It was kind of “shocking,” as their manager put it. It was a corporate event and here were these four singers, young and good-looking, interpreting the Puccini warhorse “Nessun Dorma” (popularized by Luciano Pavarotti) in a different way. The audience went wild. Shouts of encore. So the group obliged with “The Impossible Dream” from the musical “Man of La Mancha.”
Even while the four were still singing, the ladies went up the stage and started leaving dollar bills!
The four were Fonzy Mendoza (tenor), Jos Jalbuena (high baritone), Lorenzo Mendoza (tenor) and Obel Alalong (tenor).
Fonzy is a graduate of University of Santo Tomas (UST) Conservatory of Music, and is an events manager of Edsa Shangri-La Hotel. Jalbuena took up finance in college, is an advocate of green energy, does commercial modeling and endorsements, and has appeared in Repertory Philippines productions.
Lorenzo holds an AB Psychology degree from Ateneo de Manila, is an account manager of a firm connected with the food and beverage industry, and has acted with the Ateneo Blue Repertory and Rep. Alalong studied at UST Conservatory of Music, major in Piano Performance and minor in Voice. He is a music coach, and is a financial consultant on the side.
The group is called Opus One. Their classy manager is Karla Gutierrez, herself an operatic soprano who has crossed over into musical theater and is the artistic director of Philippine Opera Company (POC). Vocal coach and artistic director is Venger Marquez, who majored in Choral Conducting at UST.
“Venger is very good in identifying our voice and unifying them as one, and putting a flavor of the crossover sound,” Fonzy said.
Individual singers
“He is particular about highlighting each one of us as individual singers rather as a choir,” Jalbuena added.
Opus One does opera, R&B, musicals and standards. The songs may be in English, Filipino, Spanish, Italian or French.
“Depending on our audience we change our repertoire to what they would probably like,” Jalbuena observed. “We like to surprise them with songs they haven’t heard for a while, like (Tom Jones’) ‘Delilah.’ We gave it a different twist.” It was a hit.
“We are trying to change the ‘image’ of classical singing as being boring, with the singers just standing around,” Gutierrez said. “So they all have to dance or move in their performances to make it more interesting.”
The group is now preparing for the Christmas season, and have lined up some Christmas songs. They are also preparing a single album and a concert next year, and have already lined up corporate bookings for 2019.
–CONTRIBUTED
Call Philippine Opera Company at 09176452941.
