A journey in song captivates audience / Virtuoso-in-the-making

Performing for French Spring, soprano Aude Wacziarg made a stunning presence as she came on the stage of F. Santiago Hall, her sparklers dangling from ear to shoulder, her black gown revealing a daringly exposed back as she exited.

Youth, beauty and charm personified, Aude enchanted her listeners in song after song, taking them on a vibrant, fascinating musical journey to Austria (Schubert), Germany (Clara Schumann and Richard Strauss), France (Berlioz), Spain (Obradors), Russia (Tchaikovsky), England (Handel and Purcell), Norway (Grieg), Czechoslovakia (an aria from Dvorak’s opera Rusalka) and Italy (arias from Gianna Schicchi and La Boheme by Puccini).

Aude’s veritable tour de force demonstrated fluency in several languages and grasp of vocal literature’s widely ranging styles. Each song was considerably enhanced by a brief but illuminating resumé of its story or mood. The selections reflected grief over the loss of a departed one, the jealousy of lover, flirtations, seductions, celebrations with wine and dance, spiritual exultation, folklore, or myth, e.g., a sea creature falling in love with a man.

Both as polished, refined singer and consummate actress, Aude further enhanced her interpretations with graceful, eloquent gestures and facial expressions conveying varying emotions – wonder, and awe, delight, disappointment, petulance, frustration, emotions. In Tchaikovsky’s Dark Eyes (Occi ciornie), Aude playfully looked for dark eyes in the audience, an easy task, she said, because all Filipinos are dark-eyed! In her encore piece, Eric Satie’s Portrait of a Diva, she completed the portrait by naughtily raising her skirt to expose a shapely ankle.

There was humor, too, in her annotations. Because her listeners were "globe-trotting" through her songs, she said, "You must by now be suffering from jet-lag." In the opening piece, Schubert’s Die Forelle (The Trout), she asked: "What chance does the fish have against the angler?"

Sweet, mellifluous and extremely well-modulated, Aude’s voice was soothing and pleasant to hear; the high notes were securely "attacked" and sustained as they reached full volume. These and the exquisite pianissimo lines infused added drama and color to the interpretations.

Aude is a highly intelligent, versatile soprano of unerring musicianship. Her gentle, subtle artistry, that is, her distinctive style, is utterly captivating.

Assisting artist and pianist Florian Ballot established impeccable rapport with Aude. His solo numbers, Liszt’s Consolation No. 3 in D Flat Major and Choplin’s Scherzo in B Minor exhibited fluency, vitality and obvious grasp of stylistic matters.

Vincent Hommeril and Benedicte Mysson of the French Embassy presented soprano and pianist with bouquets, respectively, while Counselor Franck Hebert looked on with a benign smile.

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Former violin prodigy Joaquin Maria "Chino" Gutierrez, now 13, gave a farewell performance also at the F. Santiago Hall prior to studying in Munich under German pedagogue Jens Ellerman who has happily agreed to teach him, having earlier noted Chino’s "virtuoso style of performing, superb coordination and sense for musical ideas", describing the youngster as "an outstanding talent and a fine musician, indeed a major talent".

Who is to gainsay such an observation?

In his recital, Chino displayed ease, an effortless technique in the opening, Bach’s unaccompanied Partita No. 3 in E Major and in Paganini’s Caprice No. 13 in B Flat Major, likewise unaccompanied – two oft-rendered pieces by mature, seasoned violinists – as he did in the rest of the selections. Chino breezed through them with supreme confidence and assurance, his bowing strong, firm, secure. He remained undaunted through Paganini’s pyrotechnical passages, as also in the tricky, challenging "fireworks" of Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs and Kreisler’s Tambourine Chinois – standard tests for established concertists.

The beautiful melodic lines in Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso flowed smoothly, and again its intricacies were hurdled incisively, unhesitatingly. Chino clearly differentiated the various movements of Mozart’s Sonata in C Major through tempi, accentuation, phrasing.

In his typical manner, Chino breezed through Velez’s Sa Kabubukiran as arranged by R. Romero, the native fillip. The term "playing on the violin" seems a misnomer in Chino’s case. When he performs, he is indeed playing on the violin yet he gives the impression of being at play!

What he still needs to acquire is depth of feeling – the passion and drive that will set audiences on fire. The acquisition of this sine qua non of great interpretations is merely a matter of time.

Chino rewarded the standing ovation with Wieniawski’s Caprice and the Habanera by our own legendary violinist Ernesto Vallejo, surely Chino’s icon.

As an aside, German Ambassador Herbert D. Jess, a cognoscente, was quick to express admiration for Chino’s outstanding talent.