Steppin out with my babies

"Was it sprinkling or raining? It sounds like a conflict that will never be resolved. The cuteness is unbearable though, that is not up for debate." - a tweet from http://content.lifeisgood.com/

April rains, not just showers, are assuring that May flowers will be around for Baguio residents and visitors alike.

Meanwhile, our resident cuties, The Wee One and her older summering-in-Baguio cousin Machiko Skye (a.k.a. Max), are as close as Siamese twins since Max and her Wowa Pinky came up last week. As hosts, we welcomed the infusion of little people's voices and giggles in our home. During their time together, they did the rounds of Burnham Park's playground, went boating on the artificial Burnham Lake, ran around the garden of Camp John Hay, ate in and ate out (outdoors on the veranda or in small restaurants with their elders Pinky, Granny Suzy and Kimi), played indoors.

Kai and Max at the Maryknoll Ecosanctuary's courtyard Photo by Rolly Fernandez

The crowd (partial view) that turned up to watch the MSO's morning matinee of "Symphonies and Soundtracks" Photo by Anna Leah Sarabia

They even attended a Manila Symphony Orchestra concert at Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary's courtyard just this past Saturday, sitting under a big colorful parachute with the rest of the audience on a sunny Saturday.

When I had a quiet conversation with the two to ask what instruments they saw at the concert, they piped up: "big violins! small violins! big drums! flutes and horns!" They couldn't name the others by their proper names, but that's okay. The sight and sounds of a full symphonic orchestra were enough for their and other little people's music education. Children being children, they also remember how, while they were watching, their hair and heads grew hotter and hotter from the sun.

They and their elders got a thrill when concertmaster and first violinist Gina Medina Perez approached them to say "Hello" upon recognizing the kids' faces at an MSO Academy recital last year. Max got her cheeks pinched.

Today, a Monday, I invited the wee ones plus my niece Bianca for a stroll in the neighborhood and some gross-motor play before Max departs with her elders today. It is their Tita Bianca's 13th birthday tomorrow so she's ending her Baguio summer by returning to her Antipolo fold.So happy birthday, too, Bianx, you were, and still are, an adored one like our wee ones.

Bianca takes a picture of Max, the one with the tiara (which her young cousin pronounces as "tirara") and Kai with the curly tops.

Kai demonstrates to Max how jumps are done in the park's small circle of rocks. I like to call it the village's mini-Stonehenge.

The kids run to look for the next rock from where they can take their next leap.

The cousins with their swing "pusher" and "booster"

I live for the privilege of capturing a facial expression like this one.

The girls meet new faces in the neighborhood, breastfeeding mom Joy and her cutie of a son Leon.

Then it's time to sit by, look at and smell the roses. Kai is unsure if she wants anymore of that healthy morning sun.
Photos of the cousins and Bianca by Booboo Babeth

The violin in the lives of 2 families

“Is that a love-bite? A weird rash?! Oh. No. You’re a violinist.” –Daniel Ross, “10 worst things about playing the violin,” www.classicfm.com

“Sapper Ernest Johnson etched notes into the back of his violin during the Great War, turning the instrument into an invaluable diary of his journey through the trenches of Europe…The detailed diary covers three quarters of the back of the instrument, telling the story of Johnson's travels from August 8th 1915 until 18th February 1918 where he finishes the diary with the words: ‘Finished with army’. Johnson used the instrument to perform for his fellow front line soldiers while in the trenches…Johnson's granddaughter has now restored the violin so she can learn the same songs performed by her grandfather in the trenches, including war-time favourites like Roses of Picardy and Keep the Home Fires Burning.”— from the picture story “Soldier uses violin as World War I diary,” www.classic.fm

Teenage violinists Bradley Bascon and Jeline Oliva will not find themselves in situations wherein the slight bruise on their necks will be misconstrued as anything more than the result of intense practice. If it is in their mothers’ powers, neither will they find themselves scratching out the story of their days on their precious instruments in a foxhole in a war-torn country.

Fil-Am Bascon, only 14 but already a soloist who has played in top concert halls in the US, Europe and his parents’ country of origin, where he dazzled audiences in Makati, Cagayan de Oro (CDO) and Cebu cities, is back in California. Being a nerd, too, with the highest academic average of 4.0 at the Chaparral High School in Temecula, California, he is focused on a Sibelius piece for his next performance.

Bradley Bascon Photo by Daisy Jane Sande

His mother, Theresa Jallorina-Bascon, said her only child, who’s also with the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra in Claremont, CA, was elated from “teaching and inspiring young talents in Cebu. He enjoyed giving a masterclass to young violinists at the University of the Visayas.”

She recalled her boy’s Philippine debut at Ayala Museum in July: “The room was full. People were enthusiastic, curious, wanted to meet and listen to this ‘unknown’ Fil-Am violinist. I held my breath when he played. After the first song, I knew he was enjoying it. I could tell that he wasn’t scared or nervous so I breathed a sigh of relief. The heavens must have been watching. The rain stopped. It turned out to be a beautiful night.”

She added, “In all the venues, the audience gave him a standing ovation. I feel joyful, blessed and very proud. It warms my heart to know that he’s accepted here, not just in Europe.” He was the sole Philippine representative in the Beijing Violin Competition last month.

Meanwhile, Jeline, 17, received the turning point news of her life: admission as the only Filipino of 10 short-listed applicants out of 300 from all over the world at the prestigious Mannes College New School of Music in New York City.

Her mother Judith, who organized with some friends a fund-raising concert in her daughter’s behalf in late July so the NYC dream could be realized, said, “Studying in New York is expensive. Unless you’re extremely talented or very rich, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere as the song goes. It’s the center for strings, the melting spot for rising musicians. We’re thankful that Jeline passed the challenging live audition at Mannes.”

Violin teacher Gina Medina Perez, Oliva and her accompanying artist Mary Anne Espina Photo by Babeth Lolarga

This new high school graduate is being trained by no less than Gilopez Kabayao as his form of help while sponsors for her higher education are being sought. Gina Medina Perez, another of Jeline’s teachers and Manila Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, has high hopes for the girl who she once described as palaban.

In an interview with this writer last year, Jeline said of her instrument of choice, “The violin can bring out all the emotions a person has…Maybe it’s because when it is held, it is near the heart.”

Judith said of the challenges ahead: “Honestly, we’re already losing hope. We need to raise almost $50,000 a year, excluding housing. Jose Mari Chan wants to chip in, but we still need more sponsors to raise the amount. He is concerned because the opportunity has presented itself, but financial help is truly needed. He wants her to push through with her higher studies this year.”

Jeline and Judith Oliva Photo by Babeth Lolarga

She never pressured Jeline to prepare her for the Mannes audition. “She was focused and determined. I asked the help of her St. Anthony School teachers who gave her special activities so she could have time for her audition—from pre-screening to the live audition. She had a supportive environment. Prayers helped a lot.”

When her child goes onstage, Judith feels “happy, excited, nervous all at the same time because of the audience’s expectations. I pray to keep us relaxed. We put our trust in God.”

Tetchie echoed her: “After I see Bradley play solo with an orchestra, I tell myself, ‘Ok, you can breathe now.’ He has played at the Mozarteum in Austria, at Teatro Verdi in Italy. I realized that were it not for him, I wouldn’t be encouraged to see those concert halls. I’d probably just save my money for retirement.”

Both mothers not only credit the musical genes that run in their families but the prenatal period when they exposed the infants to music.

Judith said, “I was a classroom music teacher and rondalla trainor at the Department of Education in Naga City when I was pregnant. I always listened to classical music whenever I relaxed. The was the first music Jeline heard when I gave birth to her. It was her lullaby.”

Tetchie recalled, “When I was pregnant, I played CDs of Baby Mozart, Baby Einstein. The ear phones I placed on my tummy area. After Bradley was born and when he’d get fussy, I played Baby Mozart or anything classical. He calmed down.”

When he was eight or nine years old and he was slack on his practice period, she’d threaten him: “I can sell the violin and use the money for a new car. He’d go, ‘No, Mom, please.’”

He said of the 1897 made-in-the-US James McCauley violin, “Mommy guards it with her life. She puts it on the plane’s overhead bin when we travel.” An admirer of Isaac Stern and Jascha Heifetz, Bradley chose to concentrate on the violin. He told his Mom: “If I learn the piano, I can’t carry it with me anywhere.” He plays the piano to relax after three hours of daily practice on a school night and five to six hours (spread out during the day) of focused practice during summers.

The piano was Jeline’s first instrument. Her piano teacher alerted Judith that her daughter is “a fast learner gifted with perfect pitch.” During the girl’s elementary years she could perform virtuoso piano pieces (“Dizzy Fingers,” Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude and Polonaise in A. flat Major, op.53, a whole movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, among others).

Jeline (with Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra principal conductor Olivier Ochanine beside her mugging for the camera) has played with the PPO as soloist. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

She said, “At her young age, we couldn’t believe that her tiny fingers could produce brilliant musical sounds. When she was nine, she tried the violin for the first time. I couldn’t believe when she started to play it without the tape on the finger board as guide for the notes to be played. She learned fast.”

Jeline was 13 when studied under Gina. That was the time she focused on the violin instead of the piano. After a year, she won the first place during the NAMCYA. She was also one of the top five out of 24 contestants at a Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines competition in the same year that she was preparing for the NAMCYA violin competition.

Young Bascon, left, with DZFE’s Bert Robledo, pianist Rudolf Golez, Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation’s Angel Reyes Nacino, mom Theresa, dad Conrad and an aunt on the Jallorina side Photo by Daisy Jane Sande

Bert Robledo, host of DZFE’s “Bravo Filipino,” emphasizes in his program how ranking public officials must be seen in concert halls to set the example in terms of music education and appreciation. At the same time their own exposure would make them realize the excellence of Filipino talents. - Elizabeth Lolarga

The afternoon before the perigree moon shone brightly

"Keep calm and don't care what others think." - a tweet from Inspirational Quotes. So here's the Pinoy babushka not minding the discomfort of bending to shepherd two terrific three year olds: my grandchild Kai/Butones who's asking in a thrilled voice "What's that?", meaning, the rush of summer-like wind that greeted us as we got off a cab and posed by National Artist Arturo Luz's outdoor sculpture on Makati Ave. and De la Rosa St., Makati, just this Sunday, and her cousin Max busily munching on choco nibbles.

That's Wowa Pinky, the fifth sibling who came after me, and her grandkid Max posing with the complimentary plate of sweets (a shot glass of chocolate mousse, an eclair and a choco chip cookie), courtesy of the Ayala Museum cafe. We went into the cafe for some juice and just desserts for the kids, but the manager said the Sunday buffet was closing in a few minutes. He sent us this plate for the children while we ordered fresh buko lychee juice, orange juice and the Pinoy equivalent of Four Seasons for ourselves. Thank you, cafe management. That was a lovely gesture, something we will continue to tell our grandchildren about.




Our real reason for being at the museum premises on a Sunday: To attend the free "Opus 1," the Manila Symphony Orchestra Academy's first recital series with Jeffrey Solares, MSO's executive director and associate conductor, hosting the afternoon program. We came away quite impressed how a four-month old music school was able to produce kids shown in the following photos. They performed like real pros. One girl, who not only is enrolled for violin lessons but also for voice, sang "I Whistle a Happy Tune" with such self-confidence that even if she was off-key some of the time, she went right on singing. I couldn't contain an admiring "Brava!" Congratulations, Maestro Solares, the school's faculty, the students and the persevering parents and guardians.

If I had a child or a grandchild there sawing seriously away on the violin, I'd be taking photos, too. Either that or I'll be biting my fingernails and hoping my blood kin measures up. Do I disown her if she doesn't? No! Because the little guy in front wearing eyeglasses showed how it's done--he accidentally dropped his bow not once but twice but picked it up without a trace of embarrassment and continued playing.


MSO concertmaster, violinist and music teachers' teacher Gina Medina Perez with Ira Alexis Aclan whose interpretation of Weiniawski's Polonaise Brillante took my and my sisters' breath away. I am not Madame Auring, but I foresee a bright musical future for this girl.



There is music/rhythm/poetry even in the playing waters of a fountain. I'm sure the seeds of music appreciation are planted in the cousins. When Kai was in her mother's womb, she showed she liked Vivaldi's "Spring" by hardening and kicking. Max has grown up to the sound of her Tita Bianca's piano playing (lessons, practice and recitals). With the MSO Academy setting the pace for their generation, the future of classical music performances and appreciation is as bright as the supermoon. And I hope I don't live long enough to eat my words. Photos by Booboo Babeth and Private Ryan

Simply Mozart in a night to remember

Following Maestro Oscar Yatco’s recent demise is the death of Lorin Maazel. Together with the New York Philharmonic, conductor Maazel visited the Philippines in 2002, the two-night concerts at the Cultural Center of the Philippines ending always to thunderous applause and ovations.

But the classical music world has a long tradition of maintaining a wide bench of talents, even geniuses. They’re already way beyond and above understudy stage, more than ready to replace what seem like irreplaceable losses. Maestro Darrell Ang, who led the Manila Symphony Orchestr (MSO) in Friday night’s “Mostly Mozart 2014 Festival,” is one such man.

Stellar tandem: Tenor Arthur Espiritu and Maestro Darrell Ang Photos by Anna Leah Sarabia

Cutting an elegant figure in his tux and tails, he possessed graceful arms and hands that also had an authority in them, allowing him to bring out the heroism, even manliness (feminists may quarrel with this), innate in Beethoven’s Eroica (Symphony No. 3 in F-Major, Op. 93). It’s a misunderstood work in the context of the composer’s time—was he really pro- or anti-Bonaparte?

Gina Medina-Perez, first violinist -concertmaster, recalled how the MSO members, within weeks of each other, learned from two guest conductors (Ang and Thanos Adamopulous previously).

She praised the two for their musical expertise and intensity. “Both demanded professionalism and commitment, but they don’t tell that to you. During rehearsals they don’t give sermons or throw tantrums if the music doesn’t work the way they want it. You want to be excellent because they’re excellent. You try your best so you can keep up. It’s interesting how good musicians just focus on music making and being faithful to the score. Thanos and Darrell are the easiest to work with. They know what to do and focus on achieving that.”

She added that like Adamopulous, Ang “knows the music very well and interprets it according to what he thinks the composer wants. Their interpretation of Eroica is very different, but both fulfill the composer’s intention. It’s pure magic to experience this kind of music making.”

Since the program mainly focused on Mozart’s works that are rarely, if never, heard played or sung live, Perez-Medina remarked on the challenge she and the MSO faced: “We only had four rehearsals with Ang. He focused on bringing us to the level nearest to what he wanted. We gave our best. Preparing for that concert required teamwork. It wasn’t a one-man job.”

What the orchestra members did was place their trust on Ang and on one another, including tenor Arthur Espiritu and pianist Cristine Coyiuto, whose niche could now be said to be Mozart concertos.

Ms. Coyiuto sparkling in her Roy Paras gown

Medina-Perez said, “That was the only way we could have a solid performance. During the performance, we let each other shine. Ultimately, the one who should shine is not the MSO, the conductor or the soloists but the music itself. We are mere instruments, conduits of a greater work—music.”

Singaporean Ang helped the cash-strapped Manila Chamber Orchestra (MCO) Foundation in marketing the concert. The auditorium of the Philippine Stock Exchange, renamed Juan Antonio Lanuza Hall after a music critic-patron, was standing room only, with some early ticket buyers held up in the Friday night rain and traffic.

Ang, who donated his fee to the foundation and to Habitat for Humanity’s building of new houses for supertyphoon Yolanda suvivors, posted short notes in his Facebook page alongside photos of himself, with the soloists and with the MSO. Of the MSO he predicted it was “set to regain its footing as the nation’s top orchestra!”

He described Espiritu as “a superb Filipino tenor whose beautiful take on two Mozart arias is definitely worth the price of the ticket alone!” Espiritu is back in the country after his latest triumph in the role of Fernando in the Donizetti opera La Favorita at the St. Gallen Festival in Switzerland. At the technical rehearsal at Ortigas Center venue, he noted how the supra-cold air-conditioning dried up the air to a point where he couldn’t hear his own voice.

Espiritu

Nonetheless, his interpretation of the arias “Misero, O Sogno, o son desto?” in the first part of the changed program and “Se vuoi che te racccolgano,” the last Mozart aria for the evening, showed his capability to transcend physical obstacles and emerge more triumphant than an Everest climber.

After the concert, he said, “I tried to be as positive as I can be. It was a dry hall, filled with carpet, even the stage is carpeted. Knowing that Lanuza Hall can have the potential for a great concert hall, it should be easy to revitalize it. I was happy to perform. Knowing that I am contributing to the foundation is a good enough feeling.”

It’s almost SOP for a Filipino audience to expect an encore, especially from Espiritu. He said, “We discussed the possibility after the last aria, but alas my vocal condition made it hard to sing one more. I had a cold, was having dry coughs at the time. I didn’t want to risk losing my voice.”

He must surely be within the radar of a local recording company or a body like the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He wants to record Filipino composers’, especially kundiman writers’, works.

He said, “I am hoping to collaborate with recording labels and maybe do a recording. I have never been approached so I’m open to it.” Someone heed him quick because European opera houses are already grabbing him and about to spirit him away.

Angel Reyes-Nacino, MCO Foundation executive director, was gladdened by the audience turnout and response. “We hope we still have funds and have a change in the mindset of sponsors for the classical arts. We don’t recover from our concerts.”

Concerning the auditorium’s renovation to make it more concert-worthy, she said, “We haven’t sat down with the Lanuza family to find out their plans. I’m sure we’ll get help from above. Mr. Lanuza is guiding, praying for us from up there.”

Medina-Perez agreed, “It is a good-sized hall. The carpets need to go. That will make a big difference. A proper dressing room would be nice.” - Elizabeth Lolarga

Music from the heart | Vera Files

Music from the heart | Vera Files