Night in the Opera

Soprano Noema Erba

Featuring:

Noema Erba, soprano

Conrado Ong III, tenor

Marvin Gayramon, baritone

Augusto Espino, piano

Programme:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

     Crudel, perche… from Le nozze di Figaro

     Non più andrai from Le nozze de Figaro

     La ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni

Francesco Cilea Ecco: rspiro appena from Adriana Lecouvreur

Antonín Dvořák Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém from Rusalka

Gioachino Rossini Largo al factotum Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Giacomo Puccini

     Quando me’n vo’ from La Bohème

     O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi

     Nessun dorma from Turandot

     Tu che di gel sei cinta from Turandot

     Che gelida manina from La Bohème

     Sì, mi chiamano Mimì from La Bohème

     O soave fanciulla from La Bohème

Giuseppe Verdi Libiamo ne’ lieti calici from La Traviata

After a well received concert last year, Czech soprano Noema Erba returned to the country for a return engagement held at the Dusit Thani Manila. The concert, entitled Night in the Opera was part of the Czech Embassy in Manila's Bohemian Rhapsody in the Philippines, celebrating the 40^th Anniversary of the Czech-Philippine diplomatic relations. Noema’s guests from her previous concert, tenor Conrado “Dondi” Ong III and collaborating pianist Augusto Espino joined her once again this year. And they all welcomed a new addition to the fold, baritone Marvin Gayramon, making this year’s concert bigger compared to the previous one.

Before the performance, Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar gave some opening remarks that gave emphasis on Ferdinand Blumentritt, who was a close friend and confidante of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal. A lot of Filipinos probably aren't aware that Blumentritt is actually from the Prague, Czech Republic. People probably know him more as the name of several landmarks around Metro Manila but this reminder by Ambassador Rychtar gave me the urge to brush up on my Philippine history to know more about the man behind the name.

The event may had been organized by the Czech Embassy and was headlined by a Czech soprano, but the music was surprisingly very Italian with works by Francesco Cilea, Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi in the lineup. Even the arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were in Italian also. It was the lone work by Antonín Dvořák which was in Czech that broke the Italian flavor of the concert program for the night.

The Dusit Thani Manila ballroom proved to be an excellent venue for Noema Erba as her voice soared without any electronic amplification. I am pretty sure that those who hadn’t seen a soprano perform live before had shivers down their spine when they heard her voice. Guest artists Marvin Gayramon and Dondi Ong performed duets with Noema and they also had their solo numbers as well. The Puccini fan in me reveled in the abundance of his works in the programme like O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi, Sì, mi chiamano Mimì from La Bohème and the very popular Nessun dorma from Turandot. Conrado “Dondi” Ong gave a brief background to the arias in order to let the audience have a better idea as to what the songs and the opera work itself was all about. And the people responded well when they showed interest in knowing how Turandot ended.

The Dvořák aria Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém (Song to the Moon) from Rusalka provided a breath of fresh air and a brief change of mood and pace from the very Italian flavor of the night. And it was through this number that Noema was really in her element as she showed the audience that night what Czech operatic music was like. As always, it was the songs from their encore, classical crossover and Broadway songs like The Prayer, Time to Say Goodbye, and Tonight, that proved to be the bigger hits among the audience.

Noema Erba’s concert was indeed a success and I wouldn’t be surprised if she comes back next year for yet another performance. Night in the Opera was presented by the Czech Embassy in Manila, Travelife Magazine and Dusit Thani Manila.