Evelyn Mandac: Our very own prima donna

My book Above the Throng — (published in 1981) contains a lengthy portrait of Evelyn Mandac which portrait has served as a source material for cultural writers. In view of Evelyn’s forthcoming performance on Nov. 21 at the UP Theater for the UP Centennial Celebration “100 Years of Great Classical Music”, I am reproducing herewith excerpts from my book.

The Oxford dictionary defines prima donna which literally means “first lady” — as “chief female singer in opera”. Although Evelyn Mandac is not the “first lady” on the international operatic scene, she has earned the title “prima donna” of the Philippines.

In her ten years of professional engagements abroad, Mandac essayed the lead role (or one of the lead roles) in more than 20 operas produced by NY’s Metropolitan Opera House —she is, thus far, the only Filipino to have sung in that sacrosanct temple — and the opera houses of SF, Baltimore, Houston, Washington, Seattle, Santa Fe, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and several musical port-of-call in Europe.

Further, she has sung in such prestigious international festivals as the Glyndebourne in England, the Salzburg and Helbrunn in Austria, the Ravinia in Italy, the Saratoga and Ann Arbor in the US, and performed as soloist with such major American ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston, Cleveland and American Symphony Orchestras and the LA Philharmonic.

The ponderous drama of grand opera and the effervescent comedy of opera buffa have made considerable demands not only on her voice, musicianship and skill but also on her versatile talent for characterization. Mandac’s mettle was tested by modern opera as well, e.g., Hans Werner Henze’s “The Bassarids”, a diabolically difficult score with unusual structure. There were also the American premieres of Luciano Berio’s Pasaggio, which Mandac later introduced to European audiences. As significantly, she appeared in the world premieres of Inez de Castro and The Black Widow, both of which Italian Pasatieri composed expressly for her. As far as I know, no other Filipino singer has inspired an international composer to the same extent. At any rate, the signal honor Pastieri rendered on Mandac was eloquent proof of the tremendous impact she had made on him.

Celebrated conductors likewise took notice of Mandac. She recorded Carmina Burana with Seizi Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performed Tchaikovsky’s Queen of the Night with Jennie Tourel under the baton of Peter Adler directing the BSO, and sang the concert version of Don Giovanni with Metropolitan Opera tenor Jan Peerce, accompanied by the Cleveland Symphony under James Levine.

Mandac has sung with some of the world’s most eminent singers; either in opera or in concert: the redoubtable Wagnerian soprano Birgitte Nilsson, tenors Richard Tucker, Jan Peerce, Placido Domingo, Swedish baritone Hakan Hagegard, mezzo sopranos Marilyn Horne, Jennie Tourel, Shirley Barrett and Marion Lippert — Met luminaries all!

Mandac duly impressed these formidable celebrities. Take Nilsson, for instance. Her huge build, towering height and stentorian voice would have unsettled the most seasoned opera singer. Indeed, when I heard her as Leonore (in Fidelio), at the Swedish Royal Opera House years ago, the floating power, extraordinary ringing quality and resonance of her fantastic voice literally reached the rafters.

Yet, during a break at rehearsals of Turandot (produced by the Seattle Opera) — at which Nilsson was Turandot, and Mandac, Liu — the buxom soprano gathered the lissome Filipina in her arms and gushed, “My dear, you sing like an angel!” When their paths crossed once more she asked “when shall we do Turandot again?” For his part, Tucker who was Calif in that opera, would hold Mandac’s hand reassuringly, thus betraying his concern for the talented stranger then appearing as Liu for the first time.

Mandac’s audition at Juilliard with Jennie Tourel was an augury of her future success. Tourel immediately called her manager and said: “There’s a young soprano here — get her before anyone else does.”