 1920, Japan's best known opera singer, Tamaki Miura, won international fame as Cio Cio San. Her statue along with composer Giacomo Puccini, can be found in the Glover Garden in Nagasaki where the opera is set.

As I look forward to this new Butterfly, it’s just proper that we recall the country’s finest Puccini heroines.

For the record, the first Filipina to sing the title role of Madama Butterfly
was no other than Maestra Isang Tapales who sang the part – not in Manila – but in Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Italy in April 1924.

In 1925, it was the turn of Maestra Jovita Fuentes (a National Artist for Music) who sang Cio Cio San  in a municipal theater in Piacenza, Italy.

Dante Alcalá

In the late 40s, Maestra Dalisay debuted in the same role at the New York City Opera.

I have not seen a distinguished Filipina Madama Butterfly in recent times but I did know that soprano Eleanor Calbes sang it in Canada  when she was already in her 50s.

Maestra Tapales would have been 112 this year and among her students were tenor Noel Velasco, baritone Gamaliel Viray, singing Joy Virata, among others.

Tapales’s opera credentials include 1047 performance of  Madama Butterfly, more than 300 performances of La Boheme (as Mimi), Pagliacci (as Nedda) and over a hundred engagements of  the little known opera, Iris, by Pietro Mascagni.

La Tapales was the first Filipino to sing at Opera Comique in Paris, followed by her student, Noel Velasco, several decades later. She was also the first Filipino soprano to sing with such opera icons as Giacomo Lauri-Volpi and Beniamino Gigli who inherited the crown of Caruso before the electronic age of PlacidoDomingo and Luciano Pavarotti.

The country’s first Butterfly is one of 24 (!) children of Silvestre Tapales, a composer and music teacher and a friend of former first lady Imelda Marcos’s uncle, Justice Norberto Romualdez who also dabbled in composition.

She put up a short-lived opera company in Manila in the 50s with Charito Planas as president and the soprano as music director.

Under Tapales, operas such as Il Trovatore, Cavaleria Rusticana and Pagliacci were staged in Manila with no less than Italian tenor Arrigo Pola (Pavarotti’s first teacher in Modena, Italy) in the lead roles.

 When  Japanese soprano  Mako Nishimoto and Mexican tenor Dante Alcalá appear in Madama Butterfly on June 22-23,  I cannot but help recall Maestra Isang Tapales’s opera conquests of Milan. Paris, The Hague and the 100 doves set loose on her farewell performance in Milan’s Teatro del Verme.

 For tickets to June 22-23 performances of Madama Butterfly,  call the CCP Box Office at (02)832.3704 or MusicArtes Inc. at (02)895.8098, (+63918)9085088 and TicketWorld (8919999).


Source: http://www.mnnetherlands.com/dir/_page/101907/

For the Love of the Classics

A person's life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover, through  the detours of art…or passionate work, those one or two images in the  presence of which his heart first opened."  --Albert Camus, French writer and Nobel laureate for literature

Monsieur Camus may as well add fools rush in where angels fear to  tread, especially on the subject of bringing the classics to small  venues, not 700-or 1,000-seater concert halls the proximity of which  is compromised at the hint of a thunderstorm and its twin,  Friday-night gridlock.

For Waya Araos, proprietor of Kiss the Cook Gourmet (KTCG), a  restaurant and alternative art space at 65 Maginhawa street, UP  Village, Quezon City, music writer Pablo Tariman of Music News &  Features and a hardy core of cultural volunteers, risking their  blouses and shirts is worth the effort, even if it defies  business-school tenets of cost effectiveness.

Tariman, who has presented pianist Cecile Licad, tenor Otoniel  Gonzaga, violinist Alexandro Tomescu, among others, in various venues  in Metro Manila and the provinces, may have been beaten financially in  some instances but is unbowed in espousing the classics.

He describes the risks involved:  "A small venue hardly raises any  income good enough to cover expenses from artists’ fees to poster and  program printing to piano rental. It’s hard to get sponsors in a small  venue as companies want a bigger exposure for their products. But when  tested as we did with Oliver Salonga last July 4, good food, good  music and good art on the walls make a superb combination. You feed  both body and soul."

It wasn't hard to get Araos's cooperation into opening her space for  the performing arts. She says, "My father (sculptor Jerry Araos)  raised us on classical music. He would get inspiration for his work  from Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mozart and would delight us, actually  embarrass us when we were young, by dancing to Ravel's Bolero in front  of our friends. He'd sing along, not well, mind you, but with intense  feeling to Pavarotti, Carreras and Mario Lanza. The daily exposure to  the classics shaped what I am today. When I was presented with the  opportunity to present classical music at Kiss the Cook Gourmet, I  jumped at it."

Enthusiasm was infectious. Before Tariman and volunteers could think  of sponsors, the pragmatic way persons with a slight business sense  would think these things through, foremost on their minds was if the  ROS Music Center-owned Bösendorfer piano on which Salonga played in  his June 12 Philamlife concert would fit the restaurant's sliding  doors. That took care of itself.   Reality set in when costs were computed for the pianist's honorarium  in lieu of talent fee, the heavily discounted piano rental, ink for  printing out posters and other print paraphernalia, etc.

Reliable  cavalry riders came to the rescue in the persons of Aurora and Des  Bautista of Baguio, Dr. Andrea Enrile Dimayuga of Trinity Birth  Clinic, Maria Claudine M. Fernandez, Joy Buensalido, San Buenaventura  and Co., CPA, Quota International Club of Manila and friends in media  who helped drum up interest in the event. Visual artists Merci Dulawan  and Norman Chow came down from Baguio that day, each bearing a freshly  strung lei, for Salonga's matinee and evening performances.  The organizers acknowledged help from these individuals and groups.

Tariman says, "There is nothing like finding a patron who can cover  your expenses so you can concentrate on the artistic requirements of  your concert. In the end, standing ovations don’t translate into  income. Deficits tell you all planning should start with getting  sponsors and making good with ticket sales."  Tariman, awarded in June by the city of Manila the Patnubay ng  Sining at Kalinangan for makabagong pamamaraan (which must only mean  "innovative ways"), was happy with the results of the first two  intimate concerts.

After food expenses were deducted from Salonga concerts  and the balance for piano rent paid off, there was still more than  enough to turn over to the beneficiary, the Values Education and  Skills Training (VEST) Foundation that is working to keep Aeta  children in school in Bayan-bayanan, Dinalupihan, Bataan. The amount  of P12,000 generated is enough to feed more than 20 kids in their  dormitory for a month.

Aware that "risks are trials through which organizers live or die,"  his Music News & Features and KTCG went on with a voice-flute  spectacular, featuring soprano Camille Lopez Molina, flutist  Christopher Oracion and Mary Anne Espina who played on an upright  Bachstein piano in late July.  The organizers moved the concert from its original July 25 schedule  after a non-stop afternoon downpour stranded the performers and  some guests in their respective points of origin. This meant  cancellations by at least 30 confirmed guests (nuns celebrating an  anniversary) who could've filled up the restaurant. Araos was  philosophical, "Win some, lose some."

The show went on with the teacher in Lopez-Molina sharing English  translations of the German, French and Italian art songs in her  repertoire. She included the synopsis of the seemingly preposterous  plot of "La Wally," the only full-length opera that features an  avalanche in it, making mounting it a grand expense.  She also pointed out that far from being high-falutin', classical  music is akin to hearing "Ay! Kalisud" but coming from another continent.

Citing her first song, Schumann's "Widmung" (Dedication)  whose lyrics state "You my soul, you my heart, you my bliss, you my  pain...", she quipped, "It beats saying, 'For all the lovers out  there!'" 

Araos stepped out of her comfortable, tested KTCG menu, introducing a  new item, a very filling mixed seafood in saffron in vol-au- vent  shells to go with standards of rosemary chicken, garlic butter  vegetables, mango passion fruit jelly and lemongrass cooler.

She says, "The series has not yet been a big profit maker for the  restaurant, but it has its perks: the staff exclaiming over Mozart,  saying 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (from Mozart's Twelve Variations  on Ah! Vouz Derais Je, K. 265), alam ko pala yung classical music (I  know my classical music)', which makes my day; getting Linc Drilon and  Becky Demetillo to belt out 'As Time Goes By', 'Bridge Over Troubled  Water' and 'I'll Be Seeing You'; best of all, sitting in the  restaurant on a Sunday night, Chopin filling the air, and half the  people in the joint with tears in their eyes."

Tariman says, "Mounted in a small venue, the intimacy makes you feel  closer to the music and the artist. A small venue also translates into  lesser risk, a more manageable budget. Just limit your complimentary  tickets, or you will go home with your last underwear and sando! But  an ecstatic audience erases all that."

Childbirth instructor and art-music buff Mercy Fabros, a regular at  the concert series, says after listening to Lopez-Molina, Oracion and  Espina, especially when the soprano transformed into the flirty gypsy  in the "Carmen Fantasy,", "I never felt this way. It's like the orgasm  of old women!"  Sinag de Leon, who had a recent exhibit of paper cuts at the venue, spoke of  the "limitless possibilities of the universe," of finding a place that  not only satisfies food cravings but also yearnings of heart and mind.

With spirits riding high, the audience, whether a full house or  so intimate as to equal a royal command performance, may not just  applaud but rise to kiss both cook and impresario. They  fearlessly marched on to the next venture: The Baritone and Flute Spectacular featuring baritone Noel Azcona, star soloist of the UST Singers, flutist Oracion with pianist Mary Anne Espina.  The concert was held last night at  KTCG and featured  favorite baritone arias from Don Giovanni, Carmen and La Traviata  and excerpts from Broadway musicals Les Miserables and  South Pacific.  The evening was dedicated to the memory of the late baritone Gamaliel Viray.

The mission of promoting classical music education and the search to creatively sustain it continue.

Photos by Rebecca Dingkuhn shows Christopher Oracion and Camille Lopez Molina performing (top) and concert organizer Pablo Tariman lost in their music (below). 

Classical musicians rule Aliw Awards

Music writer Pablo A. Tariman had to quietly and reluctantly slip out of Pascal Roge's Monday night concert to receive in pianist Cecile Licad's behalf the latest accolade given her by the music industry. Below is the Tariman report.
_____________________________
Filipino classical musicians with solid world-class credentials topped the 23rd Aliw Awards on a stormy Monday night at the Manila Hotel.

Leading the distinguished awardees were pianist Cecile Licad who got the Life Achievement Award, tenor Arthur Espiritu who received the Best Male Classical Performer of the Year Award and soprano Camille Lopez Molina for Best Female classical performer award.

Licad is the first Asian to receive the Leventritt Gold Medal in New York and Espiritu is the first Filipino tenor to sing at La Scala di Milan in 2007 as Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Lopez-Molina who was a dazzling soloist of the Manila Symphony Orchestra this year has performed with the Hongkong Academy Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien Orchestra, the latter in a performance of Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater at the famed Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

The tenor could not receive the award as he was singing Elvino in the Donizetti opera in Switzerland while Licad had engagements with Nuremberg Symphony in Germany.

Previous Aliw awardees in classical music included Ingrid Sala Santamaria, Gilopez Kabayo, Rachelle Gerodias, Mary Anne Espina and Montet Acoymo, among others.

In a latest development, Licad dazzled anew in playing Chopin No. 1 played for the opening season of the Adrian Symphony Orchestra in Michigan .

Licad who proceeded to Germany after the US engagement was singled out by the music critics as one who set the highest standard of music-making for the opening season of the Michigan orchestra.

Wrote a Michigan critic: "It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Adrian Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of the first classical-music performance of its 30th season set the bar mighty high for the rest of its year. Sunday’s concert featured a performance that was most definitely a high point of this or any other ASO season: a truly world-class guest artist, Cecile Licad, in a stunning rendering of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Not often do you have the distinct pleasure of hearing someone for whom the instrument seems like a natural extension of themselves, but for Licad it appears exactly that way. She not only displayed a first-rate technique, with the light touch and refinement demanded of this work, but she also captured perfectly what surely had to be Chopin’s intentions with this music: for its understated grace and very intimate quality to shine through for the listener."

The same critic admitted it was a dazzling performance by any measure, and no less so for the orchestra under music director John Thomas Dodson’s baton, which certainly met the challenges Licad set up for it. "

He added: "And just in case you thought a piano work couldn’t get any better-played than the Chopin was, the Gottschalk piece she presented as an encore was, in a word, spectacular."

Licad performing with the Adrian Symphony Orchestra in Michigan