Lifestyle Asia’s recent Royal Gala, marking the society glossy’s 26th anniversary at Makati Shangri-La’s Rizal ballroom, drew familiar faces from the so-called “left-to-right” crowd, but it also starred, apart from special guest Queen Mother Ashi Tshering Pem Wangchuck of Bhutan, two of the loveliest and accomplished single ladies in the country today: Lauren Lior-Liechtenstein and Katrina Razon.
These A-listers are two of the most unlikely performers, simply because they have either their careers, family business or studies.
Since the retail chain scion Bea Tantoco strayed from the family business to focus on singing—and became in demand in glitzy functions—performing for a select public hasn’t been such a bad idea for heirs and heiresses.
Lauren, 25, daughter of socialite Kathleen Liechtenstein, has been singing since she was 3. She did a medley of classics such as “Flower Duet,” “Summertime” and “Think of Me.”
“I usually sing much heavier arias, but decided to go with the lighter ‘Flower Duet,” Lauren, who immediately flew to London the day after her performance, said through e-mail. “I have been singing ’Summertime’ for years, but recently found a much sexier version. ‘Think of Me,’ from ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ one of my favorite musicals, was requested by my dear friend Cheryl (Tiu). How could I say no?”
As far as Lauren knows, only she and her grandfather, a baritone in his heyday, sing in the family. But like her mother, she’s equally at ease in almost any social setting.
Although she has performed at the Royal Albert and Cadogan Hall in London as well as the Cultural Center of the Philippines, she considers herself “by no means” a professional singer.
When she was taking up molecular medicine at the Imperial College of London, Lauren managed to train on the side at the Royal College of Music.
She also co-founded a crowd-funding platform geared toward low-cost and sustainable healthcare projects in the Philippines called TayoPH late last year. It was selected for presentation in one of the world’s largest health conferences at Yale University in Connecticut, US, in this April.
“It was really well received by the community, as it’s the first of its kind,” she said. “I have a few more years of medical school to go, and after that, specialty training. At the same time, I plan to continue development on this crowd-funding platform, as I feel this could really impact the way healthcare projects are funded in the Philippines.”
Now that she’s based most of the time in Manila taking up medicine and public health—a double MD/MBA degree—at the Ateneo School of Medicine, she tries to squeeze in a few months of voice training under Rachelle Gerodias.
“I only really sing for family and close friends,” Lauren said. “I sing more for the joy of performing than anything else. At the moment, I’m focused on medicine. As terrible as it sounds, I’m dating my career, as medicine leaves little time for anything else.”
Kat, daughter of Filipino tycoon Enrique Razon, is a trained DJ who has gigs here and abroad. As Lifestyle Asia’s featured “after-party” performer, Kat mixed and spun a few records right after the well-heeled event’s version of a flash mob.