The Mercator advantage

What do Victor Basa, Lia Ramos and Tere Licaros have in common? They are all Mercator models who have made good under Jonas Gaffud’s management. Jonas is the man behind Mercator Model Management. His wards, Victor Basa, JC Tiuseco, Jennifer Barrientos, Dannielle Castaño, Akihiro Sato, Hideo Muraoka, among others are making waves in the talent and modeling business. Victor, for one, has had stints on television and in the movies. Victor surprised everyone when he entered Pinoy Big Brother’s house. He began to model at age 19, and his biggest debut came when he joined the Philippine search for the best model of the world where he was awarded Best in Swimwear. Soon after that TV ads followed. Victor graced the commercials of Sunsilk, Penshoppe, Greenwich, Tropicana, Magicflakes among others. He also appeared on several ABS-CBN shows like A.S.A.P., Crazy for You, Abt Ur Luv, among others and has had a stint as Vj of MTV Timeout. The rest are into television commercials and modeling.

Jonas says he gives his artists the proper training and discipline necessary in the field. Another Mercator model Lia was 2006 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe and ranked No. 83 Most Beautiful Filipina of 2006 gathered by the entertainment blog Starmometer. Although Lia did not make it to the Top 20 in the Miss Universe pageant, she was voted Miss Photogenic. Jonas is also proud of Tere, Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 2007 who is reviewing for the bar exams this year.

Business leaders in concert

The country’s foremost business leaders reveal their secret lives as they perform with some of the country’s outstanding classical performers at a gala concert at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on March 6, 8 p.m. at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater).

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Cultural Center of the Philippines presents Counterpoint: Musical Suites for Leaders of the 21st Century, a one-night-only event featuring Emily Abrera, chairman emeritus of McCann Worldgroup as the narrator; George Yang, chairman of Golden Arches Development Corp. performing excerpts from the opera Rigoletto and La Traviata; Charo Santos-Concio, president of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network reading the poetry of Pablo Neruda; and Antonio Cojuangco Jr., president and CEO of TV 5 leading the classical guitar ensemble in a suite of Spanish and Filipino pieces.

The gala will present musical suites depicting the common principles shared by great art and great leadership. The universal principles of art as applied to leadership inspire the thematic arrangement of the suites.

The Classical artists performing include soprano Rachelle Gerodias; duo pianists Della Besa and Anamaria de Guzman; renowned string players violinists Joseph Esmilla and Gina Medina, violist Dino Decena, and cellist Renato Lucas; the Philippine Madrigal Singers; the St. Scholastica’s College of Music Guitar Orchestra and the Guitar Friends Ensemble whose members include businessmen Greg Yu, Jaddy Vitug and Vince Abella; with the Philippine Ballet Theatre and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra with PPO conductor Laureate Oscar Yatco as music director and conductor. Finale of the concert is Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody performed by the PPO and all the classical artists. Gary Valenciano will have a special participation in the concert.

The artistic staff includes Chris Millado as concept and scriptwriter, Katsch Catoy as lighting designer, Eric Cruz as stage designer and Alex Cortez as stage director.

For details, call 832-2704 or 891-9999.

Turandot at the CCP

Also at the CCP, the Seoul Romance Philharmonic Orchestra, in collaboration with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, presents Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, a full-length opera, on June 18 to 20 at the CCP Main Theater. The event is held in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Korea. It features top Filipino and Korean opera singers and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

Composed sometime in 1920 to 1926, Puccini spent the last five years of his life working on Turandot. He patched up his differences with Giuseppe Adami who, together with Renato Simoni, got to work on creating a libretto from Carlo Gozzi’s fairytale. After Puccini died, the task of completing Turandot fell on Franco Alfano, whose version is most often heard today. The opera premiered in La Scala, Milan in 1926.

Nessun Dorma (No One Sleeps), the aria from Puccini’s final opera Turandot became the most popular operatic aria in the world in 1990 when it was sung by Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti on the eve of the football World Cup Final in Rome. This was the first Three Tenors concert (also starring Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras) and the piece remains highly popular.