Rachelle: The total singer / Dance concert; art exhibit

Leading soprano Rachelle Gerodias celebrated her 40th birthday with a concert at the CCP main theater last Oct. 8. Pretty, lissome and petite, she calls to mind the legendary diva Jovita Fuentes who stood only four feet nine inches tall yet defied logic with her powerful voice.

Gerodias masterfully maneuvers her powerful, malleable voice in widely ranging dynamics, her expressivity subtly nuanced. Further she enhances her performance with her versatility and emotive talent. With all these, she may thus be justifiably described as the total singer.

She opened the concert with La Scala tenor Arthur Espiritu in duets from La Traviata  Estrano, Sempre Libera, Deh Miei Bollenti Spiritu and the joyful drinking song Libiamo, Espiritu’s dulcet lyric voice, tempered legatos complemented Gerodias’ sparkling élan.

Gerodias’ other duets were R. Umali’s Lupang Hinirang with eminent tenor Lemuel de la Cruz, Morricone’s Se from Cinema Paradiso and Stephen Flaherty’s Wheels of a Dream from Ragtime, with international baritone Andrew Fernando, his tremendous volume sending the pulses beating, and Make Believe from Showboat with guest artist, tenor George Yang.

In his solo, the popular classic Granada, and in the duet with Gerodias, Yang presented a paradox. A late bloomer who discovered his vocal talent when junior singers had made the grade long ago. Yang keeps improving with time. Incredibly, at the concert, he was singing better than ever, his voice secure, the high notes sustained splendidly.

Gerodias proved herself a rare singer-actress as Sisa in De Leon’s Awit ng Gabi. She was movingly distraught yet restrained as she vainly searched for her missing sons.

International piano concertist Raul Sunico magnetized the audience by brilliantly playing G. Canseco’s Hanggang sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan, which song Sunico himself imaginatively arranged for the piano.

The evening’s sensation was the riveting rendition of the quartet, Morricone’s Nella Fantasia, by tenors Espiritu, De la Cruz and Yang, and baritone Fernando. The intensity of the virile voices, their immense animation and gusto, magnified by Fernando’s thunderous voice, must have shaken the rafters. What a glorious auditory experience it was listening to the quartet!

Wielding the baton over the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, Rodel Colmenar gave a most spirited reading of Mozart’s Overture to Le Nozze de Figaro and a highly infectious one of a Broadway medley.

Gerodias, a devoted member of the Protestant Evangelical Church, made the concert a paean to the Almighty. The Rev. Benoni F. Hernandez and Arnold G. Limpin, both of the same Church, gave inspiring prefatory remarks. Andrew Fernando, Prof. Gloria Dizon Coronel, Antonio Pastor and Joanna Go expressed affection, appreciation and admiration for Gerodias who says she glorifies God with her enviable successes here and abroad, and who diligently mentors promising vocal talents. The concert marked the establishment of the R. G. Foundation that will extend financial help to these talents and would-be church ministers.

Gerodias ended by singing onstage to her family headed by her Pastor father, then shared the limelight with Triccia Amper Jimenez  a soprano lovely to look at and pleasant to listen to  in songs which reiterated the event’s religious orientation.

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On Oct. 17, 7 p.m., the UP College of Music will present graduating dance majors in Fokine’s romantic ballet Les Silphides to Chopin’s music. The program at Abelardo Hall will star Sarah Maria Samaniego, Chaya Joyce Baris, among others.

Also to be presented are two original dance works: one based on Dimitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, with Sarah’s brother Josiah Samaniego as featured pianist, and the other based on the creations of composition major Alexander John Villanueva, a finalist in the Goethe Institut’s Young Composers Competition in Southeast Asia 2011.

The participants expect an audience of at least 500. Admission is free.

Kim Rocha, curator of the Yellow Door Gallery, is presenting Martin Honasan in his first solo exhibition “Digging in the Dirt” Oct. 7 to Oct. 23 at the Power Plant Mall. Martin has joined numerous group shows and his works have been very well-received!