Verdi bicentennial concert: Grand opera at its grandest / Nutcracker staged tomorrow

Spectacular stage sets, dazzling light effects, ravishing costumes and enthralling Verdi arias interpreted by a distinguished Phil-Italian cast — all these collectively created grand opera at its grandest, a tribute to Verdi on his birth bicentennial.

Directed by Alex Cortez, with Jaime del Mundo giving a brief synopsis of each scene for better audience comprehension, the concert opened with international baritone Andrew Fernando as Padre Guardino in a magisterial rendition of an aria from La Forza del Destino. Disguised as a monk, Thea Perez as Leonora expressed her strange fascination for Padre Guardino in her aria.

Spanish baritone Alvaro Lozano, the hunchback Rigoletto, interpreted an aria which was followed by the exhilarating quartet Bella Figlia dell’ Amore sung by sopranos Rachelle Gerodias and Nenen Espina, Italian tenor Gianluca Pasolini and Lozano.

In Il Trovatore, Espina as the old Gypsy Azucena sang Stride la vampa (Flames soaring upward); Pasolina as Manrico, Ah, si, ben mio (The vows we fondly plighted); tenor Ronan Ferrer (also as Manrico), Di quella pira (Tremble ye tyrants).

Gerodias, portraying the courtesan Violeta in La Traviata, was in splendid form. Her petite figure attired in an eye-catching voluminous gown, she exhibited in Ah, forse e lui (The one of whom I dreamed) superb control of dynamics. Her abandon, her carefree manner — underlying this was her inherent refinement — was eloquently delineated. Ferrer, as Violeta’s lover Alfredo, responded with e’ mie bollenti spiriti (Wild my dream of youth), declaring his love for Violeta while she, for the first time in her countless flings, falls desperately in love with him.

All soloists rendered the riveting Drinking Song in Violeta’s ornately decorated salon throbbing with the laughter of guests. Fernando as Germont, anxiously exhorts his son Alfredo to leave the woman of ill-repute and thus, save the family honor, his forceful voice resonantly soaring in long, sustained top notes.

In a towering climax, Margarita Gomez Giannelli, Pasolini and Lozano re-enacted scenes from Aida. The crystalline-voiced Giannelli as Aida expresses surprise — Ciel, mio padre! — at seeing her father Amonasro, king of the Ethiopians, then evinces rapture as she prematurely predicts Ethiopia’s victory in Ritorna Vincitor (Return victorious).

Pasolini as Rhadames, Egyptian captain of the guards, is drawn passionately to Aida in Celeste Aida (Heavenly Aida). Lozano as Amonasro encounters his daughter Aida and in his duet with Giannelli, they fuse acting and singing dramatically.

In her solos, Giannelli, her voice firm and vibrant, masterfully hurdles the virtuoso frills, her countenance and action reflecting anxiety over the precarious situation she is in.

Pasolini amazingly sustained his high fortissimos but his voice in full volume tended to lose its roundness. Lozano charged every passage with feelings; his arresting presence was always in character; his voice, full, forceful and intense.

Ferrer, Perez and Espina strongly asserted themselves. The Coro Tomasino, cohesive and sonorous, compelled attention in each scene its performed, including the toast in La Traviata which was enlivened by a balletic Spanish dance executed by a Ballet Philippines duo. The concert ended with the massive Coro in Aida’s Triumphal March. Rounding out Italian participation was Ruggero Barbieri who conducted the Manila Symphony Orchestra.

CCP President Raul Sunico and Ambassador Massimo Roscigno delivered welcome remarks prior to the resoundingly triumphant Phil-Italian collaboration. Viva Verdi!

After dancing as the Sugar Plum Fairy or the Snow Queen for at least 45 Christmases, and five years as principal dancer of the Washington Ballet, either at the Kennedy Center or the Lisner Auditorium of George Washington U, it is now Toni Lopez Gonzalez’ turn to pass on to her students her experience gained since she went professional at 12, the youngest taken by Ballet Philippines. With it and the Washington Ballet, she has danced extensively abroad the principal roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Nutcracker, La Bayadere, Paquita, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, Napoli, Lady of the Camellias, Serenade, Raymonda, Les Sylphides, Esplanade, Time Out, Peter Pan, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Taming of the Shrew, Coppelia, La Fille Mal Gardee, etc. She has also danced most of the leading roles in the ballets of Choo San Goh, Judith Jamison, Alonso King, Norman Walker, Paul Taylor, Michael Smuin, Mathew Diamond and James Canfield.

Her prominent partners have been Kevin Mckenzie (current Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre), Jose Manuel Carreno and Marcelo Gomes (both principal dancers of ABT), Ou Lu and Yuri Ng (principal dancers of Central Ballet of China), John Goding (principal dancer of the Washington Ballet), just to mention a few.

National Artist for Dance Leonor Orosa Goquingco commented: “Toni Lopez Gonzalez was doubly historic! For the first time, a Filipina ballerina making waves abroad shone in her proper milieu – with a Company in which her gifts had come into full bloom. Truly, Toni is the coruscating diamond in The Washington Ballet’s diadem of stars.”

The Nutcracker will be staged Dec. 15, 5 p.m. at the CCP Little Theater.