Arts and culture bounced back to life at the Makati Medical Center after a hiatus of 10 years.
Recently, a duo-piano concert featuring pianists Ingrid Sala Santamaria and Reynaldo Reyes was staged at the center’s Ledesma Hall.
There was also a lecture, “Music and the Brain,” about how the brain heals with classical music, given by Dr. Darwin A. Dasig, chief neurologist of the hospital.
The Romantic Piano concerto has journeyed all over the country and in other Asian countries as well as in some places in the US and Canada, giving over 400 performances to date.
Since the early ’90s, when the Department of Ethics and Culture was established largely through the efforts of the late Dr. Romeo H. Gustilo, one of MMC’s founding directors, a tradition that fused the arts with medical care became a strong feature in the center’s mission of providing patient care, until it stopped in 2002.
No doubt the program, said Dr. Vermen M. Verallo, head of the Section on Culture, who emceed the program, has enhanced sensitivity leading to a “higher level of consciousness to make caregivers more pleasant and caring of their patients.”
Dr. Dennis G. Damaso, director of Medical Education and Research Division, beamed with pride as he informed the audience through a power-point presentation of what the center had presented in the past. The roster of performers and lecturers who graced the oval-shaped Ledesma Hall on the ninth floor were just too many to mention. Suffice it to say that the list was impressive!
After Dr. Regina Macalintal-Canlas, chair of Neuro-Sciences, had briefly introduced the pianists, Reyes gave brief remarks of what a concerto was, and some highlights on the works. He said the adaption of the themes of the two works by Tin Pan Alley provided a workable bridge for their ultimate understanding.
“Love in the Moonlight,” “All by Myself” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms” in Schumann’s concerto are thematic quotations from the featured program, namely Grieg’s Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16, and Rachmaninoff’s Concerto in C Minor, Op. 18.
Having missed the duo for over a decade, I thought listening to them was quite a refreshing moment! The tandem had become more solid and dynamic over the long years of performances. Grieg sounded marvelous, solidly expressed in sterling pianism which filled the full-packed hall.
In the familiar Rachmaninoff concerto, the audience listened in abandon, some humming the familiar melodies of the second and last movements. The duo played acutely well, enjoying each other’s repartee. Familiarity ensured keen understanding and cemented dynamic rapport.
Hearty applause greeted them at the end, compelling them to give encores: Chopin’s, familiar ballade of “No Other Love” fame (duo); Buencamino’s “Mayon Fantasie” (Ingrid Santamaria); and Santiago’s “Souvenirs de Filipinas” (Reynaldo Reyes).
The lecture that followed was well received. Dr. Dasig, a music enthusiast, underscored the role of classical music in healing as well as in enhancing learning. He cited numerous studies from ancient times to the present, to support the contention.
He wrapped up his presentation by saying he had yet to see musicians who had dementia in their senior years.
The featured pianists were septuagenarians, and the piano primo, Santamaria, played her part from memory without a blemish! Reyes, in the open forum, informed the audience that the pianist had to memorize millions of notes in different values, and the key to remember them was simply to memorize the notes themselves.
Needless to say, the duo pianists were the convincing proof of Dr. Dasig’s lecture.
