International tenor sings tonite/PPO, MCO, FilFest concerts/UST Singers: World's best

Tonight at eight, international lyric tenor Arthur Espiritu will perform with leading soprano Rachelle Gerodias at the Philamlife auditorium.

Winner of the 2009 George London Award, among many others, Espiritu has sung in Italy’s Teatro La Scala, Piccolo Teatro and Opera Fuoco, at the Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Memphis Operas, and performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestras, and in the Marlboro Music Festivals. Future engagements are in Switzerland and Israel.

Tonight, Espiritu will sing arias from operas by Tosti, Rossini, Mozart and Gounod. Gerodias will render arias from operas by Rossini and Gounod, Abelardo’s Pakiusap and De Leon’s Awit ng Gabi ni Sisa.

Duets will be Un di Felice (Rapturous Moment) from Verdi’s La Traviata, Caro elisir from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Santiago’s Anak Dalita.

Having heard Espiritu sing at a press conference and Gerodias countless times, I would urge music lovers to attend the concert. It will be sponsored by the Klassikal Music Foundation chaired by tenor George Yang, jointly with Raymundo Sison of the Ros Music Center (home of the Bosendorfer pianos) and the Vibal Publishing House.

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The young, personable Olivier Ochanine, conductor and music director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, will disclose to the press his plans for the next couple of years.

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The MOC Foundation will present brilliant instrumentalists — violinist Joseph Esmilla, cellist Victor Coo and pianist Rudolf Golez — in concert. The MOCF under Armando Baltazar has transferred its venue to the Insular Life Auditorium on Ayala Avenue. Detailed announcements will follow.

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FilFest will present “Tutti Celli”, cleverly sub-titled “At the Bach of Our Minds” on Aug. 28, 8 p.m. at the Insular Life Theater in Alabang. Eight cellists, led by Renato Lucas, principal cellist of the PPO, will interpret Bach’s Prelude and Fugue from Suite No. 5, Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, E. Toppinen’s selections from Apocalyptica: “Nothing Else Matters” and “Fade to Black”, Handel’s Passacaglia, Villa-lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1: Introduction, Preludio, Fugue.

The seven other participating cellists are Gian Gonzales, Gerry Gonzales, Anjo Inacay, Herrick Isleta, Arnold Josue, Pocholo Gutierrez and Nehemia Lipana.

Renato Lucas trained at the San Francisco Conservatory under Bonnie Hampton, a protégé of the legendary Pablo Casals. Lucas became principal cellist of the S.F. Symphony Youth Orchestra, and won a place in the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in South Carolina. Later, he was among the cellists at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy.

In 1988, as the country’s representative to the first World Cello Congress in Washington, DC, Lucas worked with all of the world’s top cellists. He rated special mention from the Washington Post for a recital he gave at the IMF Center. At the third International Cello Festival in Manchester, England, Lucas wielded the baton over the student orchestra of the Royal Northern College of Music, having joined the audition for conductors.

“Tutti Celli”, presented by FilFest headed by Vicky Zubiri, will be in memory of eminent cellist Vicente Lopez Jr., grand uncle of Martin Lopez.

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Years ago, I wrote about the UST Singers under Prof. Fidel G. Calalang Jr. garnering the title “Choir of the World” in North Wales. For the second time, the choir won the title at the 2010 Eisteddfod Llangoren. Another coup was its winning the Pavarotti Trophy along with the title.

The excellent UST Singers, according to UST Rector Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa, are justifiably considered “treasures of the University and the country” in view of what glowing praises the judges of each international competition (and of each category!) gave them in North Ireland, UK, Ireland, Poland, Wales and Spain, two separate contests in the latter.

The honors which the UST Singers have brought back are a magnificent gift to the University which is celebrating its 400th anniversary.