C. Alvarez ITI speaker/ Inevitable comparisons

Philippine leadership in the global movement of mobilizing cultural diversity was recognized with our very own Cecile Guidote Alvarez speaking eloquently and passionately on it last Wednesday as the lone Asian during the observance of World Theater Day at the UNESCO-International Theater Institute in Paris.

Cecile was invited to speak by the UNESCO Communications Bureau and ITI secretary general Jennifer Walpole. At 28, Cecile won the Magsaysay Award for Public Service through the arts for founding PETA 40 years ago. Presidential Adviser on Culture and NCCA executive director, she is also president and executive board member of the ITI Philippines Center.

Last Wednesday, likewise, a special World Theater Day forum was hosted by the UP Polytechnic, with the former First Lady of Peru, Eliane Karp de Toledo, an environmentalist, as guest. The forum focused on the battle against poverty within the context of cultural, ethnic and linguistic pluralism.

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Pro bono "impresario" Eduardo H. Yap, program arranger who also chose the performers for "Music by Starlight", described kasalikasan, its hitherto undiscovered locale, thus: "The venue is a small open-air amphitheater surrounded by plants and large trees. Situated beside the soaring Pacific Plaza Twin Towers, it is an ideal setting for a cozy evening of lovely music with a medium-sized audience."

Stars actually glittered for "Music by Starlight" although one could count them with the fingers of only one hand! As for audience size, chairs had to be added.

Leading tenor Nolyn Cabahug and young soprano Joanne Go sang arias and duets from well-loved operas — Traviata, La Boheme, Tosca and Turandot. Top Rep actors-singers Audie Gemora and Menchu Lauchengco rendered solos and duets from favorite Broadway musicals: South Pacific, West Side Story, Pal Joey, Camelot, Sunset Boulevard, Jekyll and Hyde and Funny Girl.

Nolyn’s magnificent voice, infused with profound feeling, soared in his carefully disciplined interpretations — e.g., the Neapolitan Core ’ngrato (Unfaithful Heart) and Dein 1st Mein Ganzes Herz (Yours Is My Heart Alone). Go exhibited high competence but was rather wanting in expressivity.

Audie and Menchu were most impressive, singing with overwhelming spirit and zest; being excellent actors, their emoting was more eloquent and evocative than that of Cabahug and Go.

Perhaps in anticipation of a diminution of volume in the open-air theater, microphones were used. This may be SOP for pop but is not common practice in opera. (When tenor Otoniel Gonzaga sang with Lea Salonga at the CCP main theater, he used no microphone while Lea did.) The microphone somewhat alters vocal quality (timber) although, doubtless, it magnifies volume. Nolyn’s vocal intensity left a tremendous impact, particularly in Recondita Armonia (Tosca), Core ’ngrato, Nessun Dorma (Turandot). The latter aria, also serving as encore, was even more exciting the second time around.

The concert opened and closed with the entire cast in "It’s a Grand Night for Singing" (from Music Man) and "Tonight" (West Side Story), both selections arousing fervid audience response.

Comparisons between the two pairs were inevitable although competition was unintended. Broadway songs are "belted out"; opera singers project chest and/or head tones. Further, the idioms were entirely different from one another. Both pairs were winners, enchanting listeners, each in its own fashion.

The chamber orchestra was under Bernie Pasambas.

Working long and hard were artistic director Jay V. Glorioso, and Music Admiration Society members tenor George Yang, Evelyn Singson, Charlie Rufino, Gigi Zulueta, Boots Garcia and Josie Tan. To Chairman Yap belongs the major credit for the thoroughly engaging and fascinating concert. Doubtless, first-nighters went away loving music more — both classic and pop which latter might here be classified as light classics for their long, beautiful lyrical lines.