Arthur Espiritu offstage /Arrieta, Sunico backstage

Art patron and music lover Danny Dolor honored international tenor Arthur Espiritu with a despedida luncheon, and among those present were soprano Rachelle Gerodias, tenor George Yang whose Klassikal Music Foundation sponsored the Espiritu-Gerodias concert, and Raymondo Sison whose Ros Music Center provided the Borsendorfer piano.

At lunch, Jullie Yap and I “bombarded” Espiritu with questions.

The youngest in the family, Espiritu was allowed to migrate with his parents to the US. All the children played the piano, and Espiritu was the drummer in his high school band in the US. The opera records of Mario Lanza lured him to the opera.

Although he has been described as “Fil-American”, he has no American ancestor. He speaks Tagalog fluently and his tastes in food remain very Filipino. During lunch, he turned into a young boy when, on hearing that “halo-halo” was the dessert, he immediately approached the buffet table, confessing upon his return, “I love halo-halo!”

Last Thursday, he flew back to Switzerland to start rehearsing for the principal role of Elvino in Donizetti’s La Sonambula. He sings two to three hours a day to keep in form.

The simple, unaffected, candid tenor is now based in Switzerland which is comfortably within reach of European and US cities. He keeps an apartment there.

Espiritu hopes to perform in a full-length opera here.

Incidentally, Espiritu is the second Filipino to sing in Milan’s La Scala Theater not the first as reported by AFP. The first was Jose Mossesgeld Santiago-Font. Going through my files, I saw a letter and picture the bass-baritone had sent me years ago. The letter said he sang at La Scala on Feb. 28, 1933 — not in 1928 as earlier reported.

* * *

Shortly after the Aug. 4 duo concert of international pianists Rowena Arrieta and Raul Sunico, Sr. Maria Anunciata Sta. Ana, dean of St. Paul U. Manila College of Music and the Performing Arts, told me via phone how Rowena and Raul rehearsed backstage for the concert. I requested the good nun to send me her illuminating observations in writing, and here is her exclusive report.

Rowena arrived with her husband Jonathan and their two children on July 27 near midnight. Earlier, Raul had asked me to borrow from Rowena two of the pieces they were to play for the concert because he did not have copies.

The next day, July 28 at 9 a.m., Rowena held a press conference. Raul and Rowena were supposed to practise in the morning of July 29, but because of Raul’s hectic schedule, he arrived only at about 10:30 a.m. The two had their first rehearsal, reading the scores as much as they could until noon. They had to stop because Raul had a luncheon engagement. Raul came back a little before 6 p.m., and he and Rowena practised the rest of the program until 8 p.m.

July 30 and 31, Rowena was busy rehearsing for the Greenhills Music School concert wherein she was to play Ryan Cayabyab’s Ondoy-Ondoy on Aug. 1. The composition was sent to Rowena in the US beforehand but she had to study and memorize the piece while teaching 70 students and also attending her children’s tennis practice.

The next rehearsal for R & R was for Aug. 3 but unfortunately, Rowena caught a fever, so the two pianists decided it would be better for her to rest the whole day to be fit for the concert the next.

Aug. 4 was their second and last rehearsal for the concert that evening — and they had not played together for almost 17 years! They started rehearsing a little after 1 p.m., finishing at 4 p.m. They rehearsed the encore piece “Chopsticks” slowly because Raul was reading it for the first time! Rowena kept asking Raul if he would be able to memorize it just before the show and he just kept smiling.

The rains that evening were heavy; so was the traffic. I therefore advised Raul that I was delaying the concert for 15 minutes to give time to latecomers, I found him concentrating on the encore piece. When the two finally played it, lo and behold, Raul did not have the score. He made its tempo faster so he could retain what he had just memorized in the dressing room!

To Sr. Anunciata’s gracious report, I might add that despite the almost negligible rehearsals, music lovers heard a magnificent, incomparable piano duo concert performed without a single score.