Will Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore’ spark a

Opera Guild Foundation of the Philippines chairman and executive producer Imelda Cojuangco likens it to a telenovela.

"But with a difference," Cojuangco emphasizes.

The difference in this blood-and-gore drama of love, hatred, madness and vengeance is the music of Italian operatic master Giuseppe Verdi.

Verdi’s Il Trovatore gets a new lease in life when it mounts the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Sept. 14 and 15, 8 p.m., as the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra opens its concert season for 2001-2002. The production also marks the centenary of Verdi’s death anniversary.

A co-production with the Singapore Lyric Opera, this version of the operatic masterpiece gets an ingenious facelift to give it currency for Filipino and Asian audiences. The whole opera has been transported to colonial Philippines, in the midst of the Philippine revolution.

Baritone Nomer Son, who is the opera’s liaison with the Singapore group, says the change in Il Trovatore’s setting was the brainchild of SLO founder chairman Leow Siak Fah, who is directing this production. The whole story before the curtain has moved the story’s main characters to the Philippines; Count di Luna has been named Governor General by the Spanish King, while Manrico and his "mother" Azucena have joined the Katipunan.

Despite this little shift in setting, Son assures that not one word and not one note by Verdi have been changed. Opera goers will be treated to Verdi’s rousing Gypsy Chorus, the haunting "Tacea la notte" by Leonora, Manrico’s show-stopping call to arms in "Di quella pira," as well as Azucena’s hymn to vengeance in "Stride la vampa."

The co-production with the SLO was to be expected. Founded by Leow 10 years ago as the Singapore Lyric Theater, the opera company has been importing Filipino talent to the Asian city state to star in its musical and operatic presentations. Soprano Andion Fernandez started this wave in productions such as The Magic Flute and Carmen. Since then, Filipinos have been traveling annually to Singapore in a number of Leow’s shows.

Dr. Jaime Laya, National Commission for Culture and the Arts chairman, explains Leow, through the intercession of entrepreneur Tony Cabangon Chua, approached him about the idea of an operatic collaboration with Filipino talents, in line with his vision of mounting operas set in Asian settings. Some of Leow’s innovative productions included Mozart’s The Magic Flute moved to a Balinese locale and another opera moved to old Siam.

"He found it so natural to team up with the Philippines in this particular production, since he keeps on importing Filipino singers to Singapore," Laya says.

Leow eventually hooked up with Cojuangco’s Opera Guild, and the rest is history, he adds.

While Leow is an astute businessman, he also has a fondness for opera. He has sung the tenor roles in many of Singapore Lyric’s productions. He has sung Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca, Jose in Bizet’s Carmen and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. He has also produced Lehar’s The Merry Widow, Gounod’s Faust, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Verdi’s La Traviata, Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, the twinbill of Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci and Puccini’s La Bohème, which he starred in as Rodolfo.

Opera Guild artistic director Fides Cuyugan Asensio expects the tie-up with Leow’s company to yield more operatic collaborations between the Philippines and Singapore.

However, Leow also envisions the creation of an ASEAN opera company that would share, not only talents, but also pool resources among the member-nations to mount new opera productions.

"It is a dream of Mr. Leow to see the beginning of an ASEAN opera company," Asensio said. "That’s one of the reasons why he thought of this Filipino adaptation."

Performing the lead roles in this production of Il Trovatore are Romanian tenor Stefano Costa as Manrico, Italian baritone Mario di Marci as Count di Luna, Italian soprano Christina Lamberti as Leonora, Italian bass Mario Bertolino as Ferrando, Singaporean mezzo Yang Jie as Azucena and Filipino soprano Rachelle Gerodias as Inez and Filipino tenor Lemuel dela Cruz as Ruiz. The opera also features a 45-member chorus, of which 35 are Filipino singers.

Son says that had the opera been mounted with an all-Filipino cast, the project would not have moved.

"We don’t have the voices who can sing the lead roles," he adds.

When the opera was first mounted in the Philippines during the postwar period, it starred Filipino soprano Remedios Bosch Jimenez as Leonora and other male Filipino singers in the roles. However, the Manrico was an import, the Italian tenor Giuseppe Savio.

The Opera Guild and Singapore Lyric partnership has proven to be a good exercise in mounting an opera production. To produce an opera of this magnitude in the country, Son said the production will easily cost at least P6 million. With the co-production, the Opera Guild is only spending no more than P2 million, mostly in the form of talent and production inputs. The Singapore Lyric shoulders the rest of the cost in exchange for four performances in Singapore.

"It takes a lot of ambition, perseverance and passion to mount an opera," Son adds.

Tickets for Il Trovatore are priced at P2,000 (orchestra center), P1,800 (orchestra sides, first two aisle seats), P1,500 (orchestra sides), P500 (balcony I center, with a 50 percent discount for student), P300 (balcony I sides, with a 50 percent discount for students), and P100 (balcony II). A 20 percent discount will be given to senior citizens’ card holders.

For tickets and inquiries, call the CCP marketing department at 832-38-78, 551-79-30, 832-36-81 and 832-11-25 local 1800 to 1806, CCP Box Office at 832-37-04, 832-11-25 local 1409 and TicketWorld at National Book Store outlets at 891-56-10 and 891-57-43. For other CCP events, visit www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.