Video produced by elementary school classmates of Arthur:
I went with Charmaine Deogracias of NHK TV and we were so happy to experience a great performance by Filipino artists. (The 34-year old Espiritu is now Filipino-American, having migrated to the United States when he was 14 years old.)
It was a joy to watch Espiritu, the second Filipino to perform before a passionate and demanding audience at the hallowed halls of La Scala di Milan. His voice has a pristine quality and he moves with aplomb.
Soprano Rachelle Gerodias and pianist Najib Ismael completed the trio that gave the unusually big crowd at Philamlife Theater a memorable evening of fine music. Showing their appreciation, the crowd gave them a rapturous, standing ovation.
Except for the Tagalog numbers (“Pakiusap” by Nicanor Abelardo and Francisco Santiago’s “Anak ng Dalita), last Saturday’s repertoire consisted of songs not very familiar to occasional classical music concert attendees. But the enjoyment was overwhelming. He mesmerized the audience from his first number “Ideale” by Paulo Tosti. When he sang his La Scala number, Un’aura Amorosa from Mozart’s opera “Cosi fan tutte” , he had the audience under his spell.
Although he had lived in the United States the past 20 years there was not a hint of “twang” in his rendition of Filipino kundimans, Nicanor Abelardo’s “Paki-usap” and Francisco Santiago’s “Anak ng Dalita” (a duet with Gerodias).
For encore, he sang the familiar “Granada” by Agustin Lara,“devoid of vocal fireworks”, in the words of music critic Pablo Tariman.
Tariman further said Espiritu “gave it (Granada) a pivotal vocal stamp that revealed the music, and not any interpreter’s vocal histrionics.”
Espiritu and Gerodias looked and sounded good as a pair. They were lovely sight in all their duets especially the encore, Verdi’s “Brindisi” from La Traviata, an amusing number about drinking and singing.
At his pre-concert press conference, the good-looking Espiritu said height matters in competing for roles in operas. He is about 5’11’’ but he said he had once lost a role to a tenor who was five inches taller because the leading soprano was tall.
The audience all the more loved Espiritu when he accommodated them after the concert on stage, instead of backstage, for what seemed an endless round of autograph signing and picture taking. His girlfriend Candy, a Chinese-Canadian singer, was busy taking pictures, obviously enjoying the heartwarming reception.
Among the after- concert greeters were his relatives from Tanay, Rizal, the descendants of Jose Mossessgeld Santiago-Font, the first Filipino singer to sing at La Scala, and the mother of pianist Cecile Licad, Rosario.
From here, Espiritu is bound for Switzerland where he will be performing at Theatre St Gallen.
For the world-class musical treat, we thank Klassikal Music Foundation of George Yang, Vibal Foundation, Rey Sison of ROS Music Center, and classical music guru Pablo Tariman.
Tidbit: Facebook was instrumental for Espiritu’s homecoming. Gerodias met Arthur through his girlfriend, Christine, in Facebook. From there, the idea of a homecoming concert took shape. Espiritu, who was in still in highschool when he left the Philippines was surprised to know that there’s a thriving, even if not so big, cultural community in the country.
Having captured his countrymen’s hearts, Arthur must come back.
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We were among those who went up the stage for autograph and photos. Sorry for the quality of the pictures. They were taken by cellphone. It was difficult to have Arthur even for just a few seconds. He was being pulled from all directions.
You lucky souls.
We will enjoy Arthur Espiritu’s music through you.
He is in You Tube. He has one there singing Un’aura Amorosa.
bravissimo to arthur and rachelle for a very delightful and enchanting evening!
Really delightful.
A welcome respite from a stressful chore of monitoring political happenings.
Arthur and his girlfriend look sweet. She’s charming.I wish both of them the best.
Glad you enjoyed the performance, Ellen, Wala kami dito nyan. 🙂
i must also congratulate najib ismail for his dexterity on the keyboard. his “pasacalles” on the two kundimans are especially haunting and uplifting to me. beautiful music makes this world sane and sound.
Yes, Najib was very good.
Ellen: was the price of the ticket affordable for ordinary folks? sa mga students? do students/seniors get discounts so they maybe able to attend events like this? sana..but then this may not be the kind of things simple folks do…kumakanta ba siya ng mga kundimans?
Even if I was not in the concert, I felt I also enjoyed it through this article and the video.
He impressed me as down-to-earth. No ego complex we associate with opera stars.
When he comes back, I’ll try not to miss his concert.
Rose, “Pakiusap” and “Anak ng Dalita” (please see article) are kundimans.
I think the tickets were reasonably-priced . P1,000, P800 and P500.Actually for that kind of music, that was very cheap.
Compared to tickets to concerts of foreign pop stars, P5,000 to P10,000.
many filipinos would rather watch wowowee and eatbulaga than attend cultural offerings like the event above. i attended both the opening and closing programs of ccp’s ruby anniversary. complimentary tickets were given at the theater lobby and the performers included rachelle gerodias, ramon obusan dance troupe, jed madela, celeste legaspi, piolo pascual, and a host of other several outstanding artists. guess what, the theater had many seats begging for occupants.
Swerte mo Isagani. Maybe the managers of these cultural houses should also learn marketing. Link up with schools.
i think ccp has good outreach programs for schools because over the years i have seen increasing student attendance. still i wonder why the theater is not full when the events are very worthwhile per my own evaluation, free about 25% of the time, the complex can easily be reached, and there are about 11 million plus souls in metro manila.