You must know what you want to do in life, you must decide, for we cannot do everything. Do not think singing is an easy career. It is a lifetime’s work.”
With these words, the actress bows, closes her script in the opera Master Class, and ends her portrayal of Maria Callas.
For many Filipinos, the grand singer Maria Callas would not even be present in our consciousness today if not for the obstinate enthusiasm of Karla Patricia Gutierrez. As managing director of the Philippine Opera Company, Karla charged herself with convincing other artists that they needed to form a group dedicated to letting everyone appreciate the beauty of opera. Almost single-handedly, Karla overcame the objections of the people who were closest to her. “There is no money in setting up an opera group. There is no way you can be financially independent,” they warned her. She was in Rome at that time studying at the Accademia Internationale delle Arti (AIDA). Even her mother, Zenaida Gutierrez, advised her to take an easier route and just be a performer in Italy. When Karla went against the advice of her mom, they did not talk to each other for one month. Yet Karla knew what she had to do. In 1999, she established the Philippine Opera Company.
“Every time someone graduates from a conservatory here, their future becomes a question mark,” she explains. “They might end up teaching and it is okay to teach, but these singers did not take up music education. They took up singing so they should be performing but without an opera group, many singers leave the country or shift to other careers like working in a call center.”
From the start, Karla, 38, knew it would be hard. Whereas classical groups abroad survive with patrons and donors sponsoring the shows, opera singers in the Philippines have to fend for themselves. There is almost zero support for this kind of art. “When we are invited to perform in shows, pop artists get paid 10 times more than we do.”
“I can’t measure success by how many tickets I sell,” says this soprano singer. This opera season, she cried buckets and her tears still continue because the production costs are more than the ticket sales. “It came to a point when I told my mom that I am such a loser. It is panic time again now that we are at the end of the season, but I guess if your intentions are good, God leads the way.”
Anyone who has seen La Boheme as staged by Karla’s group can confirm the pride and joy the audience feels from watching the opera. The long round of applause that Maribel Miguel received after her aria as Mimi surprised even the singer herself. The amazing talent and dedication that the artists impart fill viewers with the “proud to be a Filipino” spirit. From the glossy brochures to the designer costumes, every bit of the production shows the respect the skilled performers have for their grateful audience.
But it is only possible to reach the high notes when the income flows in, so Karla’s group tried some marketing. They called TV stations to ask them to guest the opera singers on prime time. “Sorry,” was the reply. Classical singers are considered too highbrow for the TV audience. Instead of sinking into depression, Karla and the 85 talents who love the opera company came up with solutions.
You want dancing young girls on TV lunchtime shows? Well, the Philippine Opera Company will show you how flexible they can be when they launch their Opera Belles, three pretty young ladies with their soprano voices, repackaged with leather jackets and boots, who dance and woo their way towards penetrating the mass audience and TV.
Viewers don’t even need to go to theaters to enjoy opera. Hansel and Gretel, a favorite children’s opera, has been staged in schools during its travels from Baguio to Pampanga and Cabanatuan. With P150,000, the Philippine Opera Company can present The Magic Flute, a show that will thrill and educate even skeptics. Most successful are their shows in shopping malls, which have helped the company survive financially.
It’s almost like choosing from a takeout menu: select your concept and audience and the POC has a package that will suit the event. “One of the insurance companies used our Opera Lite, a comic-relief spoof for opera. It is a classic introduction to music with Chopin’s Moonlight Sonata. Singers in denim jeans made the event fun. The audience enjoyed it; they did not even know they were watching a classical performance.”
Karla knows that to be able to educate the public on the value of music, they have to start with students. Then she realized that many of the public schools ask their PE teachers to double up to teach music. “In the classroom, the students might listen to Mozart but they can’t relate to what they hear because the teachers do not explain anything.” Karla’s solution? She is now campaigning to have a program to educate the teachers.
And so, the sentiments of Karla Gutierrez and the talented Philippine Opera Company stars reflect those of Maria Callas in the script of Master Class: “The sun will not fall down from the sky if there are no more traviatas. The world can and will go on without us but I have to think that we have made this world a better place.”
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E-mail: aurorawilson@gmail.com