And then along comes Stephanie

Stephanie Aguilar, resplendent in her Mel Orlina gown whose color is on the soothing side of teal, on Aug. 20, the night of her professional debut concert at the Ayala Museum lobby

Her dream is to play the title role in Puccini's Madame Butterfly. Her reason is simple yet true: she wants to sing what is one of the most beautiful and passionate arias, "Un bel di vedremo." And why shouldn't this girl-woman with the voice of an angel sing of a love that waits but waits in futility?

This observer is willing to wait, too, in order to watch Stephanie "Teepee" Aguilar achieve a depth to her singing, a sign that she may have had a firsthand experience of love, of abandonment or something close to it and a willingness to do the ultimate sacrifice for someone. Or she can give the lie that she has undergone that experience. If it's the latter case, then thumbs-up for her acting chops, something an operatic singer also needs to be equipped with.

So far in her debut as solo professional singer she acquitted herself in a Puccini aria from Turandot where she sings the part of Liu, the slave in love with a prince. Liu is tortured to extract information, another of those over-dramatic elements that happen in a tragic opera. As Teepee gestured towards the end how she was about to be pierced by Turandot's henchmen, we feel that next shock of pain.

Our personal favorite is her interpretation of Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise." This one has no words/lyrics, except for "a single vowel of the singer's choosing, " according to the program notes. (By the way, the Manila Chamber Foundation must also congratulated for the pains it takes to produce instructive souvenir programs and translations of songs from their original German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, even Bisaya in Antonio Molina's "Oras nga labing mangitngit" or "Dark Hours).

Teepee was one of the voice students who was in Sumi Jo's master class at St. Scholastica's College in February this year. The evening before the class, the Korean soprano enthralled the Samsung Hall audience with her own take on "Vocalise" that, of course, gave one a vision of the rapture that follows a yearning for the Divine. The student truly learned from a master.

In an earlier interview with the blogger, Teepee described her "surreal feeling" when she shared the stage with the soprano superstar. "I only had YouTube videos as references of what she sings like. Then there she was, shaking my hands, hugging me, giving me compliments, telling me how I can better my singing."

Wilson Go, an avid voice music fan and who, with his pal Edward Yap, led the standing ovation for Teepee, exclaimed as he gestured from head to diaphragm, "Perfect instrument! Imagine how she'll sound like when she reaches 35!"

We can only agree and expect to be more astonished by her ripening.

Taking a grand and graceful bow at the close of her performance. Jade Rubis Riccio (far left), Stephanie's fellow soprano who served as page turner for accompanying artist Farley Asuncion that evening, joins the applause and ovation. Teepee obliged with two encores: "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Mutya ng Pasig."

Signing a souvenir program Photos by Babeth Lolarga

The education of LO and her Booboo

In Baguio, I have a room with a view. It is where I work (think, write, research, communicate with story sources and colleagues). In the lowlands, I face a yellow-painted wall with a calendar tacked on it. In a few days, I'll be saying a reluctant goodbye to this room which we call The Office. The LO (little one) has turned it into her office, too; it's just that her idea of one is to haul her stuff from the nursery and play behind my chair or beside my desk. I know her development as a child is on track because she talks to her bears and dinosaurs, lately a pig named Peppa. Sings to them.

Dusk hour is when I turn on the lamp light. The desk is a mess, but as I like to say (and this is borne out by research), creatives are messy.

When the YouTube is on, she knows me well enough to request "Sumi Jo, Blue Danube." Of course, my husband is impressed, so is the LO's mother Kimi--that Kai can sing the chorus part of "Ha ha, ha ha" to Ms. Jo's singing, identify some of the orchestra instruments. After the singing of the waltz, she will shrewdly request for two videos of Hooplakidz, featuring Annie and her pet dog Ben and the monkey Mango.

It has become harder to make Kai stand still, pose decently with eyes open wide for the camera. I made her stand beside a pile of The Children's Hour, all 16 volumes of them, my own childhood companions. Topping them is The College Book of English Literature. All my books I can part with, even the ones I've written, but these ones are here to stay.

LO knows I have teaching duties in the lowlands which explains my leave-taking (I will still be in Baguio on certain weekends, if my sked permits). LO is half in awe when she asks, "You're a teacher, too, like Granny Su?" (Su is Suzy, my sister, who has been a preschool teacher for two decades, maybe more. I always add that LO's Tita Ida is a teacher also which explains why she's abroad.) To LO teachers are awesome beings--of course, that's the only way she perceives them, having gone through a Musikgarten course under RL Altomonte. LO is now enrolled in a Montessori nursery. With a nun in front of the class, teachers really are learned authority figures in her eyes.

Well, I have a lot of living up to expectations to be done--those of LO's and my new students'.

Goodbye, Paddington, the bear with whom I have established a relationship that needs no words. Photos by Babeth Lolarga

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.

Today I consecrate to Claudio Abbado

I can't believe I just cancelled a luncheon appointment with an old friend who had been at it, wanting to reconnect with me and pick my brain on a subject (with what's left of my brain, that is). My reason: I'm mourning for Claudio Abbado. It is foremost in my mind alongside a more practical but minor concern--unmet deadlines.

Buon viaggio, Maestro! Photo from Opera and Classical Music News

What more can one add to the accolades heaped on this man? In one recording, the description went: "Claudio Abbado, one with his orchestra, delivers a very moving interpretation which rises like the most beautiful prayer."

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa described to the BBC his "quite amazing" method of conducting by heart. "Because he didn't have to look at music, he could absolutely concentrate on you."

Another BBC report quotes Mark Wilkinson, president of Deutsche Grammophon, a record label, as saying, "The world has lost one of the most inspiring musicians of our era, a man who put himself entirely at the service of the music he conducted and, in doing so, made listeners feel that they were hearing it properly for the very first time."

Aside from being among the finest conductors of any century, Abbado will always be remembered for encouraging young talents, among them our country's Cecile Licad.

Priceless album

The BBC report said of him: "He was passionate about young musicians and founded youth orchestras across Europe."

A few days ago, Joseph Uy, one of my music chums, told me of a nightly routine of his--listening to music to banish the discouragement and frustration from the hours that went before. Just hearing Sumi Jo's version of Caccini's "Ave Maria" consoles him before sleep overtakes him.

He signed his note, "Haaaay, why do we love music so much?"

Love it so much that even someone such as I has insanely re-prioritized my life so I can move my activities around music. How does one do that? Ask this near-impoverished woman, and I'll tell you how my soul has riches even the foolish Napoles couple and cohorts can't count.

I wrote to Joseph, "Naku, music is in some way the voice of God. Ang hirap mabuhay, kung wala pang music, paano natin kakayanin?"

His reply was swift: "Tama ka! I tried to get away, but hindi ko talaga kaya to live without music."

Here's to Cecile Licad, Sumi Jo, Claudio Abbado. They come but once in one's lifetime but how they have blessed all of us!

Some things about Sumi Jo | Vera Files

Some things about Sumi Jo | Vera Files

Yellow belle Myramae Meneses who's getting there

"As I travel all around the world, I easily suffer from jet lag and feel vulnerable to loneliness and emptiness, especially at times when I am left alone after three hours of glory on stage.  Physically far from my family, I often feel lonely. In my next life, I would live just like an ordinary person, doing grocery shopping and cooking at home. Sometimes, I think that I could become a vet or teacher as I love animals and children. But, given my talent and challenged spirit, I could not imagine my life without doing what I am doing now..."
- Sumi Jo, soprano

The MCOF Young Artists' Series is a program that has my full and most heartfelt support because it continues to ploddingly and quietly spot and recognize musical genius. As one of the Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation's core programs, it chooses the most promising artists who are endorsed through performance opportunities and wider pubic exposure.

It's one thing to be an artist of promise. It's another to be an artist who delivers the goods. And, girl oh girl oh girl, did soprano Myramae Meneses deliver on Oct. 2 at the Ayala Museum! The glass windows that were shuttered to control the acoustics for a voice recital shook and shuddered from the cries of "Bravo!" and "Mabuhay!" addressed to the little girl who's barely out of her 20s. 

She suffered from a bad cold that day, but nevertheless her condition didn't drag her down. What was so admirable was she seemingly effortlessly soared up and above that challenge--what's the expression? She rose to the occasion!

If I were in her shoes, I'd tremble and collapse to see music critic Rosalinda L. Orosa and music pedagogue Sr. Mary Placid, OSB, on the front row, on either side, at a solo recital. But Myramae looked so self-assured as though she were on La Scala's stage already. Way to go, Myramae!  

Now everyone who witnessed her moment Wednesday night eagerly await her team-up with tenor Arthur Espiritu on Oct. 26, this time at the lobby of the museum.

Radiant in yellow

Expressive, melodic, consoling voice

Mary Anne Espina, the ideal chamber musician and accompanist, and Myramae about to take their bows.

A kiss from a very pleased Mary Placid, OSB

That's Baby Orosa (partly hidden) on the left watching as Mary Anne and Myramae agree on the encore, "Caro Mio Ben" by Giuseppe Giordani.                                                             Photos by Babeth Lolarga