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).
