A Francophonie night of art songs, opera arias with Marielle Tuason

Pianist Gabriel Paguirigan,
Romanian Ambassador Răduţa Matache,
and soprano Marielle Tuason 

During her opening remarks, Romanian Ambassador Răduţa Matache told her colleagues and other guests to forget about work for the meantime and just enjoy a night of music as the Embassy of Romania and Alliance française de Manille presented Francophonie Opera Night featuring soprano Marielle Tuason and pianist Gabriel Paguirigan.

Soprano Marielle Tuason 

Setting work worries aside came easy as Marielle enchanted the audience with her performance of art songs in French namely Villanelle by Eva Dell'Acqua, Villanelle, H 82, Op.7 No.1 by Hector Berlioz, Plaisir d'amour by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, and Oh! Quand je dors by Franz Liszt. She also gave a rendition of a Romanian piece, Ochi albaştri-s drăgălaşi. Op.41. Nr.3 by Eduard Caudella, that clearly delighted Ambassador Matache.

The second half of the recital showcased Marielle's coloratura prowess with a selection of arias in both French and Italian namely Chacun le sait from La fille du regiment by Gaetano Donizetti, Caro nome from Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, Prendi per me sei libero... il mio rigor dimentica from L'Elisir d'amore by Donizetti, and Je veux vivre from Romeo et Juliette by Charles Gounod.

Italian Ambassador Marco Clemente

Serving as the intermission, Italian Ambassador Marco Clemente gave an enthusiastic lecture about the history of opera, especially of French opera like how it flourished, the challenges it faced, and how it eventually attained importance and significance second only to Italian opera.

The performance was proceeded by a soirée wherein the Alliance française de Manille and a handful of Ambassadors announced upcoming Francophonie events lined up for the rest of March.

Xavier Leroux, Joseph Felix Assad, Fortune Ledesma,
Canadian Ambassador David Hartman, Moroccan Ambassador Mohammed Rida El Fassi,
French Ambassador Michèle Boccoz, Romanian Ambassador Răduţa Matache,
Cambodian Ambassador Phan Peuv, Lao Ambassador Sonexay Vannaxay, and Marc Piton

Some of these events include Coffee Conversations with Virginie Bouyx and Jessica Zafra, which is also the next installment of Les Jeudis Culturels by the Embassy of France. A couple of Le Ciné Club special screenings, Güeros presented by the Mexican Embassy and Opinci & Povestea unui pierde-vară presented by the Romanian Embassy are also in store. All of these Francophonie events will take place at the Alliance française de Manille.

Young artists in post Mother's Day music tribute at the Ayala Museum

Why limit Mother's Day celebrations to a single weekend while there is always a reason to celebrate one of the most important women in our lives? One such celebration is Musical Bouquets for Mother, a music filled tribute to mothers happening on May 23, 2019, 6:30 PM at the Ayala Museum in Makati.

See five young, promising artists, namely violinist Emmanuel John Villarin, sopranos Marielle Tuason and Angelina Benipayo, and pianists Paul Casiano and Ricardo Abapo Jr. perform pieces by Beethoven, Kerns, Gershwin, Sarasate, Ponce, Buencamino, and Chopin.

Musical Bouquets for Mother is presented by Cultural Arts Events Organizer and the Ayala Museum's Youth in Motion with 98.7 DZFE.FM, the Master's Touch and Lyric Piano. Tickets are available at TicketWorld outlets or through CAEO by contacting 782-1763, (0918) 347-3027, or (0920) 954-0053.

BGC Arts Center Festival Day 2: The Opera Gala

Going back for the second day of the BGC Arts Center Festival was not a question for me mainly because of the Opera Gala featuring international tenor, Arthur Espiritu. Joining him in this concert presented by MusicArtes, Inc. and directed by Leo Rialp was a dozen (initially) young and upcoming classical artists. What also drew me in was getting to experience the new Globe Auditorium and see how this space can cater to classical music performances such as a concert featuring operatic singers like this one.

A bit of drama unfolded even before the start as it was announced that baritone Noel Azcona would not be appearing on stage due to illness. He was supposed to be the first to perform and his booming voice in Si può? Si può? from Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci could’ve been an awesome start to the concert.

Opening the concert then fell to tenor Ervin Lumauag with Ich baue ganz auf deine Stärke from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. A duet between tenor Christian Nagaño and soprano Anna Migallos performing Lippen Schweigen from Franz Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe followed before Christian going solo with Dein ist mein ganzes Herz from Das Land des Lächelns also by Lehár. It was my first time to see both Ervin and Christian perform and I felt that Ervin sounded a bit nervous who, probably owing to starting the affair on such short notice while I think that Christian’s timbre is more suited for a classical crossover repertoire.

A selection from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto featured the promising soprano Stephanie Aguilar displaying great control with Caro nome. But the normally well-composed Nomher Nival was out of sorts with a rough La donna è mobile that sounded more shouted than sung. This was very uncharacteristic of him since he was top on top form during the press conference of Noli Me Tangere, the Opera. With Noel’s absence, Bella figlia dell’amore with him, along with Nomher, Stephanie, and Krissan Manikan was no longer performed.

A “dolled up” Lara Maigue brought some color and humor to the stage with Les oiseaux dans la charmille aka The Doll’s Song from The Tales of Hoffman by Jacques Offenbach. Pianist Dingdong Fiel gamely joined in on the action when he had to do the winding up of the doll. And the winding up probably did the trick enabling Lara to hit that high Ab in the end.

The most anticipated man of the night, Arthur Espiritu gave me a sampling of something new, his duet with soprano Stefanie Quintin in Prendi l'anel ti dono from Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula, and a soaring Ah! lève-toi, soleil from Charles Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. Both these pieces were unknown to me but Arthur’s superb storytelling gave me a clearer picture of what these songs were all about. Although it doesn’t take much to know what Romeo’s aria was all about.

At the start of the second half, it became more obvious that the females provided more character, color and flavor to the concert as proven by Marielle Tuason’s exotic rendition L'Air des clochettes aka The Bell Song from Lakmé by Léo Delibes. Not to be outdone, mezzo soprano Krissan Manikan delivered an emotionally intense Adieu, forêts from Jeanne d'Arc, La Pucelle d'Orleans by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky with such rich, dark timbre.

An unexpected surprise occurred as Andrew Fernando, who was really just there as part of the audience, came in to the rescue and took over the Noel’s part in a duet with Kay Balajadia-Liggayu in Là ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni by Mozart. Only urged by Madame Fides Cuyugan-Asencio to step in during the intermission, Andrew nonetheless performed as if he was indeed part of the original line up and had ample rehearsals. I wish that someone had informed him before the concert started so that he could’ve taken over entirely Noel's part and sung more than just the duet.

A scene from Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème with Arthur as Rodolfo and Anna Migallos as Mimì followed. What had come before were just bits and pieces from various operas, so this portion that included Arthur’s Che gelida manina, Anna’s Sì, mi chiamano Mimì, and their duet of O soave fanciulla really told a story. I bet that those who had not seen La bohème before, upon seeing how these two neighbors fall in love at first sight, would want to see the entire thing now.

Kay Balajadia-Liggayu revisited Micaëla with her aria Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante from Carmen by Georges Bizet. Having done La voix humaine, the night before, Kay spent her weekend portraying broken hearted women so it was no wonder that she enjoyed her duet with Andrew. As I’ve said earlier, the female singers were on fire and Tanya Corcuera was no exception in singing Sola, perduta, abbandonata from Manon Lescaut by Puccini. I still remember being blown away by Stefanie Quintin a year ago and she did once again with the same number that had me take notice of her: Ombre légère from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Dinorah.

Arthur then put a close to the evening by dedicating Gioachino Rossini’s Cessa di più resistere from Il barbiere di Siviglia to Juan Antonio Lanuza who was one of the most ardent supporters of the classical music scene here in the country, even predating the establishment of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Hearing the flurry of notes in this aria made me scratch my head as to how Arthur could switch from Puccini to Rossini which is so musically different from each other.

The finale, with everyone back on stage, was Questo è il fin di chi fa mal from Mozart’s Don Giovanni that once again made me feel the absence of a baritone voice. Nessun dorma from Puccini’s Turandot was the encore with the audience getting giddy once the first two words were sung. As always, this aria never fails to stir the emotions and the audience were up on their feet soon after the final Vincerò! was sung.

As far as the Globe Auditorium is concerned, I would need to experience being seated from different sections first like the two balconies in order for me to gauge the acoustics fully. The sound was okay (not great, not bad) from where I was seated at the orchestra section but whenever the two mics in front of the stage pick up the voice especially during the louder moments, a distracting reverb blares out from the speakers above. More distracting was the noise from outside, like the chatter from the lobbies and the vehicles passing by the road, that can be heard inside the auditorium. Measures should be undertaken in soundproofing both the Zobel de Ayala Recital Hall and the Globe Auditorium to keep outside noise to the minimum.

I was very pleased with the audience turnout of the inaugural BGC Arts Center Festival. I saw students making up the long line to get into Katips while the senior citizens were given seats to make themselves comfortable while waiting for the Opera Gala to start. I now await with great interest what this new cultural hub has lined up, especially in the field of classical music, for the rest of the new year.

Future of Philippine opera shines in concert

Featuring:

Roxy Aldiosa, soprano

Jan Briane Astom, tenor

Carlo Bunyi, baritone

Michaela Fajardo, soprano

Mheco Manlangit, soprano

Carlo Mañalac, tenor

Myramae Meneses, soprano

Anna Migallos, soprano

Nomher Nival, tenor

Stefanie Quintin, soprano

Mia Ariana Tanciongco, soprano

Marielle Tuason, soprano

Iona Ventocilla, soprano

Najib Ismail, piano

Gabriel Allan Paguirian, piano

Full length opera productions in the Philippines are a rarity which is a shame since there’s an abundance of talent in here. And a small number of these talents, thirteen to be exact, showed off their operatic vocal chops at a concert entitled A Night at the Opera, their culminating recital held at the Ayala Museum after going through an intensive three day workshop under famed Filipino tenor Arthur Espiritu.

The performers, namely Roxy Aldiosa, Jan Briane Astom, Carlo Bunyi, Michaela Fajardo, Mheco Manlangit, Carlo Mañalac, Myramae Meneses, Anna Migallos, Nomher Nival, Stefanie Quintin, Mia Ariana Tanciongco, Marielle Tuason, and Iona Ventocilla each had their moment to shine as they sang works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Roger Quilter. They were accompanied by pianists Najib Ismail and Gabriel Allan Paguirigan.

When Myramae along with Iona kicked things off with Prenderò quel brunettino from Mozart’s Così fan tutte, I had a realization that unsettled me for a bit. Myramae, who just a few years ago was a promising newcomer to the scene, now appeared as the seasoned veteran, along with Nomher Nival, in this concert. These two later on sang arias from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore with Myramae doing Prendi, per me sei libero while Nomher delivering Una furtiva lagrima. Iona, on the other hand, gave me my first taste of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata.

The evening served as an introduction for me to unfamiliar faces like Mia Ariana Tanciongco who sang Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Carlo Bunyi who did Madamina, il catalogo è questo from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Marielle Tuason (Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben from Mozart’s Zaide), Mheco Manlangit (Chi il bel sogno di Doretta from Puccini’s La Rondine), and Anna Migallos (Donde lieta usci from Puccini’s La Boheme).

It was also the first time for me to see familiar faces like Michaela Fajardo (Voi che sapete from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro), Carlo Mañalac (Quanto è bella, quanto è cara from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore), Roxy Aldiosa (Una voce poco fa from Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia) perform as soloists. I’ve seen them a handful of times perform as members of Viva Voce so it’s nice to hear their solo voices at last.

Another very familiar face is Jan Briane Astom (Come Away Death from Quilter’s 3 Shakespeare Songs, Op. 6) and seeing him sing was a departure from what I know of him as a pianist. This wouldn’t be the first time for someone to change tracks since Myramae actually had her start as a violinist before switching to operatic singing.

The one who stole the show was Stefanie Quintin who dazzled with great dynamics, humor and charm despite most of us in the audience not having any idea what the French words of Ombre légère from Meyerbeer’s Dinorah mean. Later did I find out that the aria is actually a duet for one with Dorinah singing alongside with her shadow.

Aside from the solos, there were also duets between Mheco and Marielle (Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro) and Nomher and Anna (O soave fanciulla from Puccini’s La bohème) that eventually capped the concert. For an encore, all the performers sang Ikaw ang Mahal Ko by Tito Arevalo and Levi Celerio, a surprising choice but eventually a breath of fresh air since it was not yet another Libiamo ne' lieti calici which has already been done to death.

Throughout the concert, I was greatly amused seeing Arthur Espiritu get all excited and nervous as he watched at the sidelines. At the start, he gave opening remarks and told the audience how these young singers need the support especially when they pursue further studies to improve their craft. He clearly wanted these young singers to have the opportunities he has had to study and perform in opera productions here and abroad. Of course, the audience didn’t let the evening end without Arthur singing and he caved in to demands and did Giuseppe Verdi’s La donna è mobile from Rigoletto.

It’s been only few years since I got first exposed to full length operas and this night only told me that there are still new faces and voices to discover and more operas to explore out there. A Night at the Opera was presented by Cultural Arts Events Organizers and MusicArtes Inc.