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

Pianist: ‘Lieder shows Espiritu’s wonderful art’

Arthur Espiritu and Najib Ismail

Pianist: ‘Lieder shows Espiritu’s wonderful art’

Anne Marie of the keys

Anne Marie "Macky" Caldoza

“Good music, good food”—these, in pianist Anne Marie Caldoza’s words, are her priorities in life as she enters her 25th year on earth, half of it spent studying her instrument.

Known to family and friends as Macky, she attributes to her Lola Joaquinita her first exposure to music. Joaquinita Cinco Alzate was the town pianist. During the Japanese period, she played for parties. She even accompanied a young Imelda Romualdez in Tacloban. But Caldoza said her attention span as a child was such that she couldn’t learn earnestly from her lola. Or she may have tried the older woman’s patience.

At age 12 she began formal piano studies with Prof. Najib Ismail at the University of Santo Tomas. During that period with him she won, among many prizes, honorable mention from the National Music Competition for Young Artists in 2013, a silver award from the 2011 Asia International Piano Academy and Festival with Competition in Korea, second prize the 2010 UST Chopin Competition, second prize from the 2007 Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines Bach Competition.

After she graduated cum laude at the UST Conservatoryof Music with a bachelor of music in piano performance and performing at Paco Park, Ismail thought she was fit for something bigger and recommended her to pursue her masters of music in piano performance at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

To reach Longy, a century-old conservatory inside a New England mansion, one of the largest in Boston, she walks for 30 minutes, cutting through Cambridge Commons and Harvard Square from the house where she rents a room from a Filipino family.

Calzado has built a name for herself on campus, having served as an officer of the Longy Student Association in her first year and co-president in her second. Longy has a small student population of 250. She says they know one another, adding, “Basically, we are one big crazy family.”

She recently graduated but plans to return to Longy this fall for a graduate performance diploma, saying, “I still have lots to work on.” She adds that two years of graduate studies aren’t enough and despite four hours of daily practice.

If there’s anything that Longy has taught her, she says, “It is to embrace all possibilities and to think creatively as possible, be it in class projects, concert programming, performance practice, etc. The dream is to make a difference, no matter how small.”

Caldoza opens the Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation (MCOF) season on June 22 at 7 p.m. at Ayala Museum with a challenging program made up of Handel’s “Suite in B-flat Major, HWV 440,” Beethoven’s “Sonata in E-flat Major, op. 7,” Haydn’s “Sonata in G Major Hob. XVI: 40,” Harold Shapero’s “Sonata in D Major” and Rachmaninoff’s “Etudes-Tableaux, op. 33.”

She says of her selections: “There’s always something to love about the style of each composer. I play or listen according to my mood as part of my ‘quarter-life crisis.’ Even if Handel is baroque, there is something lyrical you can do with him. You’re allowed a little freedom because the counterpoint is very thin. I have friends who study early music, and they’ve helped me with nuances.”

To relax she continues the family tradition of baking. She specializes in cupcakes and cookies for her own consumption and for community sharing. Her latest creations carry the combined flavors of Earl Grey tea and chocolate, chocolate crinkles with a crusty top and ginger molasses cookies.

Or she plays with four dogs, two of them pugs. Caldoza talks fondly of them, “We’ve had Raya since I was in high school. The other is Porkchop, a fairly recent addition. Raya sleeps under my piano whenever I practice. I used to have a pug named Puffy that loved the Grieg minor concerto and she’d come running when she hears me start playing. She’d sit beside me for hours and sometimes howl while I played.” -- Elizabeth Lolarga

For tickets to Caldoza’s “Tribute to the Masters,” call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or MCOF at 997-9483, 782-7164 or cell phone nos. 0920-954-0053 and 0918-347- 3027.

A shorter version of this article is published in today's issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Arts and Books section.

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

Twin Popsies and enchantment in an evening breeze

In October last year, before super typhoon Yolanda hit and wrought havoc on lives, properties and plans, I was blessed to be part of the workshop "Writing the Story: Communicating from Biblical Perspectives" at the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC). All the resource persons, Miriam Adeney, Frank Gray and Melba Padilla Maggay, set the participants at ease and helped us sustain the flow of words. There's something to writing in a group - too much solitude can be a pain sometimes. I share something short and hopefully sweet, instigated by Adeney's writing prompt: the ice cream cart. Read it through the un-seasonal showers that continue to tap on the roof tonight.

This blog is affectionately dedicated to pianist Najib Ismail and music lover Joseph Uy for reasons only they know. Najib, who was equal to Sumi Jo's lyrical singing early last month, will again collaborate with two Koreans, soprano Yun Kyoung Yi and baritone Daesan No, in "Enchante," an evening of bel canto and opera music, on March 27 at 7 p.m. at Makati's Ayala Museum.


Source of image: http://have-a-fun-time.tumblr.com

Once upon a time, in the Year of our Lord 1965, the same year Marcos was elected President for his first term, a fourth grader from St. Paul College of Quezon City always counted the jingling coins in her skirt's side pocket. She had no wallet then. But she knew that if she let herself go hungry at lunchtime, she could reward herself with Twin Popsicles bought from the Magnolia ice cream vendor who parked his cart outside the school gates at dismissal time.

She knew how to tame her hunger in such a way that for certain days of the week, she had enough for orange Popsies. Later, as the coins grew in number, she had enough, too, for a bigger treat and a wider choice - the pinipig crunch or the ice cream sandwich

Once upon today, that convent-raised girl is now lactose intolerant, and the reward she looks forward to at the end of each day is the coolness of the breeze as she lays her head down for a well-earned rest. A rest now made possible by the sound of "Ombre Legere" from the comic opera Dinorah and gaily sung by Yun Kyoung Yi.

She's both singer and song

"(T)here is something more than just living from hand to mouth and there is music and poetry out there." - Sumi Jo speaking about the way her mother raised her in an interview with Korea.net


Sumi Jo smiles at her collaborating artist, Najib Ismail, at her first concert in Manila. Photo by Anna Leah Sarabia

An old departed friend, ever-green, ever-great in my eyes still, used to say, "Art is the greatest form of philanthropy" in private conversations, in public discourses. Sumi Jo is interchangeably artist/philanthropist. Thank you for the music and the memories again!

Being interviewed by the classical music station DZFE at Cravings Restaurant, EDSA Shangri-La Plaza

Viewing children's drawings at Tuloy sa Don Bosco Streetchildren Village in Alabang, Muntinlupa City

Bowing and folding hands to acknowledge girls and boys cheering her when she enters the village gym

She joins the kids in singing the chorus of "You Raise Me Up," the lyrics of the refrain returning to her naturally: "You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;/ You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;/ I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;/ You raise me up... To more than I can be."

When Ms. Jo is asked if she can sing just one song, she acquiesces but requests that the Josh Groban track be replayed while she hastily googles the complete lyrics in her cell phone.

One more time she joins the kids in singing and swaying to an inspirational anthem.

Freshly cut lettuce leaves make up her first bouquet from the Philippines. With her are Tuloy Foundation's Fr. Rocky Evangelista and the nuns who look after the kids. Photos of Sumi Jo at her Manila press con and her visit to the village by Babeth Lolarga

Filipino pianist, flutist shine with Sumi Jo | Vera Files

Filipino pianist, flutist shine with Sumi Jo | Vera Files

The kind of loving Sumi Jo does

From the concert organizers of "Sumi Jo in Manila":

Sumi Jo, the celebrated Korean opera singer, sings in a one-night concert for causes close to her heart on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. at the new Samsung Hall of SM Aura Premier, Bonifacio City of Taguig. Her Manila debut is her first stop during her 2014 Asian tour that will take her to Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore for more performances. Her collaborating artist is Najib Ismail.

For her Manila concert, she is donating her honorarium to a home for disabled children and a local animal shelter. The proceeds after production expenses are also going to Tanging Yaman Foundation's rebuilding projects in post-Yolanda Samar and to workshops by international teachers for talented voice students in classical music.

She sang the aria in Eat Pray Love in the scene where Julia Roberts was shown eating spaghetti in Italy. She also sang for an HBO drama starring Kate Winslet.

She says, "I do all this because it is a way to have my voice heard by this bigger audience. I feel very, very flexible to not just use my voice the classical way. I am also challenging what I can do with my voice."

Jo hopes that other singers will also similarly expand their musical careers, saying, "Classical singers live a bit of an isolated life because we are the divas and the prima donnas--you have to think about protecting your throat. But if you open your thoughts and mind and look around you, you can do more with your music to give to society. That is a message that I would like to send to other musicians--make not just beautiful music but use our talents to make the world a better place."

She supports human rights causes, women's rights movements and pushes for greater protection of animals. She once said, "Women are often so underpaid and there are so many working mothers and they are having a difficult time. But at the same time we need to think about animals-we need to defend them because they cannot defend themselves."

For tickets to "Sumi Jo in Manila," call 782-7164 or 750-0768, cell phone numbers 09183470053 or 09209540053.

Music against a post-Yolanda setting

WHILE others were rebuilding their lives, running relief kitchens and centers or continuing to appeal for help in behalf of the Bohol quake and super typhoon Yolanda survivors, musicians united, put music and its universal appeal in the service of a great cause.

Prof. Rayben Maigue leads the UP Jazz Ensemble

The UP Jazz Ensemble under Prof. Rayben Maigue opened, with swing-time hits, Ayala Museum's Season's Symphonies Concert Series, a fund-raiser for the Ayala Foundation’s disaster response and preparedness program.

In a commendable format, Lara Maigue narrated the story of jazz, instrument by instrument from a lonely cornet to the thicker texture of trumpets, clarinets and trombones combined. She sang staples like "Alright, Okay, You Win" and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." The older Maigue did the demo part, leading the ensemble through a varied repertoire that included Latin-Am rhumba, mambo and samba

Vocalist Lara Maigue

Despite a mic, Maigue's voice was thin for the upbeat "Orange Colored Sky," a tune Jacqui Magno could pull off with seeming lack of effort. She strove mightily but was overpowered by the over-enthusiastic percussionists, wind and brass sections. The band members capped the evening by punctuating "The Christmas Waltz" with a hearty chorus of "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Nevertheless, the vocalist and the band looked like they were enjoying what they were doing as they showed how jazz, adaptable through each era since it began in southern US, is here to stay.

Roxy Modesto on the sax baritone

A beloved University of the Philippines tradition is the singing of Handel's glorious Messiah. But this year's was especially moving. The entire program, featuring the UP choirs and the UP Orchestra from different campuses,was dedicated to the students, teachers and staff of UP Tacloban and their families. The few who made it that evening were given a prolonged applause in the standing-room-only University Theater.

The audience was encouraged to go to the table of the UP Foundation Inc. during the intermission. The staff accepted cash and check donations, issuing receipts in the spirit of transparency and in behalf of the Typhoon Yolanda Relief Fund.

Premiered at this benefit concert was the dirge "Kilos, Iskolar" (music by Verne de la Pena and lyrics by Reuel M. Aguila) written for a chorus and soloist. Mary Jeane Eglosa, a Madrigal soprano who hails from Tacloban, led the UP choirs in a chant-like repetition of lyrics that speak of tears that wouldn't dry up in a time of disaster. In true UP fashion (raised clenched fists), the piece ended with this challenge: "Panahon ng pagbangon/ Panahon ng pagtindig/ Kilos, iskolar/ Dumaraing ang bayan."

Fitri Cerado opens Yolanda fund-raising concert, "Jammin' for Help, Thanking the World," with her interpretation of "One Voice."

Martin Nievera in a duet with Lea Salonga

The talk of the musical grapevine remains "Jamming for Help, Thanking the World," a Fullhouse Asia production to benefit #helpPH at Rockwell Tent, Makati. This was an example of classical music triumphing gloriously over pop music exemplars like Lea Salonga and Martin Nievera.

Cecile Licad rocks Rachmaninoff's Concert No. 2.

Cecile Licad, who had wanted to do something immediately for the Visayas when she heard news of the devastation, made known her fierce passion for this country and her music in her solo parts in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, even in the liquid sounds she produced as her fingers glided through the encore piece "Embraceable You."

Intense connection between Licad and Salonga who led the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra

The ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra under Gerard Salonga played in a way unheard of in the past. It has leveled up remarkably, becoming more than a pop orchestra that provides background music to showbiz stars.

In baseball parlance, the orchestra has, as one, stepped up to the plate and, with Licad, hit a triple homer. Music and sports may seem irreconcilable. But the vigor with which Salonga showed in leading an inspired orchestra that was in sync with Licad--this is the team-up one can never tire off every time the People's Pianist comes home.

Licad used a Steinway that was up for silent auction, proceeds also going to the Yolanda cause.

Wearing t-shirts and jeans, Licad and the others belied the mentality that one must be glamorously outfitted at a concert. They set the tone of sobriety and austerity in a post-calamity context. In their deportment they shamed some audience members who came dressed to kill and wearing their bling blings.

Arthur Espiritu also stepped up to the plate. He drove for hours a truck filled to the brim with relief goods. He and his wife, whose roots are in Samar, delivered these to the typhoon survivors in Llorente, a solidarity gesture that signified, "Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!"

Christmas caroling quartet made up of tenors Nival and Espiritu, sopranos Meneses and Balajadia

In "Arthur Espiritu and Friends," again at Ayala Museum, he was the audience's darling. The friends included tenor Nomher Nival, sopranos Myramae Meneses and Kay Balajadia, and collaborating pianist Najib Ismail.

Whether singing a difficult, heart-breaker of a Neapolitan song like Cardillo's "Core 'ngrato" or popular fare like the Irish anthem "Danny Boy" or even Brodzsky's "Be My Love," he sounded, in a word, impeccable.

Espiritu

His soaring voice and generosity will be missed as he fulfills singing engagements abroad for six months.--Elizabeth Lolarga

Photos by Anna Leah Sarabia and Elizabeth Lolarga

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.

A tenor who’s no average John | Vera Files

A tenor who’s no average John | Vera Files

String quartet and voice concerts in April