14th International Silent Film Festival Manila goes online

The International Silent Film Festival (ISFF) Manila, the first and oldest silent film festival in Asia has always been a unique movie viewing experience for the past 13 years. Screened during the festival are films from the silent era (with a few exceptions now and then) featuring a live score performed by different music acts from a wide variety of genres.

The ISFF’s 14th edition, presented by the Embassy of France to the Philippines, the Japan Foundation, Manila, the Philippine Italian Association, the Goethe Institut, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, in partnership with iWatchMore.com, has also made the move to go online, a decision that surprises no one since the world is still under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.

So on December 4-6, 2020, a selection of 10 silent films from Japan, Italy, France, and Germany with music scores by Filipino musicians will be streamed online for free at www.iwatchmore.com. And in keeping with the tradition of single screenings since the festival’s inception, the films will be available for viewing on the scheduled time only.

The Japan Foundation Manila opens the festival on December 4, 2020, 6:00 PM with six silent animated shorts from the Japanese Animation classics collection, digitized and subtitled in English by the National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ). Leading the selection is The Dull Sword (1917) by Junichi Kouchi which is the oldest existing Japanese animated film.

The other animated shorts include Burglars of “Baghdad” Castle (1926), The Animal Olympics (1928), Two Worlds (1929), Old Man Goichi (1931), and A Day after a Hundred Years (1933).

The music score for these animated classics will be by the HJH Composers Collective composed of Hiroko Nagai, Jordan Peralta, and Harold Andre Santos. The collective is made up of contemporary music composers with a diverse musical palette of pop, classical, folk, jazz, electronic music, and traditional Philippine and Japanese music.

On December 5, the films from Italy will be screened. First to be shown at 11:00 AM is The Silent Killer (2020), directed by Ruben Maria Soriquez and produced by See Thru Pictures. With a score by Franco Eco, this timely film narrates a mother’s journey back home admist the Covid-19 pandemic and is alternated with interviews with scientists, politicians, ordinary people, and Covid-19 chronicles from all over the world. 

The second Italian offering, presented by the Philippine Italian Association, in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, is Malombra (1917) by Carmine Gallone. The film, showing at 6:00 PM will feature music composed and performed by internationally renowned pianist Raul Sunico who for me is probably the most surprising music act in the festival’s 14 year history.

On December 6, 2020, 11:00 AM, the Embassy of France presents Le Manoir de la peur/The Manor of Fear (1927) by Alfred Machin. The silent noir film will be scored by Michael Mark Guevarra, one the country’s top saxophone players.

At 6:00 PM, the festival will be capped by a classic from Germany that is one of the major releases from the silent film era: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). Presented by the Goethe Institut, this monumental movie will be scored by Alyana Cabral aka Teenage Granny composed of Kent Pesito, Miguel Nuñez, Jon Olarte, Joee Mejias, Tristan Ortega, and Kiko Nuñez.

An educational component has always been part of the ISFF. For this year, a webinar about film and cultural preservation will be offered to film institutions, schools, and the general public.

Billed as Saving Memory: Making Silent Films Talk to Us, the webinar happening on December 4, 2020, 3:00 PM, will feature experts from Japan, Italy, France, Germany, and the Philippines discussing the practices and initiatives done to preserve film heritage like archiving and restoration.

Speakers at the webinar will include Don Gervin Arawan, lead officer Philippine Film Archive at the Film Development Council of the Philippines; Daibo Masaki, Head of Film Collections at the National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ); Andrea Meneghelli, Curator of the Film Collections at Cineteca di Bologna (Italy); Beatrice de Pastre, Photographic and Cinematographic Archive Specialist of France’s Centre National du Cinéma (CNC); and Luciano Palumbo, Filmrestaurator at FW Murnau Foundation (Germany). Filipino filmmaker Doy del Mundo serves as the webinar’s moderator. Interested participants can pre-register here.

The 14th International Silent Film Festival Manila is presented by the Embassy of France to the Philippines, the Japan Foundation Manila, the Philippine Italian Association, the Goethe Institut, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, in partnership with iWatchMore.com. 

Japanese Film Festival migrates online, offers 28 films

The Philippines was all set to give a warm welcome to the Japanese Film Festival, the rebranding of the Eiga Sai, one of the country's most popular and longest running foreign language film festivals presented by the Japan Foundation, Manila. Not surprisingly, the festival could not escape the mess that the ongoing pandemic has wreaked upon the film industry and to the arts and culture scene worldwide.

In response to the situation, the film festival migrates online as JFF Plus: Online Festival happening this November 20-29, 2020 at the newly launched JFF Plus website. A selection of 28 films are available for viewing for free, accessible from a variety of devices like desktops laptops, mobile phones, tablets, smart TVs etc.

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Leading this year’s selection is Project Dreams - How to Build Mazinger Z's Hangar 前田建設ファンタジー営業部 (2020) which will also have limited 3 day screening on November 20-22, 6:00 PM at the SM Cinema Drive-in at the Mall of Asia complex, Pasay City with tickets retailing for P100 each.

Directed by Hanabusa Tsumotu, this ode to the anime/manga classic follows the journey of Maeda Corporation's fantasy marketing department on a mission to make the impossible possible and challenge the boundaries between reality and fiction.

The other feature films included in the lineup are Our 30-Minute Sessions (2020) by Hagiwara Kentaro, Little Nights, Little Love (2019) by Imaizumi Rikiya, The Great Passage (2013) by Ishii Yuya, Café Funiculi Funicula (2018) by Tsukahara Ayuko, 0.5mm (2014) by Ando Momoko, Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday (2014) and A Story of Yonosuke (2013) both by Okita Shuichi, Railways (2010) by Nishikori Yoshinari, Lady Maiko (2014) by Suo Masayuki, Stolen Identity (2018) by Nakata Hideo, Key of Life (2012) by Uchida Kenji, and Dance with Me (2019) by Yaguchi Shinobu.

The festival also boasts of a wide lineup of animated films that anime fans can enjoy. These include Sumikkogurashi: Good to be in the Corner (2019) by Mankyu and Production I.G Animation’s Tokyo Marble Chocolate (2007) by Shiotani Naoyoshi. Also included are the stop motion animation shorts by Yashiro Takeshi namely Gon, The Little Fox (2015), Moon of a Sleepless Night (2015), Norman the Snowman - The Northern Light (2013), and Norman the Snowman - On a Night of Shooting Stars (2016). Other shorts include Production I.G Short Animations' Pigtails (2015) by Itazu Yoshimi, Kick-Heart (2013) by Yuasa Masaaki, Li'l Spider Girl (2012) by Kaiya Toshihisa, Drawer Hobs (2011) by Kise Kazuchika, and The Girl from the Other Side (2019) by Kubo Yutaro.

Wrapping up the film selection are the documentaries Peace (2010) by Soda Kazuhiro and Tora-san in Goto (2016) by Oura Masaru, Tsukiji Wonderland (2016) by Endo Naotaro, and the 1952 classic The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice by Ozu Yasujiro.

Access to the films online are for free through the JFF Plus website. One just have to visit the website, create an account, check the schedule for the Philippines, and pick the film(s) one wants to watch. Schedule listing and detailed film synopses can be seen by visiting the website. Films can be viewed on demand for 24 hours after the scheduled start time. Tickets to the SM Cinema Drive-in screenings are available at the SM Tickets website.

When asked during an online press conference about how film festivals such as this have been altered by the surge in popularity of various online streaming platforms offering a wide selections of films, current and returning JFM Director Ben Suzuki answered that film festivals have responded by providing an added value that the streaming platforms do not offer like talkbacks with directors. And the JFF Plus: Online Festival will have just that with interviews with various directors namely Imaizumi Rikiya, Okita Shuichi, Soda Kazuhiro, Yashiro Takeshi, and Shiraishi Kazuya, conducted by film critic Mark Schilling. The interviews can be seen at the JFF Plus website or at its YouTube channel for the duration of the festival.

The JFF Plus: Online Festival is presented by the Japan Foundation, Manila and made possible with the Japan Foundation Asian Center, in partnership with JT International (Philippines), the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines and SM Cinema.

Rachelle Gerodias, Byeong-In Park online fundraising concert returns online

The online fundraising concert Build My Church on a Song featuring soprano Rachelle Gerodias and baritone Byeong-In Park returns for an encore viewing from October 25, 2020, 8:00 PM until November 8, 2020, 11:00 PM at the Santuario de San Antonio Parish's Facebook page and YouTube channel.

This concert, first available to view online last October 4, 2020 up to October 11, 2020 is a part of this year's FrancisFest celebrations that aims to raise funds for the construction of the St. Clare de Assisi Parish in Dagat-dagatan that will service the neighboring cities of Malabon and Navotas and for other outreach programs as well.

Soprano Rachelle Gerodias and baritone Byeong-In Park

The concert features the real life couple of Rachelle and Byeong-In performing opera arias, musical theater showstoppers, Filipino tunes and sacred music.

Donations are still welcome via bank deposit to:

SSAP Foundation Inc.

BPI 0291-0395-96

Or through Paypal:

http://tinyurl.com/paypalssap

For inquiries or more details, please send a message to ssap_info@yahoo.com.

PPO launches chamber music concert series

As live performances (including concerts) still prohibited due to the ongoing pandemic, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra launches a new series devoted to chamber music and small ensemble performances.

Billed as the PPO Chamber Concert Series, the first concert will stream online on October 30, 2020, 8:00 PM at the Facebook page of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Facebook page and YouTube channel of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

This upcoming series, to be shot on location at the CCP, will feature a selection of chamber music curated by the PPO's music director/principal conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura to be performed by members of the PPO.

The inaugural concert on  October 30, 2020, will focus on string instruments with PPO concertmaster and violinist Dino Akira Decena and cellist Giancarlo Gonzales performing Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Duet for Violin and Cello in C Major, Op. 6 No. 1. The program will also consist of Gioachino Rossini’s Sonata for 2 Violins, Cello, and Double Bass No. 2 in A Major to be performed by violinists Jose Carlo Tuazon and Berny Dulce Payte, cellist Giuseppe Diestro, and double bassist Ariston Payte III.

The next installment of the series, streaming online on November 27, 2020, switches its focus towards the wind instruments. Program will include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade for 3 Clarinets No. 1 K. Anh. 229/KV 439b performed by clarinettists Ariel Sta. Ana, Jayson Rivera, and Hernan Manalastas. It will be followed by Georgina Sánchez's Pregón de Danza for Clarinet and Cello to be performed by clarinettist Jayson Rivera and cellist Gerry Graham Gonzales.

The rest of the program includes Gioachino Rossini's Woodwind Quartet No. 4 in B flat Major featuring flutist Rosemarie Poblete, clarinettist Ariel Sta. Ana, bassoonist Frenvee Andra, and French horn player Ernani Pascual and will conclude with a performance of Ney Rosauro's Two Pieces for Flute and Marimba Op. 39 with flutist Hercules Santiago and marimba player Aimee De la Cruz.

As the series will be shot at the CCP, the change in scenery is a welcome change from all the housebound, lockdown/quarantine performances that has flooded the web ever since the pandemic began.

Lastly, chamber music performances have been overshadowed by full orchestra concerts for years now. It is a bitter pill to swallow that it has taken a pandemic and its subsequent restrictions to turn the spotlight on smaller ensembles. May this upcoming series provide the jump start, however unconventional it might be, for more chamber music performances once things go back to normal.

Rachelle Gerodias, Byeong-In Park headline fund raising concert

The powerhouse couple of Filipina soprano Rachelle Gerodias and Korean baritone Byeong-In Park will lend their voices at a fund raising concert as part of the FrancisFest celebrations this year.

The concert, billed as Build My Church on a Song, is set to premiere on October 4, 2020, 8:00 PM and will be available for viewing until October 11, 2020, 11:00 PM at the YouTube and Facebook pages of Santuario de San Antonio Parish.

Baritone Byeong-In Park and soprano Rachelle Gerodias

Ever since sharing the stage at a production of Così fan tutte in Singapore, Rachelle Gerodias and Byeong-In Park have been the classical music scene's powerhouse couple on and off the stage. Both have been featured in numerous concerts and opera productions here and abroad with Rachelle's Madly Filipina solo concert in October 2018 and Byeong-In's role as Enrico in this year's Lucia di Lammermoor opera at the CCP among the more recent, notable ones.

This year's FrancisFest celebrations is centered on the theme of Come Build My Church that aims to encourage the public to follow in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order, in continuing to build the Lord's Church to serve more communities.

The major beneficiary of this fund raising will be the St. Clare of Assisi Parish in Dagat-dagatan, Malabon-Navotas, that is to begin construction in 2021 in time for the commemoration of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. This Parish aims to serve 40,000 families in the neighboring cities of Malabon and Navotas.

Other beneficiaries of this event will include the various SSAP Parish Outreach Programs, carried out by the Social Services and Development Ministries namely the Philippine General Hospital and Rizal Medical Center (for Hospitals), Makati City Jail and Taguig City Jail (for Restorative Justice), scholarship, livelihood, eco-justice, relief and rehabilitation, and pastoral care for Franciscan vocations.

Here are several ways to make donations for FrancisFest.

BANK/ONLINE DEPOSIT

Account Name: SSAP FOUNDATION, INC.

Bank/Branch: BPI Forbes Park Branch

Account No.: 0291039596

Send proof of deposit/transaction indicating FrancisFest on deposit slip to indayespinosa@yahoo.com or viber to 0926-715-1054 for proper acknowledgement and monitoring.

PAYPAL/CREDIT CARD

Accepts Paypal, Visa and Mastercard

http://tinyurl.com/paypalssap

Choose FrancisFest from the dropdown menu for the purpose of donation.

CHECK

Please make check payable to: SSAP FOUNDATION, INC.

Checks are accepted at the Parish Office during office hours on Sundays at 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM and on Tuesday - Saturday at 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

For check pick-ups, please call Accounting at 8843-8830 to 35 local 6 or 0926-715-1054 and look for Brandy.

CASH

Cash donations are accepted at the Parish Office during  Office Hours on Sundays at 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM and on Tuesday- Saturday at 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

For inquiries, contact Tina, FrancisFest 2020 Solicitation Committee Head via email cit.sunshines@gmail.com or through mobile/Viber: 0917-819-1649.

Cinemalaya 16 Visions of Asia: I Am American, Salaam, Beloved, and The Rooftop

Aside from the Japanese offerings, this year's Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival Visions of Asia section also includes a trio of films from Iran and one from India.

Two of the Iranian films, I Am American and Salaam are presented by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of the Iranian Film Festival, a new addition to the growing roster of Cinemalaya’s Allied Festivals. The remaining Iranian film, the documentary Beloved was selected by NETPAC while the sole Indian movie, The Rooftop was handpicked by Cinemalaya.

I Am American

In Omid Mirzaei's I Am American, an American journalist covering the conflict in Iraq finds himself captured by ISIL forces. His hopes of getting rescued gets dimmer as a fellow prisoner gets executed and negotiations between the US government and his captors  fail to materialize.

Investing emotionally in the character of the journalist was a hard sell for he was never fully fleshed out despite efforts to do so via a hallucination meeting his daughter from back home and a brief interaction with a French female prisoner.

Ultimately, the end whisks out a deux ex machina through his rescue by Iranian anti-terrorist forces. It is inevitable to see this ending as a political statement regarding the volatile relationship between the US and Iran throughout the decades.

Salaam

The  Mohammad Reza Haji Gholami helmed Salaam gives a peek to the domestic situation of the families, especially the children, of the men who go out to battle whatever their cause may be.

The short film follows Omid who scours his entire neighborhood to greet 1,000 people salaam (hello) as a vow to ensure his father's safe return home from defending the Holy Shrine.

As Omid goes around the neighborhood accompanied by his rascal friend Ali, glimpses of Persian culture are showcased like the power of spoken word Salaam. It also makes one curious to what halva is and why it is usually served at certain occasions.

The untiring quest of Omid managing to greet 999 people with seemingly no one else in the neighborhood left ungreeted amplifies the suspense on whether he will find the last one he needs and on whether his father is still alive.

Both questions are eventually answered at an ending that felt rushed and fell short to be the emotional highlight of this film.

Beloved

Presented by the Network for Promotion of Asian & Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC), Beloved is an award winning documentary by Yaser Talebi.

The documentary follows the stubborn and fiercely independent Firouzeh, an 82 year old herder who tends to her cows at the remote mountains of Mazandaran in North Iran. Her normal routine is no joke and her physical capabilities at her age definitely puts couch potatoes to shame.

Although she claims that she prefers the companionship of her livestock than to fellow human beings, she readily admits that she longs for her 11 children as she complains that not one of them has visited her recently.

She shows that she is no pushover as she constantly nags practically everyone from the village women urging her to retire to forestry officials. But she shows that she is also soft at heart when visiting the grave of her late husband. And when left alone with just an umanned camera, she shows her vulnerable side and breaks down as she implores one of her children to take action. One is left to wonder if this impassioned plea has reached the ears of any of her children.

Aside from the endearing Firouzeh, the film also showcases the vast mountain landscape of the Mazandaran. The changing of the seasons gives the viewer a more vibrant and colorful view of the region unlike the filtered look utilized in productions coming from the US that have been the subject of criticism lately.

The Rooftop

India is represented in the festival through Avirup Biswas's The Rooftop, pegged as a love story between a psychiatrist and his neighbor who is suffering from a mental illness afwter a case of sexual assault.

The film attempts to tell a warm, heart tugging story of a love affair blossoming between the two main characters. But the scheme to stage another sexual assault attempt via an accomplice with the doctor eventually coming to her rescue is highly doubtful if this is medically sound and even ethical at all. And to later find out that his accomplice in this staged assault is a fellow doctor and that the two main characters eventually fall in love in end do not make things better also. It begs the question if all this is accepted practice in psychiatry.

This year's Vision of Asia selection at the Cinemalaya 16 was a mixed bag of treats with delightful selections such as Beloved and My Little Goat and an unfortunate dud with The Rooftop which is quite surprising given the prolific Indian film industry.

Cinemalaya 16 Visions of Asia: A Japanese Boy Who Draws and My Little Goat

Since 2016, Eiga Sai, the Japanese Film Festival, presented by the Japan Foundation, Manila has been an Allied Festival of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

Because of the ongoing pandemic, the 16th edition of the Cinemalaya has undergone some major changes. The festival has migrated online with the focus primarily on short films. But these changes didn't stop the festival’s partnership with Eiga Sai as two Japanese short films are in the lineup as part of the Visions of Asia section.

A Japanese Boy Who Draws/ある日本の絵描き少年

Directed by Masanao Kawajiri, A Japanese Boy Who Draws (ある日本の絵描き少年) is a mockumentary mixing various forms of animation with live action that follows the life of Shinji as he scribbles his way to becoming a professional manga artist.

Through mixed forms of animation, the film shows Shinji's art style evolving as he gets older unlike his childhood friend Masaru, whose crude drawings mainly feature masked figures in often unusual and sometimes alarming situations. Soon enough, Shinji distances himself from Masaru with the two losing in touch with each other when Masaru leaves town.

Despite some promising early minor successes, Shinji never makes it big in the extremely competitive manga scene despite numerous attempts to jump on what was current and trendy. He ends up ditching art and returns home as a failure that signals the film to shift from the colorful mixed animation to the monochromatic live action.

The 20 minute short is a reflection on how the pursuit of one's childhood dreams leads to the loss of that child-like wonder that once served as the fuel for the passion. And in Shinji's case, it was reconnecting years later with Masaru's art, still unchanged and untainted with the harsh realities of life, that reignited the spark for art and life that he somehow lost along the way. If he eventually finds the elusive success in his return to creating manga, that remains to be seen.

My Little Goat/マイリトルゴート

Tomoki Misato’s My Little Goat (マイリトルゴート ) puts a new spin on The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats, a fairy tale from the Grimm brothers' collection.

Using stop motion animation reminiscent of images of childhood fairy tale books, the film starts with the mother goat rescuing her children from the belly of a wolf, but realizing that the eldest Toruku is missing.

She later brings on a young boy whose reluctance and very human like appearance compares to her other kids poses the question if he was indeed her missing child. This was also raised by the other goats since he was the first to be eaten and yet his “coat” remains pristine.

The identity of Toruku was just the first of the many questions raised as the world of the Grimms fairy tale collide with the all too real, contemporary world through the “wolves” who prey on children. The fairy tale, might've served as a cautionary tale for children not to let strangers in and in this new, chilling take, the caution is that the wolves may not be strangers at all.

The screening of A Japanese Boy Who Draws and My Little Goat is made possible through the partnership with Eiga Sai, the Japanese film festival organized by the Japan Foundation, Manila.

RAd's Lockdown Diaries: Bolshoi's The Bright Stream

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world, the arts and culture scene had been hit hard with live performances getting cancelled left and right, ongoing seasons getting cut short, and upcoming ones becoming uncertain.

As a response, many companies from all over the world uploaded some of their taped performances to be shown online with majority only available to view for a limited time. These offerings have become so numerous that it became a chore trying to weed out those that I really need to watch from those that I unfortunately have to miss.

Anything with the music of Dmitri Shostakovich is definitely a can't miss for me. So when the Bolshoi announced that the The Bright Stream  ballet was to be uploaded, I made sure that nothing else got in my way of it even if it was another streaming online performance happening at the same time.

What was streamed is the 2003 revival by Alexei Ratmansky of the ballet by choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov that premiered in 1935. Shortly after its debut, the ballet, along with Shostakovich, Lopukhov, and co-librettist Adrian Piotrovsky, fell out of favor with the Soviet regime following a scathing editorial published at Pravda.

The ballet was then banned, Shostakovich denounced yet again, Lopukhov stripped of his position as artistic director of the Bolshoi dance company, and poor Piotrovsky was sent to the gulag where he very likely met his end.

All this misfortune is hard to digest after seeing the actual ballet itself that basically revolves around a practical joke played by conspirators made up of some members of a visiting performing troupe and the younger members of the collective farm. The music is one of Shostakovich's most lighthearted and most accessible. And the main conflict is that of a husband falling for the visiting ballerina much to the jealousy of his wife.S uch paper thin plot could not have displeased Stalin that much had Shostakovich not been a repeat offender.

But times have changed and the revival has not only been performed numerous times at the Bolshoi Theatre but has also been performed at the Met, the Royal Opera House, and at the Kennedy Center. And because of the Bolshoi's efforts to make the lockdown more bearable, I was able to see Shostakovich's music brought to life through dance.

RAd's Playlist | Shostakovich: The Limpid Stream, Premier Recording

After seeing the ballet, it was expected that I put into spin the recording that prompted Ratmansky to revive it. Released in 1995 by Chandos, the full score of Shostakovich's The Limpid Stream, Op. 39 was performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

MSO closes season with Conicerto de Aranjuez and Shostakovich No. 5

The Manila Symphony Orchestra returns to the Cultural Center of the Philippines for their 2019-2020 concert season finale this February 5, 2019, 2020, 7:30 PM with a performance of the most popular guitar concerto and one of Shostakovich's War Symphonies.

Spanish guitar virtuoso Jacob Codover will be the featured soloist in Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. Performances of Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture in A major, Op. 96 and Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 make up the rest of the night's program. The MSO's music director and principal conductor Marlon Chen conducts.

The MSO season finale concert will be on February 5, 2020, 7:30 PM at the CCP's Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater).

Getting to know Leonardo da Vinci through his own words

Massimiliano Finazzer Flory and Lito Casaje

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, several events under the banner Leonardo in Manila, were held  in various parts of Metro Manila highlighting the genius of the Renaissance man. Headlining these events (that included a cook off, dinner lectures, film screenings, and a masterclass/workshop) was the play Being Leonardo da Vinci, An Impossible Interview that was staged at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

For these events, presented by the Philippine-Italian Association, Embassy of Italy, Italian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, writer/actor/director Massimiliano Finazzer Flory flew to Manila to present the films, conduct the masterclass/workshop, and to star in the play as the Renaissance Man himself. Co-star Lito Casaje acted as the Journalist who seemingly went through a time portal of sorts for him to encounter Leonardo da Vinci in person for a once in a lifetime interview.

Finazzer Flory, brought Leonardo da Vinci to life through makeup and costume, answered a myriad of questions from the Journalist with da Vinci's own words taken from his various notebooks. The questions went through a range of topics, from art, science, nature, music, religion, etc. that it was difficult to keep track of how them without the luxury of recording the interview or at least taking down notes.

All of da Vinci's dialogue was taken directly from his writings which was from the Renaissance era making it hard even for a native, contemporary Italian speaker to comprehend immediately. Some of his responses were so profound that one has to spend a little more time with it and ponder on its meaning. But the Journalist went on with the next question, not giving the audience to let da Vinci's words sink in especially upon realizing that while they were written more than 500 years ago, they still very much resonate in present times.

The play began with the journalist posing a question about the Mona Lisa. After more than an hour of going through various topics, the interview went full circle going back to Mona Lisa. When the anticipation is at its highest, when the audience felt like a bomb is going to be dropped and the mystery surrounding the Mona Lisa would finally be unearthed, the play ends with the question, still unanswered. I guess that makes this portrait, considered to be among the most precious in the world, remains insanely popular up to this day.

RAd's Page Turners | Leonardo's Notebooks

Prior to the events commemorating Leonardo da Vinci's 500th death anniversary, I wasn't even aware that he wrote extensively. So the play served as a launching point to know more about da Vinci's writings and Leonardo's Notebooks: Writing and Art of the Great Master looks like a good next step.

The book collects his writings from his voluminous notebooks, along with some of his art, detailing his artistic and intellectual pursuits. A wide range of da Vinci's interests are covered in here ranging from human figures, light and shade, perspective and visual perception, anatomy, botany and landscape, geography, the physical sciences and astronomy, architecture, sculpture, and inventions.

Also included is commentary and insight by art historian H. Anna Suh who also served as editor of this publication.

Ross Salvosa conducts piano teachers workshop, masterclass

Canada based pianist and pedagogue Dr. Ross Salvosa will hold a piano teachers workshop and a piano masterclass this January 30-31, 2020 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Mounted by the CCP Artist Training Division, the workshop and masterclass, collectively billed as Path of Least Resistance, will focus on developing strong musical and technical foundation from early beginner to advanced level.

The piano teachers workshop happens on January 30, 2020 from 9:00 AM up to 6:00 PM is split into three modules namely Path of Least Resistance at 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM, Creating vs. Regurgitating at 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, and Road to Parnassus at 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.

The piano masterclass, which is open to pianists, will take place at the following day on January 31, 2020 from 9:00 AM up to 6:00 PM. Both the piano teachers workshop and the piano masterclass will take place at the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater).

Ross Salvosa is one of the most sought-after teachers in the Pacific Northwest. He is a seasoned adjudicator and has served in the juries of national and international piano competitions including the Seattle International Piano Festival and Competition and the National Music Competitions for Young Artists. He is renowned for developing prodigious talents from early formative ages to professional artists. He frequently gives masterclasses in Canada, USA, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and the Philippines. He is the director of the Concord Institute of Performing Arts in Vancouver-BC and also an artist-faculty at the Chopin Academy of Music in Issaquah-Washington. He is a senior advisor to the board of the Vancouver Clef Music Society and has served as artistic director of the Music Without Borders Society.

He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of British Columbia and was recipient of the Mildred Johnson scholarship award under the guidance of Corey Hamm, Sara Buechner, Mark Anderson, Kenneth Broadway and Ralph Markham. He earned is Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University on a full scholarship under the tutelage of Roberta Rust. He also studied with Philip Evans, Maria Rosa Oubiña, Frida Conn, Reynaldo Reyes, Emilio del Rosario, Mauricia Borromeo, Perla Suaco, Ruby Salvosa, Abelardo Galang and Artemio Panganiban.

For more information and reservations, contact the CCP Artist Training Division at ccp.artist.trainng@gmail.com or call 8832-11125 loc. 1605.

SORA Ensemble, PPO concert: a musical mix of sweet and spice (plus a dash of confusion)

SORA Ensemble, Yoshikazu Fukumura
and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

The program for the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra season concert featuring the SORA Ensemble from Japan already promised a diverse offering with music from Dmitri Shostakovich, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Arturo Márquez that were totally unlike each other. This whirlwind of a program plus the confusion during the encore that I found amusing, all contributed for a memorable evening.

SORA Ensemble
bassoonist Rei Ishiguro, cellist Keiichi Yamada, violinist Kana Kobayashi,
and oboist Hiromasa Iwasaki

The evening kicked off with Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major Op. 70, a work that is appreciated more once taking into account the historical background behind the piece. Knowing how Shostakovich once fell out of Stalin's favor with this piece and how the revisionists view this currently, I couldn't help but wished for more a belittling character, dissent, and irreverence with how the PPO delivered this piece. I think that I was the only one who tried to contain his laughter once the trombone introduced the marching theme played by the piccolo.

By comparison, the Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major, Op. 84 Hob. I/105 by Franz Joseph Haydn might have seemed quite bland and unexciting when compared to the Shostakovich that preceded it. But having the soloists from the SORA Ensemble, composed of oboist Hiromasa Iwasaki, bassoonist Rei Ishiguro, violinist Kana Kobayashi, and cellist Keiichi Yamada, provided interest and a needed breath of fresh air and lightness with their conversational approach to their solo parts.

Conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

PPO Music Director and Principal Conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura had a memorable outing with Arturo Márquez's Danzón No. 2 in a previous concert and he was poised to deliver more spice with two of the Mexican composer's dances namely Danzón No. 7 and Danzón No. 8. By then, it seemed to me that the Haydn served to cleanse the palette in preparation for the Danzóns, with No. 7 featuring rich textures while No. 8 evoking an exotic take on Ravel's Bolero.

These two pieces were greatly appreciated by the audience and with the night still quite young, an encore of Danzón No. 2 was so imminent that I could almost hear the clarinet opening of that sultry music. But a bit of confusion regarding the score, which was not at the conductor's podium but rather offstage, forced Fukumura to do a repeat of Danzón No. 7 instead. The puzzled look of the harpist, who was already positioned at the piano, upon hearing a different piece was priceless and this became an inside joke to those who figured out this amusing detour.