April in Abelardo Hall

Arthur Espiritu soars in ‘The Poet Speaks’

The sixth of this month will linger long in the head and hearts, like the “last song syndrome,” of those who watched tenor Arthur Espiritu as he breathed life into the lyrics of poets and the music of the masters.

Princely Arthur Espiritu

The Ayala Museum lobby in Makati City was filled with sparkling anticipation as the perfumed set and casually dressed culture vultures took unnumbered seats.  The glass-walled, tall-ceilinged museum had been there for some time as venue for launchings of Jaime Zobel de Ayala’s de luxe books; it has hosted fashion shows of the likes of Josie Natori and Inno Sotto and similar worthy endeavors that enrich the city’s cultural life. But as venue for a concert like MCO Foundation Inc.’s “The Poet Speaks?” Now we’re talking!

The US-based Espiritu has consistently enthralled the operatic and fine music crowd with his prince-like stance, his “beautiful legato”, a critic once wrote. These qualities were present that enchanted evening when he interpreted art songs and cycles of poetry. Handel’s music from the opera Semele comes with lyrics of besotted god Jupiter offering his mortal lover Semele all the loveliness that his powers could execute for her: “Wher’er you walk / Cool gales shall fan the glade / Trees where you sit / Shall crowd into a shade …/ Where’er you tread / The blushing flowers shall rise / And all things flourish…”

His performance echoed past romances that overcame barriers like that of Robert and Clara Schumann (she was herself a composer but was bogged down by the bearing and raising of eight children). In “Liederkreis, Op. 24”, the interpreter in Espiritu swung from mood to mood as the songs required: sleepless lover fretting over an absent sweetheart, the same man focused on himself, his grief, sorrows, longing.

The German language is no barrier at all in understanding the agonies and ecstasies of love, something Espiritu, on his honeymoon stage with his wife, can relate to.

Pianist Najib Ismail and Espiritu hug after their performance.

Complementing Espiritu’s fascinating  performance  was Najib Ismael’s  virtuosity on the keys. Music critic Pablo Tariman said, “On the whole, the recital of tenor Arthur Espiritu with pianist Najib Ismail gave us a clear magic relationship between the four elements of a song recital: the poet, composer, singer and accompanist.”

The producers thoughtfully provided a complete program with the original German, Italian, Filipino and French lyrics side by side with English translations apart from projecting the lyrics up on one wall, the words superimposed on images from the Romantic era.

Liszt’s “Trei sonetti del petrarca”, a set of sonnets with lyrics by no less than Petrarch, tackles again the subject of love, its complications, especially its torments.

When Espiritu turned to National Artist Lucio San Pedro’s “Sampatak ng Hamog” (text by another National Artist, Bienvenido Lumbera), the melody is instantly familiar (Filipino music has a pull on racial memory), it came as a whiff of fresh air from angst-wrought European passion.

In performance

When Espiritu said “Sa Ugoy ng Duyan” was his Valentine to mothers in the audience, everyone quieted themselves, stifled coughs or the clearing of throats. Many in the audience, not just women, felt themselves tearing up to the sway and lullaby in the tenor's voice. At that moment in that evening, he became everyone’s son.

More European songs by von Gluck, Gounod and Delibes followed in the same vein of tortured declarations to a beloved. Despite the subject, Espiritu soared high till  the audience was putty in his hands.

He and Ismail received prolonged standing ovations, and they obliged with two encores. One was “Cessa di piu” from Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Seviglia that Joseph Uy, one of the concert organizers, said “was cut from the opera on its premiere because the stated singer cannot sing it due to its difficulty that requires immense agility.”

The second encore was “O del mio amato ben” by Stephen Donaudy from a song cycle that captured emotions of happiness, heartbreak, hope and healing.

Espiritu said when he sings something more serious or tragic or romantic, he allows the text to transform him so he could totally embody the character he plays: “I try to revisit personal experiences, whether something heartbreaking or something disappointing. I try to place myself back in that moment.  Of course, I make sure that I don’t get too sucked into that moment that I forget that I’m on stage.”

He continued, “I try not to put a stamp on any characters that I do. The idea is to interpret the work as written and intended by the poet/lyricist and the composer.”

Of the major tenors worldwide, Alfredo Kraus has left a mark on him for Kraus’s “longevity and technique [that are] just remarkable.”

That Wednesday night, Espiritu made a mark on music lovers’ hearts.

More of  Espiritu’s music at www. arthurespiritu.net--Text and photos by Elizabeth Lolarga

Originally published by Vera Files/Yahoo Philippines, Feb. 8, 2013

Tenor Arthur Espiritu wants to rediscover the Philippines

This story was originally published by Vera Files and Yahoo Philippines on Jan. 28, 2012. The blogger is reprinting it on this space after Mr. Espiritu's acclaimed performance at Ayala Museum recently.
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For a much-in-demand tenor like Arthur Espiritu, who has performed at Teatro alla Scala, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, both in Italy, and with Opera Fuoco in Paris, he would like nothing better to rediscover his country of origin.

Espiritu: "If it was awards that I’m after, I’d rather quit singing. I’m serious about what I do. An award is just a symbol, a bonus. The award I look for is completing a successful show/concert/recital or when I have silenced my worst critic, myself."

Espiritu, who grew up in Tanay, Rizal,  migrated with his family to the United States in the late 1990s when  he was 14.  Two- and- a- half  years ago, he came back for a one-night concert  and swept  Manila’s classical music community off their feet. He has been back a few times  to perform, the last of which was  as Count Almaviva in the full-length production of  The  Barber of Seville last July at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

On Feb. 6, at 7 p.m., the newly-wed Espiritu will sing in “The Poet Speaks” with Najib Ismail on the piano at the Ayala Museum, Makati Ave., Makati City. After Feb. 17, he flies out of Manila and heads straight for Italy to do his first Cassio from Verdi’s Otello at the Teatro Comunale di Luciano Pavarotti Modena and Teatri Comunali di Piacenza. Rehearsals start on Feb. 18. After Otello, which ends in March, he flies to Pittsburgh to do Don Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with the Pittsburgh Opera.

He said he plans to return here on the second week of May. With his new bride he wants to visit Davao, Palawan and perhaps Bohol. Apart from this he is open to projects that’ll benefit mainly young aspiring singers.

When it was pointed out that his wedding fell on the day the world was supposed to end, he said, “Christina and I did not know it was the Mayan calendar’s end-of-world date. Her Chinese aunt recommended Dec. 21. We originally wanted the 20th. She said it was bad luck. ‘Better on the 21st,’ she exclaimed. So we got married on the 21st. Christina is in the music world. It’s gonna be a musical family!”

Pianist Najib Ismail

He won the 2009 George London Award, the La Scala Award as part of the Belvedere Vocal Competition in Vienna, Austria, second place in the Irene Dalis Vocal Competition, the Rose-Palmai Tenser Mobile Opera Guild Award, among many.


He said, “If it was awards that I’m after, I’d rather quit singing. I’m serious about what I do. An award is just a symbol, a bonus. The award I look for is completing a successful show/concert/recital or when I have silenced my worst critic, myself.”

He  shares some performance  incidents that  helped hone his resourcefulness. He recalled how as a young artist while in the chorus of Cosi Fan Tutte, “I was one of the guys carrying the big cakes for the marriage scene. The guy on the other side carrying the cake fell. I followed him. The cake broke into three.  One fell into the French horn area and hit a percussion instrument. The second one rolled around the stage like a dropped coin. The third was chased by me and my cake partner. It was hilarious. Everyone on stage lost their concentration. They were all laughing. One of the leads played it off and improvised. We followed suit.”

Before a performance, Espiritu studies the composer and lyricists. “I study the other characters. I imagine the temperaments their characters have. Sometimes the learning and the discovering happen during rehearsals where you’ll know what the stage director wants, also the conductor, especially your colleagues. That’s what I find interesting in preparing for a piece: discovering new possibilities, both musically and dramatically.”

When he does comedy, his technique is: “If it’s a funny line or funny physical gesture or position, I interpret it in the most natural way. Overdoing or underdoing won’t cut it. I’m always in the moment with no preconceived ideas or anticipations. Each moment is fresh, always flowing. In some texts, there are subtexts involved. Forgive me if what I said is a bit of a doozy. I play along with subtexts and hidden meanings behind what I’m about to sing, say or do. If it involves an inside joke that most people can get or it’s something that I don’t get, I ask around or do research.”

He protects his voice by getting plenty of sleep, by not drinking or smoking. He doesn’t eat anything spicy that would irritate his throat in normal circumstances. He drinks room-temperature water, neither too hot nor too cold. When it’s cold, he protects areas where the cold air can penetrate his lungs by wearing ear muffs, scarfs to protect his throat and a jacket.

He said in the Philippines, “you can easily get sick. You walk outside on 25-30-plus degrees temperature, then walk into a mall with the air conditioning blasting, then add the sweat you accumulated from walking outside. Voila! Your lungs get a draft, you get a cold or what I call throat tickles.”

His dream is to do Werther, “my favorite opera. I’d like to sing some jazz, maybe do a cross-over album. I listen to all kinds of music. I don’t limit myself to classical. I like Swahili songs from Africa, a lot of choral pieces. I want to do Westside Story again.” His other wish: to record Filipino songs with a recording company when the opportunity comes.--Elizabeth Lolarga
 
Excerpts from Espiritu’s performances can be viewed in his website www.arthurespirtu.net.