Saporsantos awes listeners / Fiel wins enviable awards

Dramatic soprano Katrina L. Saporsantos, grand-daughter of eminent pre-martial regime impresario Alfredo Lozano, carried on his legacy with a recital at the CCP Little Theater.

Her opening and final selections constituted Philippine premieres: Joaquin Turina’s Tres Poemas — Olas gigantes (Giant Waves), Tu pupila es azul (Your eyes are blue) and Besa el aura (Kiss the breezes) — and William Bolsom’s Selections from Cabaret Songs, I and 2.

Saporsantos immediately awed listeners with her considerable vocal power. As her voice rose and reached the rafters, she called to mind Metropolitan Opera singers — the Wagnerian soprano Birgit Nilsson whom I heard at the Met two decades ago, Helen Traubel and Marian Anderson who were presented in Manila by Lozano. Their respective volumes were of course more powerful than that of Saporsantos but she nearly approached theirs. Throughout the recital, Saporsantos sustained fortissimos were most impressive, arresting attention repeatedly.

Local audiences are familiar with Wagner, Chausson and Verdi, particularly with Wagner and Verdi operas. However, Wagner’s Der Engel (The Angel), Stehe still! (Be quiet!) Schmerzen (Anguish), Im Treibhause (In the greenhouse) and Traume (Dreams) — were hardly known.

Likewise unfamiliar were Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle (Perpetual Song) and Verdi’s Stornello (Rhyme), Perduta ho la pace (My Peace Is Gone) and Deh, pietosa oh Addolrata (Oh, with Mercy, Oh Woman of Grief). The soprano’s diction was remarkably clear; her phrasing lent a dramatic flair to the renditions.

Verdi’s songs, to my mind, were the most lyrical and, therefore, the most enjoyable.

Pianist Augusto Espino, an excellent assisting artist, uncannily knew when a note would begin or end, thus making the rapport between him and the singer admirable. The full house being immensely responsive, the singer gave two encores: Dich Teure Halle (You Dear Hall) from Wagner’s opera Tannhauser, and Espino’s own composition Kundiman ng Langit.

The soprano’s most recent engagement abroad was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York with the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Saporsantos was personally handpicked by renowned conductor Kenneth Kiesler as soloist in Mahler’s “Symphony No. 21, The Resurrection”.

When Saporsantos returns for another recital, she will garner even lustier response if she includes familiar songs or arias in her program.

* * *

Pianist Dingdong Fiel gave a benefit concert “Musical Moments” at the UST Museum last August 31. He interpreted works by Schubert, Chopin, Scarlatti, Rachmaninoff and Debussy.

Fiel graduated in 2007 from the UST Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music degree, major in piano, receiving the Rector’s Award for Academic Excellence and the Benavides Award for Outstanding Achievement.

He then studied for two years at the Franz Liszt Hochschule fur Musik in Weimar, Germany, where he was only one of four pianists (2007-2009) chosen to study under its rector, Prof. Rolf Dieter Arens (solo piano and chamber music). Earlier, at the UST Conservatory, Fiel had already won first prize in its Etude Competition, and first prizes in the 2003 Mozart-Haydn Sonata Competition and the Beethoven-Schubert Sonata Competition — both on the same day!

For these achievements, Fiel was conferred the Rector’s Scholarship in 2004, the university’s highest scholarship grant given for excellence.

While in college, Fiel recorded an album with some Filipino talented musicians of F. Santiago’s works.

During post-graduate studies, Fiel won an award in the 2008 Evissa International Piano Competition in Spain. He then took special lessons from renowned pianists in Finland, Italy, Spain, Canada and Hungary.

Fiel has given highly praised concerts in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, France, Germany, Guam and China.

Local engagements include the Ravel and Liszt Concertos with the UST Symphony Orchestra, a tribute to Liszt and the Tchaikovsky Concerto.

Spanish pianist and composer Michael Davidov composed a solo work specially for Fiel; so did Filipino composer Kaan Bautista.

In Weimar, Prof. Arens described Fiel as “a remarkably talented pianist who can awe his audience with utmost sensibility and fire only a total pianist can convey.”

I deeply regret missing Fiel’s UST concert for unavoidable reasons.

Please send invitations, press releases, printed-out photos to my home address, not the STAR. — RLO