Raul, Rachel perform abroad/Tycoons, CCP needs your help!

Highly acclaimed international pianist Raul Sunico took time off from his tremendous responsibilities as CCP president and UST Conservatory of Music dean and gave a hugely successful performance in October at the Smith Center, the newest concert venue in Las Vegas, Nevada.

He rendered classical and Filipino compositions and also served as assisting artist to popular singer Martin Nievera. The two were special guest artists for the medical projects of ABS-CBN.

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The violin recital of Jimmy Tagala Jr. at the Cory Aquino Hall of the new St. Scholastica’s College building has been re-set. The exact date of the recital will be announced later.

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Outstanding diva Rachelle Gerodias sang the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s comic opera Don Giovanni last Nov. 2 in South Korea’s Daegu Opera House during the Daegu International Opera Festival.

Rachelle was the only Filipino in the multi-racial cast of singers. The first time she was invited to perform in the Daegu Opera House was two years ago when she portrayed the lead role of Rosina in Rossini’s Barber of Seville.

Musicologists regard Don Giovanni (I quote) “one of comparatively few great operas that were successful from their very first performance. It is at once popular with the opera-going public and beloved and admired by connoisseurs. Such widely varied geniuses have all testified to its greatness: Beethoven and Rossini, Wagner and Gounod!” Yet Mozart was only 31 when he composed the opera.

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Anyone who attends a performance at any theater of the CCP complex will see that it is in need of immediate repairs. The carpets have not been changed since the theaters were inaugurated decades ago; they are so old and tattered they endanger the safety of those who walk on them.

It might be argued that there is no need of financial assistance the cost of renting the theaters being prohibitive. But expenses for maintenance are huge; e.g., the salaries of the executives, the PR staff, the secretaries, the ushers, the security guards, the medical staff which must always be ready for unexpected accidents, bills for light and water, bathroom repairs, etc.

Members of the CCP Chairman’s Council, the President’s Circle, the Friends for Cultural Concerns of the Philippines are certainly helping but their contributions are not enough.

The financial assistance of the tycoons — the millionaires and billionaires listed in Forbes magazine - as well as of the oligarchs will be most welcome. What might be an enormous contribution from them will be a mere drop in each of their buckets.

Their generosity will be assured of the nation’s lasting gratitude for their permanent, if indirect, service to the country’s cultural life.

Further, their names could be conspicuously etched on the walls of each theater’s lobby, including those of the Folk Arts Theater whose roof, I am told, leaks!

The patrons’ names could also be flashed on the screen just before the start of each performance.

Incidentally, Mrs. Imelda Marcos who initiated the building of the theaters, could well afford to be one of the major financiers for the urgently needed repairs. Nedy Tantoco, it might be noted, is one of CCP’s continuing benefactors.

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The Galerie Hans Brumann and the Goethe Institut presented the “Fairytale Performance” of students from the German-European School of Manila, showcasing costumes and stage set designed by them, in collaboration with the German artist Patricia Thoma.

The exhibit opened November 9, and will run through November 15 at the Galeria Hans Brumann on Legaspi St., Makati.

The following prizes will be raffled off among the participants: a free language course at the Goethe Institut, one fairytale book “Hansel and Gretel” in German, and three shopping bags designed by Patricia Thoma.