Ilusorio-Muñoz concert / Recorder recital / Events

Mariel Ilusorio, young pianist, and eminent Chilean violinist-conductor Juan Luis Muñoz will perform on Nov. 29 at St. Cecilia’s Hall for the benefit of the Sr. Baptista Battig Music Foundation Scholars.

Described as “two highly accomplished artists in perfect harmony with their scores and with each other”, Mariel and Juan will interpret Haydn, Bach and Mozart, with Mariel as soloist and Juan as Manila Symphony Orchestra conductor, they will render Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2.

Mariel’s formidable training counts with a pre-college diploma from Julliard, a Bachelor of Music degree from Ohio’s Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Masteral and Doctoral degrees in Piano Performance from Hannover’s State Academy, Germany. Her international awards include the Grand Prize, Cario Soliva Piano Competition in Italy.

Juan Luis has lived in South Africa for years, being vitally involved in its musical life.

At the Catholic U. of Santiago, Chile, he studied under Fernando Ansaldi and Sergio Prieto. He has toured Chile, Argentina and Peru as soloist and concert master of the Mineduc Orchestra, and performed as concert master of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducts the Cape Town Baroque Ensemble which he founded, and lectures at Rhodes U. For inquiries, call 526-8080.

The recorder, a keyless wind instrument of Anglo-Norman-French origin, is rarely heard here. Thus, the recorder recital at the Makati residence of Kumiko Koroda was unique and fascinating.

Featured soloist Kenji Kaneko, reputedly one of the best recorder players in Japan, has performed with famed Korean composer Ryo in Seoul, and has composed children’s songs for the recorder. He heads the Tokyo Recorder Orchestra, the only one of its kind in the world, whose wide repertoire includes Bach, jazz and world music.

At the salon recital, Kenji masterfully and effortlessly used some eight kinds of wind instruments of varying lengths such as the ocarina and the one-inch and two-inch whistles. He interpreted German and Irish folk songs, works by Eyck, Bach, Telemann, Handel and Couperin, and modern American: “Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head” and “Amazing Grace.”

Polished and fluid, he conveyed diverse tonal colors within instruments’ relatively limited palette.

Later, Kenji conducted the Manila Recorder Ensemble of 12 members who included Kumiko Koroda performing on the largest and loudest recorder. The ensemble interpreted Cantus by Adiemus and Telemann’s Concerto of two movements, Humabe no Utah whose exquisite melody was appreciated during WWII, and El Condor Passa.

For the finale, Kenji played on the recorder, ocarina, clumborn and whistle. Don de Dios was a wonderful guitarist-assisting artist; Kenji students Junko Kamiyama and Modoka Funato performed on the recorder and the clumborn, and on the recorder and the piano, respectively.

The audience was highly illumined and enriched by the novel experience.

Significant Events

The fund raising International Bazaar showcasing choice items from 41 countries will open Nov. 25 with VP Noli de Castro, SHOM president Cosetta Fedele and over-all chairman Lovely Romulo, wife of DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo, cutting the ribbon. At PICC from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Booths will be manned by ambassadors’ wives.

UNIFEM, jointly with Zonta Club Manila, will hold an advocacy forum “End Violence Against Women” on Nov. 27 at the Milky Way, 3 p.m. Chairperson of UNIFEM and the UN Committee of Zonta International District 17 is Georgitta “Beng” Puyat; UNIFEM president is Lourdes C. Quezon. Speakers are Judge Aurora Reciño and Dr. Carolyn Sobritchea.

Today, Galleria Duemila in Pasay will open an exhibit of the sea-inspired works of Italian Alfredo Juan Aquilizan, and feature a poetry reading conceptualized by Kooky Tuason.