Cecile Licad, son in Castillo’s PPO season / Elielle needs sponsors!

As expected, PPO music director-principal conductor Eugene Castillo has conceptualized haute voltage, innovative programs for the PPO’s 23rd season. Meeting the press at the Hyatt Hotel-Casino Manila, Castillo said the concert "Drama Unfolds" on Sept. 8 at the CCP auditorium will feature as guest soloist Jay Hassler, principal clarinetist of The Producers on Broadway, in Copland’s jazzy Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra. Other numbers will be Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F Major and Ravel’s ballet music Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2.

With a big leap to March 16, 2007 Cecile Licad’s performance with her teenage son Ottavio Meneses should be exciting when they play Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos. Completing the program fittingly entitled "The Next Generation" will be Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Beethoven’s Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major with Cecile as soloist, and Bartok’s Deux Images. Outstanding pianist Najib Ismail is always heard as an assisting artist – he is excellent as such – but on Oct. 13 he will be the soloist in Mozart’s Concerto in A Major.

"Noble Visions" will open with Hindemith’s Nobilissima Visione from the ballet St. Francis of Assisi, followed by three modern tangos by Argentinian Piazolla and Respighi’s Pines of Rome.

On Nov. 10, "Variations" will consist of Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes and Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme "Enigma", with eminent pianist William Wolfram highlighting the evening with Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 The Age of Anxiety.

"Holiday Treats" on Dec. 8 will feature soprano Camille Lopez-Molina and the UP Concert Chorus under Jai Sabas Aracama in Ryan Cayabyab’s Kumukutikutitap, J. Brandy’s Mano Po Ninong, Abelardo’s Mutya ng Pasig, Adam/Chappeau’s O Holy Night and Frank’s Panis Angelicus. Also included: excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise and Sleeping Beauty, G.B. Green’s Overture on Filipino Folksongs and Anderson’s Christmas Festival. Ruggero Barbieri will guest conduct.

David Diamond’s Symphony No. 4, Dvorak’s rarely heard Ten Biblical Songs and Symphony No. 8 in G Minor will be interpreted, with baritone Noel Azcona as guest soloist in the songs at this Jan. 5, 2007 concert.

On Feb. 9, Conductor Laureate Oscar Yatco will wield the baton over contemporary Filipino music. Soloists will be Spanish-based Filipino bassist Lou Ortiz and soprano Irma Potenciano. Numbers will be Maria Christine Muyco’s Kublo for Large Orchestra and Ilig Duta for Orchestra, Eugene Castillo’s Lullaby for String, Orchestra and Voice, Manuel Maramba’s Pugad Lawin, Angel Peña’s 2nd Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra and Ryan Cayabyab’s La Revolucion Filipina Suite.

The internationally acclaimed Madrigal Singers will close the season on April 13 with Bruckner’s formidable Symphony No. 9 and Te Deum.

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Two years ago, Lt. Col. Archimedes "Mike" and Wina Viaje came down from Baguio so their daughter Elielle could pursue her piano studies in Manila, her teacher having advised them to look for another mentor who could provide their tremendously gifted child with better training and exposure.

In July of 2004, Elielle auditioned and was accepted by Prof. Carmencita Arambulo. By October, Elielle became Arambulo’s personal scholar under the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines (PTGP). Since then, she has joined piano festivals and attended the Suzuki Conference in Australia in January of 2005, participating in master classes and recitals.

For the first time in November of last year, she joined the PTGP sonata competition, placing first. Last April, she attended the 14th World Suzuki Conference in Turin, Italy, auditioning with 200 other participants and emerging as one of only 15 students chosen to perform in a music school in Barcelona where she highly impressed the audience. Last May, in a Suzuki Concert at the F. Santiago Hall, she played the third movement of a Mendelssohn Concerto which she had learned in only ten days!

Last Aug. 12, after she attended master classes under the redoubtable visiting pianist Aima Labra Makk of Kunstuniversitat in Graz, Austria, Makk talked to Elielle’s parents about the Musikgymnasium, a school for talented children in Graz, assuring them the school would gladly accept Elielle. Makk was so persistent, she again spoke to the Viajes before returning to Austria. The other day, Elielle was admitted to the Musikgymnasium where she will be auditioned on Sept. 15.

With so little time left and much preparation still to be made, the Viajes are both overwhelmed and sad at letting their daughter leave earlier than expected.

Another urgent concern is the financing. AFP officer Lt. Col. Viaje does not earn much. A PMA graduate of 1986, he is now studying psychology as an Ateneo scholar. Mrs. Viaje, a cellist after whom Elielle presumably took after, is a homemaker. Another daughter is seven years old.

Expected airfare expenses for mother and Elielle amount to P120,000; board and lodging, to P25,000 monthly. Wina says "We hope some sponsors will be willing to share with us the burden and the blessings."

At random, immediate donors who come to mind are John Gokongwei, the RP-Austrian Society headed by Washington Sycip, the NCCA under Cecille G. Alvarez, the FCCP under Lulu Castañeda, civic-minded individuals like Chito Madrigal Collantes, Rose Marie Arenas, Mellie Ablaza, Fortune Ledesma, Nena Casimiro, Evie Costa, Pitoy Moreno and scores more. Considering Elielle’s tremendous potential, any help will not be regretted. The address of Lt. Col. Archimedes and Wina Viaje is Rm. 18, TOQ, Camacho St. Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

P.S. The name Elielle means "My God is God".