If you are the kind who likes an exotic setting for opera appreciation, then you should go to Baguio this weekend and watch a chamber-music version of Puccini’s “La Boheme” 5,000 feet above sea level at the Hill Station of Casa Vallejo on May 24.
Viva Voce, headed by soprano Camille Lopez Molina and tenor Pablo Molina, will mount the opera. Soprano Myramae Meneses will sing the role of Musetta.
Viva Voce singers will also be heard a day earlier, on May 23, in a free matinee concert, “The Evolution of OPM,” at the University of Baguio Centennial Hall. Afterward, they wil sing at the 5 p.m. Mass in St. Joseph the Worker Church at Pacdal Circle.
The other week, the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) under Arturo Molina had a well-received sold-out outreach concert at the 100-year-old Hill Station.
Billed “Bach Versus Beatles,” the MSO concert featured three concertos by Bach and some well-arranged Beatles favorites, such as “Michelle,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” “When I’m 64,” and “Hey Jude.”
The two MSO weekend concerts in Baguio City revealed the orchestra’s stable of good soloists, such as violinists Gina Medina Perez, Christian Tan and Sarah Maria Gonzales, and cellist John Paolo Anorica.
In the matinee concert, Anorico did very well as soloist in the first movement of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major. His tone was well-defined; musicality bordered on the natural.
Tenor Glenn Gaerlan, head of the University of Baguio Conservatory of Music, said the state of music appreciation in Baguio remained fairly good, especially among the old-timers of the city.
“Still, we have to educate potential audiences and, even more, the local government, which doesn’t see music as a big factor in improving the cultural climate in the city. I am planning to run for city councilor to give the arts a face in the local government,” Gaerlan said.
Camille Lopez Molina cited the importance of exposing young people to live concerts.
“One of the major difficulties in teaching young singers is the lack of live performances (operas, concerts, recitals) that young singers can watch,” she explained. “Most of their exposure to classical singing they get from YouTube, CDs, pirated DVDs, etc. While we very much appreciate these materials, having them as the singer’s main exposure to the art of classical singing can be very misleading, because they don’t hear the real sound of the great singers they listen to and watch. At most, they only get an idea of the sound. They don’t experience the energy, the physicality, the projection, the presence of those singers. Because of this, many young singers tend to just imitate the sound of their favorite singers regardless of the nature of their own voices, as well as develop the wrong idea of what classical singing is all about.”
So a classical production like Viva Voce’s “La Boheme” should only be welcomed.
Ticket to “La Boheme” at P1,200 includes dinner. For reservations, e-mail [email protected]; or call Aika in Baguio at (074)4242734, or Myla in Manila at (02)6644850, or CAEO at (02)9979843 or 0920-9540053.
Baguio concerts of MSO and Viva Voce have the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts; Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.; Hill Station at Casa Vallejo; Genesis Transport Service Inc.; Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation; Baguio Writers Group; ICM House of Prayer; Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary; University of Baguio; Benguet Electric Cooperative; and Don Henrico Pizza Pasta.
