Special Concert Series II: Aimee Mina-dela Cruz

Percussionist/marimbist Aimee Mina-dela Cruz

Featuring:

Aimee Mina-dela Cruz, marimba/percussion

Fe Marsha V. Nicolas, piano

Mikaela Natasha Janelle Ley, marimba

Leodivino Roque, percussion

Gomer Giron, percussion

Joy Allan dela Cruz, viola

Programme:

Pablo de Sarasate Carmen Fantasy

Johann Sebastian Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor BWV 1043, I. Vivace

Nebojsa Zivkovic Trio per Uno, I. Meccanico

Eugene Levitas Concerto for Percussion

Willy Cruz Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas

Eric Ewazen Concerto for Marimba

Music lovers had to wait a lot longer for the next installment of the Special Concert Series at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino. The postponement of Raymond De Leon’s concert to January 2014 meant that marimbist/percussionist Aimee Mina-dela Cruz’ performance eventually became the second, instead of the third and last of the series.

One of the percussionists of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Aimee Mina-dela Cruz is seen regularly during the orchestra’s subscription concert series playing whatever percussion instruments the concert pieces require. She also gets featured playing the marimba during PhilBanda events. But this was the first time, as far as I can recall, that she headlined a concert. I initially thought that she would just be performing with only the marimba. But in a pleasant surprise, she brought out almost the whole percussion arsenal for this concert.

She started out with a familiar show piece, Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy, arranged for marimba and piano, wherein she was accompanied by pianist Fe Marsha Nicolas. The next number was the Vivace from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor BWV 1043 that was transcribed for two marimbas this time with young Mikaela Natasha Janelle Ley joining Aimee on stage. The stagehands then got busy to remove the marimba and arrange the drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments for the next piece, the Meccanico of Nebojsa Zivkovic Trio per Uno. Aimee was joined by Leodivino Roque and Gomer Giron for this dynamic and crowd pleasing number. This piece I think could probably sway a lot of youngsters to try out percussion much to the dismay of their parents who want peace and quiet. The stagehands got even busier as they set up almost all percussion instruments with the exception of a tam-tam (gong) for Eugene Levitas’ Concerto for Percussion. This piece was indeed a discovery for me for I’ve never seen nor heard something like this. Not only was it a delight to hear the various textures (especially during the combinations) brought about by the various instruments, but it was amazing to see the percussionist go through them with complete awareness of the instruments’ placement. I for sure would be scrambling trying to figure out where each instrument was and would possibly miss a few measures due to confusion.

Aimee Mine-dela Cruz and violist Joy Allan dela Cruz

The second half started with a familiar, mainstream piece which was Willy Cruz’ Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas. Aimee, now back at the marimba, was joined by her husband, violist Joy Allan dela Cruz in this romantic duet that even had some members of the audience wishing for some on stage display of affection at the end. The last piece for the night was Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Marimba that showed Aimee’s mastery of the marimba. There was a brief tense moment during the third movement when her mallets broke right after a passage that required striking the marimba keys with the handles of the mallets instead of the heads. Fortunately, she had some spares nearby and she was able to grab a couple of them and resumed playing without missing a beat. For her encore, she performed Vittorio Monti’s Csárdás which is one of her regularly played solo pieces and always a crowd favorite.

Aimee then had a percussion workshop held at the CCP Main Theater Lobby a few days after the concert but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to check that one out. Percussionists have always received a lot of flak that what they’re playing isn’t really music but just noise. But Aimee Mina-dela Cruz proved otherwise with this concert that gave me an earful of the various percussion instruments out there and also showed me how exciting a marimba is as a solo instrument.