Lorca’s poems in song/Tiu, Saporsantos concerts

Federico Garcia Lorca, a most revered poet-dramatist of Spain, was introduced at Instituto Cervantes when the eminent Spanish soprano Carmen Serrano interpreted songs to his poems, with Spanish pianist Antonio Lopez Serrano as assisting artist.

Refinement, elegance and restraint characterized the performance of the statuesque, slim-as-a-reed, dark-haired beauteous Carmen. Her gestures were those of a graceful classic dancer, her strong and mellifluous voice reaching the top register with ease and sustained power.

Pianist Serrano complemented the soprano with his own subtle, sophisticated artistry and technical skill, his fingers marvelously nimble and dexterous.

The songs differed widely in content, mood and feeling, conveying passion, anxiety, deep contentment through Lorca’s literary devices. The opening tryptich — Through the Air They Go, From Cadiz to Gibraltar, To the Little Flower — drastically contrasted with The Trumpet Blast, and the three closing selections of the first part, It’s True, To Irene Garcia and The Horseman’s Song. The popular numbers ensuing were lighter, more buoyant but equally infused with lyricism.

For this section, the singer wore a white shawl for her scarlet gown, artfully manipulating it to enhance her already compelling visual appeal. At one point, she clapped gently, and at another, she and the pianist clapped in unison, accentuating the song engagingly.

The MCO Foundation’s “2008 Music Arts Festival” will feature outstanding pianist Albert Tiu in an all-Beethoven program at the F. Santiago Hall on Aug. 9. It will include the epic Hammerklavier Piano Sonata and the Piano Sonata No. 22 in F Major.

Among Tiu’s multiple awards are first prize in the UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, second prize in the Esther Honens Calgary International Piano Competition, Juilliard’s William Petschek Award which led to his New York debut recital in Alice Tully Hall.

Tiu is the first Filipino to perform with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Finnish Radio Symphony, the Hamburg Symphony, Northern Sinfonia of England, Calgary Philharmonic.

His major international engagements have taken place in Russia’s Great Philharmonic Hall, the Hamburg Musikhalle, the Palacio de Festivales in Santander, Spain, and NY’s Carnegie Weill Recital and Merkin Halls.

Tiu studied with Jerome Lowenthal at Juilliard where he graduated, previously with Michael Lewin at Boston Conservatory, and earlier at Hong Kong Academy and the UP College of Music.

After two years of further studies in the Manhattan School of Music, soprano Katrina Saporsantos will give a homecoming concert at F. Santiago Hall on Aug. 3 under the auspices of the MCO Foundation and the BDO. Pianist Benjamin Dia Jr. will be the assisting artist.

Katrina topped the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Voice Competition at the Manhattan School of Music, and for her prize she will perform Wagner‘s Wesendonck lieder with the Manhattan Philharmonia under the baton of Maestro Klauspeter Serbel in Borden Auditorium, Manhattan, in 2009.

Last June, Katrina sang at the Philippine Independence Day celebration upon the personal invitation of Permanent Ambassador to the UN Hilario Davide, and sang the South African national anthem at the South African Freedom Day celebration in Manhattan upon the invitation of the South African Consul General.

She also performed at the Caroling sa Kapilya in NY’s San Lorenzo Ruiz Chapel, and for three successive semesters portrayed the Ice Cream Vendor in the opera Griffelkin staged by the Manhattan School for its Chamber Music Festival.

Recipient of the Vocal Performance Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, Katrina has sung in NY, NJ, in SF, California, for the Switchboard Music Festival, and the Easter Cantata at the Living Stone Christian Fellowship, New Jersey.