‘Diary of Anne Frank’ for narrator, orchestra / Other major concerts

Years ago, I read the Diary of Anne Frank. A gift from the young publisher of the Manila Chronicle, with which newspaper I was then, the book was borrowed and not returned. (Such is the fate of many other books and gala programs of mine.)

At any rate, I recall Anne to be a precocious and sensitive writer for a girl of 12 going on 13. She wrote of being confined, along with her family and a few friends, in a secret attic in Amsterdam. The attic, above the store her father owned and managed, had been prepared by him for the time they would have to hide from the Nazis.

Indeed, that time came. For two years, she would never breathe fresh air, never smell the flowers, never go to the beach, the theater or the concert hall.

While Anne was on the verge of womanhood, she wrote her most intimate thoughts and feelings in that diary. A Dutch collaborator betrayed Anne and the rest. They were taken to a concentration camp where starvation, torture and ultimate annihilation awaited them. Anne died of typhus nine months after she was incarcerated.

Those were the Holocaust years during which about six million Jews, a third of them children, were exterminated by the Nazis.

At the press conference announcing the concert "Remembering Anne Frank", CCP President Nes Jardin pointed to its relevance. Israeli Deputy Chief of Mission Guy Feldman said the Holocaust is still fresh in the Jewish mind after 60 years. Netherlands Second Secretary Marcel van den Bogaard briefly told Anne Frank’s poignant story. PPO Conductor Eugene Castillo, who will wield the baton over Michael Tilson Thomas’ From the Diary of Anne Frank for narrator and orchestra, was profoundly impressed with the unconquerable hope and optimism underlying Anne’s thoughts. Winnie Monsod, eminent UP professor and TV personality who will serve as narrator, echoed Mr. Castillo’s sentiments.

From the Diary of Anne Frank was commissioned by UNICEF and given its world premiere at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music in 1990 by the late Audrey Hepburn (as narrator) and the New World Symphony conducted by the composer.

Since then, the work has been played by the London Symphony Orchestra, televised throughout Japan in a Japanese translation, played by the Israel Philharmonic in a Hebrew version, performed in Holland in the original Dutch, in South Africa, in Germany, in Spain by the Orquestra Sinfonica de Barcelona, at the Ravinia and Aspen Music Festivals, and throughout the US.

Before the concert on Nov. 11 at the CCP main theater (8 p.m.), a chat with the audience will be held at the lobby at 7 p.m., followed by a film showing on Anne Frank at the main theater. Ambassador Yehoshua Sagi, Ambassador Robert Vernis and CCP President Nes Jardin will give some remarks on the concert which is being presented jointly by the Israeli and Dutch embassies with CCP’s cooperation.

Presumably, music lovers are curious to hear the work inspired by Anne Frank’s diary. To composer Tilson, who is himself Jewish, the Holocaust must mean infinitely more than to non Jews, although its message "We must never forget!" should be taken to heart by every human being.

Other numbers are "Remembrances" by the eminent woman composer Margaret Brouwer, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major. Past PPO concerts and the forthcoming one make Eugene Castillo the Filipino conductor most knowledgeable and conversant with major contemporary works, as also the most au courant and progressive as he introduces modern masterpieces to Filipino listeners.

* * *

Toyota Classics will present on Nov. 13 at the CCP main auditorium, 6:30 p.m., the Hungarian State Budapest Operetta Theatre Orchestra with Conductor Istvan Sillo and artistic director Miklos-Gabor Kerenyi. Appearing with soprano Zsuzsa Kalicsai and tenor Zoltan Nyari will be our own coloratura soprano Alegria O. Ferrer, recipient of the ALIW award.

Members of the Budapest Theatre Orchestra are all holders of music degrees. The ensemble, well-known in Hungary and the rest of Europe, hews closely to European musical tradition.

Its musical journey will take the audience to well-loved operettas and Broadway musicals. Composers from Hungary (E. Kalman), Austria (F. Lehar and J. Strauss II) and the US (L. Bernstein and F. Loewe) will be represented by excerpts from The Gypsy Princess, The Countess Maritza, Land of Smiles, Die Fledermaus, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, etc.

Ferrer has performed all over the country, as also in the US and Japan – at the World Expo in Aichi and the 21st International Philippine Festival in Nagoya.

Concert proceeds will go to the Pulong Sta. Cruz Elementary School in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Chairman of the Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation which is behind Toyota Classics, is Dr. George S.K. Ty; president is Dr. David Go.

* * *

Outstanding concert pianist Cristine Coyuito will be the soloist in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F on Nov. 19 at the Fine Arts Theater International School Manila, Fort Bonifacio. Conducting the Metro Manila Community Orchestra will be Josefino "Chino" Toledo.

The concert, the second of "Xtreme Classix – Music Before and Beyond" is for MMCO’s fifth concert season. The all-Shostakovich program will celebrate Shostakovich’s 100th birth anniversary, and will include the Festival Overture, The Golden Age Suite and Symphony No. 1.

Coyuito, described as "the pianist’s pianist" and "poetess of the piano", studied under renowned pianist Gaby Casadesus, Fou Ts’ong, Nikita Magaloff and Philippine Entremont; she has performed with much distinction in the US, Europe and Asia.

* * *

Popular music will be presented on Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. at the F. Santiago Hall by the MCC Foundation as part of its Arts Festival. Singers Patrice Pacis and Eugene Villaluz, guitarist Butch Roxas, flutist Tony Maigue and pianist Della Besa will interpret G. Gershwin, R. Rodgers and C. Porter.