PPO, conductor Noam Zur, pianist Rudolf Golez in concert: a test of the Met's acoustics

Conductor Noam Zur and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra 

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra audience had a taste of what's to come at the latest season concert held at the Metropolitan Theater, which will be the orchestra's home for the meantime once the Cultural Center of the Philippines main building shuts its doors in 2023 for a much needed major rehabilitation.

The evening highlighted a program that spanned the globe: two overtures, one by an Italian composer and the other by a Filipino; a jazz flavored American classic that featured a Pilipino pianist; and a programmatic work by a Russian composer, orchestrated by a Frenchman, that paid tribute to a Ukrainian landmark. All of this was conducted by Noam Zur, an Israeli-German who is the 3rd to take to the podium among the five shortlisted to become the next PPO Music Director/Principal Conductor.

With such a promising global program and the allure of a concert at the newly renovated Metropolitan Theater, hopes were high for this evening. Alas, said hopes were dashed by the theater's inadequacies in the acoustics department. Despite the seamless rapport between Zur and the PPO as far as the eye can see, the sound that emanated from the stage left a lot to be desired.

Because of this, Gioacchino Rossini's Overture to Barber of Seville came off as hollow and vacuous instead of being light and playful. This also resulted into a less than ideal introduction to many of Nicanor Abelardo's Cinderella Overture as it was a struggle to decipher the work's shape and form.

In George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Rudolf Golez on the piano, both the orchestra and the soloist exhibited confidence and harmony with each other. But once again, despite the efforts of everyone onstage, the inferior acoustics was like an uncooperative collaborator muffling the dynamics, muting the nuances, and drying up the jazzy accents. Even with Golez's encore, Frédéric Chopin's Etude Op. 10, No. 5 in G flat major, "Black Key Étude", the fluttering notes' subtle nuances were lost.

The full effect of the Met's handicap was evident with the performance of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Even with a full army of strings, the overall sound was not full and vibrant. With the lower strings hardly audible, there was a notable lack of depth and roundness. The piece is meant to be a musical experience of viewing an exhibit with majority of the movements representing a piece of artwork. But it felt like each artwork was just a print reproduction losing the stroke textures and other finer details that can only be seen in the originals.

The encore, which was a repeat of La Grande Porte de Kiew, shed a light onthe ongoing invasion of the Russian forces in Ukraine. It also served as a reminder of how music has played a role in difficult moments in world history.

The wonderfully curated program offered a glimpse to Zur's sensitivity and outlook towards the music which incidentally gave the concert more meaning and significance. Program notes also included information on how Zur chose to perform revised versions of the Rossini and Mussorgsky pieces that are actually closer to these composers' intention based on original and more authoritative manuscripts. This is why it was such a pity that the Met's subpar acoustics made a disservice to Zur, Golez, and the entire Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

A desperately needed acoustic shell should be in place by January 2023, or else face the risk that the anticipation for the remaining half of this season falls flat and dull as the Met's current acoustics.

A bit of music trivia to lighten things up, the PPO performed Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition way back in the January 2011 season concert. Robert Ryker, who conducted that time, had a pre-concert lecture where he explained the various parts of this work. Assisting Ryker at this lecture was no other than Rudolf Golez, who played excerpts of the piece on the piano using Mussorgsky's original score. So it was quite fitting that both Rudolf Golez and Pictures at an Exhibition found their way back to the PPO stage at the latest concert.

Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, illustrated by Stéphane Heuet exhibit at Alliance Française de Manille

As part of the ongoing 75th Anniversary of the Philippine-French Diplomatic Relations celebrations, the Embassy of France and Alliance Française de Manille present the Marcel Proust: In Search of Lost Time exhibit featuring the illustrations of French artist, Stéphane Heuet, currently ongoing at the Alliance Française de Manille Gallery until October 31, 2022.

Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is the story of author's life told in seven volumes. It is considered as the major work of French fiction of the early 20th century.

Reihane Zitounie, Stéphane Heuet, Ambassador Michèle Boccoz

In adapting Proust's work into a graphic novel, French illustrator Stéphane Heuet has built his drawings as visual transcriptions of the text. He has worked on re-cutting and scripting from passages of the novel in order to reconstitute a narrative that works in comics.

The exhibit features a total of 26 one of a kind and limited edition prints of the illustrations from Heuet's graphic novel adaptation of Proust's novel. The prints on exhibit are for sale.

Compared to American superhero comics or Japanese manga that highlight action sequences, Heuet's illustrations are picturesque scenes, with the human characters having clean, simple lines placed among highly detailed backgrounds, typical of the ligne claire style.

Limited copies of the graphic novels, both in French and in English were available for sale at the exhibit opening but they quickly sold out. Heuet said that the AFM library will have copies of them soon.

Marcel Proust: In Search of Lost Time exhibit, a part of the 75th Anniversary of Philippine-French Diplomatic Relations celebrations, is organized by the Embassy of France to the Philippines, Alliance Française de Manille, sponsored by San Miguel Corporation, Fairmont Makati, Filmloft OPC, and in partnership with Komiket and Philippine International Comics Festival.

Marc Piton, Reihane Zitounie, Ambassador Michèle Boccoz, Stéphane Heuet,
Xavier Leroux, and Pierre Malvache

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French choreographer Redha Benteifour to debut new work in CCP Dance Series' Premieres and Encores

The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Philippine-French Diplomatic Relations continues with CCP Dance Series' Premieres and Encores this October 28-29, 2022 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater).

Co-presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Embassy of France to the Philippines, Premieres and Encores will feature artists of the Alice Reyes Dance Philippines (ARDP) and the Artists of CCP's Professional Artist Support Program (PASP) performing pieces by French choreographer Redha Benteifour and young Filipino choreographers.

Front: Redha Benteifour
Back: Alice Reyes and Eva Marie Salvador

The show sees the premiere Benteifour's L'espoir Des Lendemain/The Hope of Tomorrow and the restaging of L'homme Assis Dans Le Fauteuil/The Man on the Armchair.

Other works to be performed are Visayan Suite of Dances by John Ababon, AL Abraham, Erl Sorilla, and Ronelson Yadao and I Wanna Say Something by JM Cabling.

Alice Reyes, Eva Marie Salvador, and Redha Benteifour 

Premieres and Encores will have its Gala Night on October 28, 2022, 8:00 PM. Other performances will be on October 29, 2022, 3:00 & 8:00 PM.

A class act by Polish conductor Grzegorz Nowak at PPO concert

Violinist Vincent Owen Romanban and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra season concert for October saw a class act performance by Polish conductor Grzegorz Nowak making the big stage debut of young violinist Vincent Owen Romanban a memorable one.

Vincent was a bundle of nerves at the start, as if the task of playing Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E flat minor, Op. 64 with the orchestra would overwhelm him. But Nowak's exemplary conducting guided the inexperienced soloist with such care and sensitivity, enabling him to gain more confidence with every measure. By the time of the second movement, Vincent was clearly more at ease up until the end of the concerto.

It is the same deft touch that Nowak exhibited in the service of the other pieces in the program. Without any unnecessary flashiness, Nowak's take on Lucio San Pedro's Lahing Kayumanggi and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture highlighted the flowing narrative as well as the clarity of the form and structure of these two programmatic pieces.

Conductor Grzegorz Nowak and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra 

With Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919), Nowak displayed a mastery of the piece's complexity showcasing the wide range of dynamics and different rhythms of this suite He remained unfazed despite the wailing of a young boy who got rattled by the sudden, jolting bass drum. Just like how he managed to make the nervous Vincent feel at ease with the violin concerto, Nowak was also successful in making the audience feel the same with Firebird.

The way Nowak worked with Vincent, despite the latter's inexperience, bodes well for the Polish conductor's chances to be the next Music Director/Principal Conductor of the PPO.