The passions of the Baby

Rose Marie "Baby" Arenas says she has two passions in life: Classical music (she is, after all, the daughter of the late opera singer Remedios Bosch Jimenez), and charity work.

Baby put up the Padre Pio Lend-a-Hand Foundation to help make life more bearable for those who are in need, especially the street children whom she calls God’s "little angels."

She now pursues the passions of her life by bringing to the Philippines world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli for a one-night concert at the Araneta Coliseum on April 30 for the benefit of the Padre Pio Foundation.

After almost three long years of tough negotiations, Baby was able to convince Bocelli’s manager and production staff that the Philippines is a safe place to visit. "Of course, we have our share of problems, but tell me which country doesn’t?" Tita Baby points out.

To ensure that Bocelli’s show will be like no other, Baby and her staff have been busy attending even to the minutest detail of the preparations – from accommodations, rehearsals, sound systems, even checking on comfort rooms! A doctor will be around to attend to Bocelli’s health needs during the entire length of his stay and specialists from the St. Luke’s Voice Center will be on hand just in case something happens to his voice due to the change of weather.

To enable more people, especially music students, to see the show, Baby has opted to have the concert at the Araneta Coliseum which can accommodate 15,000 to 20,000 people with tickets selling at popular prices. "I want more people to enjoy the music of a talented artist like Bocelli. Good and wonderful things should always be shared," says Baby.

What makes Baby proud of the whole event is that she handpicked the members of the 80-piece orchestra that will accompany Bocelli. Called the Father Pio Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra will show that Filipino musicians are world-class musicians.

One thing you will admire about Baby Arenas is that her visibility and her charitable endeavors are not tied to whoever is in power. She’s unsinkable in many ways.

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How does one "Baby" a world-renowned tenor? Luciano Pavarotti, I recall, was "babied" with innumerable white towels when he was in Manila for his concert.

But organizers of Bocelli’s concert say the blind tenor’s one and only non-negotiable demand was that a glass of hot water and tea be ever present for him.

For his performance, Bocelli was uncompromising about sound quality, says Baby Arenas. "He specified that the quality of the sound that reaches those paying P500 should be the same as that heard by those paying the most expensive tickets in the house," reveals Baby.

Holders of P500 or P2,000 tickets who are wheelchair-bound were "upgraded" by Baby to the elite orchestra section.

Since Bocelli is visually impaired, his concert is drawing attention to the plight of the handicapped in the Philippines, particularly those who appreciate music. Baby has made the Ephpheta Foundation for the Blind one of the concert’s beneficiaries and has approved the request of Ephpheta chairman Fr. Jesus Fernandez, S.J. that three blind instructors and a guide from the foundation’s Rehabilitation and Skills training Program be invited to the concert.

When Bocelli performs on April 30 at the Araneta, in the audience will be a survivor of a hemorrhagic brain stroke, who, her family believes, was greatly aided in her recovery by Bocelli’s music.

Arnella de Leon, a Bocelli fan, lay in a coma for several weeks in 1999 at the Loma Linda University and Medical Center in California. While Arnella lay in a coma at the hospital’s ICU, her doctors told her family to play her favorite song as this might help stimulate her brain and awaken her from her coma.

"We continuously and repeatedly played Andrea Bocelli’s Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro), a duet with Sarah Brightman. Whether this helped her gain consciousness or not, God only knows," recalls Arnella’s former husband Ramon Laserna. But fact is, Arnella awakened from her coma, and is now in the Philippines.

Ramon wrote the Padre Pio Foundation asking for a complimentary ticket to the Bocelli concert for Arnella and the person who will push her wheelchair. Baby immediately granted his request.

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