SSC Centennial Concert / On missing ‘Opera Now’

Last week’s Centennial Concert at the St. Cecilia’s Hall of St. Scholastica College was the first commemorating the 100th anniversary of Benedictine presence in the Philippines. Benedictine personalities, as well as Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales, had printed messages in the gala program: Mother M. Irene Dabalus, prioress general, Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing, Germany; Fr. Tarcisio Narciso, OSB, of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat; SSC President Sr. Angelica Leviste; Prioress Sr. Mary John Mananzan; Chairperson of the Priority Centennial Committee Sr. May Bellarmine Bernas, and Dean of Music Sr. Mary Placid Abejo.

Sr. Placid’s message was a condensed account of the Benedictine Missionary sisters’ arrival from Germany, and more significantly, of how the nuns, specifically Sr. Baptista Battig, introduced formal (Western) music education here. "Their first home was on Moriones Street in Tondo where they opened a school with eight paying pupils and some 50 poor children. On Oct. 1, 1907, Sr. Battig started giving lessons on a second-hand piano."

These initial lessons have gone a long, long way, and the study of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and the rest of Western composers can be traced back, directly or indirectly, to Sr. Battig.

The recent concert began by featuring the young instrumentalists of PREDIS (The Philippine Research for Developing Instrumental Soloists founded by Prof. Basilio Manalo and Sr. Mary Placid). They interpreted Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins under Conductor Mary Grace Martinez. The violinists, the youngest of whom was five years old, had the SSC String Orchestra assisting, and the performance clearly indicated the youngsters’ excellent training.

This fact was buttressed by the rendition of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor by Denis Santos Huang, Rachelle Alcances, Socorro Cruz, Michelle Roque – Violins I, II, III and IV, respectively – with the SSC String Orchestra again assisting, this time under Gina Medina, conductor. Theirs was exceptional music-making all the way, each violinist displaying skill, sensitive expression, wide dynamics ranging from hardly audible pianissimos to vigorous fortissimos. The thrusts were forceful yet polished and refined.

The concert grew progressively interesting, indeed, exciting with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello. Arturo Molina assertively and sensitively wielded the baton over the Manila Symphony Orchestra for the soloists: pianist Mary Anne Espina, violinist Gina Medina and cellist Antoni Josef Inacay.

The program notes explain the above number thus: "Beethoven intentionally wrote the concerto for musicians he knew. The piano part, being the easiest among the three, was for Archduke Rudolf, a talented but an amateur musician, and the cello part, the hardest, for the virtuoso cellist Kraft." The cello part did not daunt Inacay whose tones glowed, whose luminous legatos alternated with robust, powerful lines. Medina demonstrated both lyricism and dynamism, her violin throbbing with fire in the forceful passages.

To infuse more meaning into the celebration of Benedictine music education, Fr. Manuel Maramba, a Benedictine monk, was chosen soloist for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, having begun his music studies as a boy at St. Agnes Academy in Legaspi City and continuing them at the main school in St. Scholastica College where Sr. Battig had invited him to further his training. Thereafter, he honed his singular talent in various music disciplines abroad (US and Europe).

Fr. Maramba played only the first movement (maestoso) of the Concerto, rendering its virtuoso passages with flair and brio, and sustaining the magisterial character of the movement throughout. Many in the audience gave the pianist a standing ovation. Molina, for his part, conducted the Manila Symphony Orchestra with vigor and aplomb, leading the different sections to a fevered pitch and a powerful climax.

The chorus for the closing number, John Rutter’s Magnificat, was rather too motley to achieve, so soon on the night of the performance, the desired cohesiveness. Nevertheless, the choir conveyed "the energy, syncopated rhythms and strong melodies" of the Magnificat under the direction of Ma. Lourdes V. Hermo. The soprano soloist had a rather thin voice and did not appear quite ready as yet to match the demands of the choral work which, at any rate, the full house warmly applauded.

Special guests at the centennial concert were German Ambassador Axel Weishaupt and NZ Ambassador Rob Moore.

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"Opera Now", which featured 30 singers of three generations at the CCP main theater was an organizational feat. It is not easy to gather 30 singers for one evening, to have them rehearse and sing with an orchestra – the Philippine Philharmonic under the baton of Prof. Herminigildo Rañera.

For this reason, I deeply regret having missed "Operation Now" which was postponed to a later date. Thus it coincided with the SSC Centenary Concert of my alma mater to mark a very special event, the centennial of Benedictine presence in this country.

I have heard several "Opera Now" singers on previous occasions – starting with the most senior of them, coloratura soprano Fides Cuyugan Asensio, now a highly admired voice professor at the UP, and including such fine sopranos as Thea Perez, Jai Sabas-Aracama, Lisa Cabahug, Nenen Espina, Lorna Llames, Aileen Cura and not the least, Camille Lopez-Molina who, along with her friend Margarita Gomez, has enthralled listeners.

I must make particular mention of Katrina Saporsantos; arguably, she has the most powerful voice among our sopranos. Last year Katrina sang at a Cultural Heritage concert in an old church in Guadalupe; she was astonishing.

Noly Cabahug, many will agree, is still our leading homebased tenor. Noel Azcona, his voice of a heavy timbre, is an outstanding baritone.