Press release
FEATURING WORKS BY MOZART
AND VERDI
As a
pre-Valentine treat, come and watch Featuring Elaine Lee (soprano),
Ivan Nery (tenor), Lawrence Jatayna (baritone) and Dingdong Fiel (piano).
Directed by Nazer Salcedo.
" SEASONS OF DESIRE "
is a tribute to the Filipino Asianovela craze, as well as an attempt to extend
the love for opera to a broader audience. Using selected opera pieces from
Mozart and Verdi, " Seasons of Love " features tropes from local and
international dramas - the sudden tragedy, a betrayal of trust, a plot of
revenge, a redemption --- and incorporates these tropes to songs from famous
operas such as Le Nozze de Figaro, Magic Flute, La Traviata and Rigoletto.
Repertoire:
1. Mozart: Marriage of Figaro Overture
2. Mozart: Cinque, dieci, venti... (Marriage of Figaro) - duet
3. Mozart: Ein Madchen oder Weibchen (Magic Flute)-solo
4. Mozart: In Uomini (Cosi fan tutte)- solo
5. Mozart: Deh vieni alla finestra (Don Giovanni)- solo
6. Mozart: Papageno/Papagena duet (Magic Flute) - duet
7. Verdi: Mini Overture from Rigoletto
8. Verdi: Questo o Quella (Rigoletto) - solo
9. Verdi: Signor ne principe (Rigoletto) - duet
10. Verdi: Caro nome (Rigoletto) - solo
11. Verdi: Cortigiani (Rigoletto) - solo
12. Verdi: Mio Padre...Tutte le feste (Rigoletto) - duet
13. Verdi: Si vendetta (Rigoletto) - duet
14. Verdi: La donna e mobile (Rigoletto) - solo
15. Verdi: V'ho ingannato (Rigoletto) - duet
16. Verdi: Addio del passato (La Traviata) - solo
"
SEASONS OF DESIRE " – a story of
love, treachery and vengeance in an opera concert set on FEBRUARY 7,
2015 – SATURDAY - 8 p.m. at the Abelardo
Hall, College of Music in U.P. Diliman, Q.C.
Featuring topnotch artists Elaine
Lee (soprano), Ivan Nery (tenor), Lawrence Jatayna (baritone) and Dingdong Fiel
(piano), "SEASONS OF DESIRE" written by Vladimeir Gonzales and Directed
by Nazer D. Salcedo, is a tribute to the Filipino Asianovela craze, as well as
an attempt to extend the love for opera to a broader audience. Using selected
opera pieces from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi, the one-night
only opera concert shall feature tropes from local and international dramas -
the sudden tragedy, a betrayal of trust, a plot of revenge, a redemption ---
and incorporates these tropes to songs from famous operas such as Le Nozze de
Figaro, Magic Flute, La Traviata and Rigoletto.
Soprano Elaine Lee was called “a new
star in the Philippine Opera World” (Malaya Newspaper) with her “clear
articulation, unerring pitch, her style smooth and fluid” (Philippine Star).
She has had various performances both in the Philippines and in Canada. She
also joined the San Diego Opera Chorus in California. Her most recent roles
were Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone
and Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme
with the Philippine Opera Company. On the side, Elaine produces her own
concerts and stage productions that feature opera excerpts, Chinese and
Filipino folk classics, and Broadway selections. She holds a Bachelor’s degree
in Music, with a major in Opera Performance (from the University of British
Columbia in Canada). There, she played Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Shirley Kaplan in Kurt
Weil’s Street Scene, Hebe in
Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Sarah Good in Robert Ward’s The
Crucible. Other noted opera excerpts she has performed are Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Gounod’s Romeo et Julliet, Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and Gilbert &
Sullivan’s The Gondoliers. She has also done a recording with XAX Music
Entertainment for a translated Korean Teleseries soundtrack, Endless Love 1
Autumn In My Heart in 2002. Other achievements include awards from the
Vancouver Women’s Musical Club and the Kiwanis Music Festival. Presently, she
has this vision for a while of producing a concert that comprise of opera
excerpts that contains a storyline. It is a ‘Glee’ related influence style but
in an opera format. Her goal is to be able to access and educate local
audiences about opera.
Described
as “an artist who possesses a beautiful voice that is smooth and clear and with
a wide range of coloring plus unsullied musiciality” Tenor Ivan has been slowly
earning a reputation as one of the most promising young tenors and a major
talent to look at to in the country today – Inquirer.net
Ivan Niccolo C. Nery is a Tenor from
St. Scholastica’s College, Manila. He has been very active in the country’s
opera and classical scene during the past few years, portraying mostly lead
roles and some minor roles and was featured in numerous concerts around Manila.
Ivan won the 1st prize in the Jovita Fuentes Vocal Competition and
is an Aliw award nominee for best actor in a musical (Noli me tangere the opera
2012).
A respected baritone in the
Philippine classical music scene, Lawrence Jatayna has done solos for the major
works of Beethoven, Puccini, Mahler, Rossini, and Mozart, and has done
significant roles for the operas La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Cosi Fan Tutte,
and The Magic Flute. He has also worked with the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) in
January 2008 as “Doctor Grenvil” in “La
Traviata”, was an opera chorus member of SLO’s “Tales of Hoffmann”
(Feb-March 2009), the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s “Fidelio” (February 2012),
Opera Viva’s “Fences” (August 2012), then with SLO again as The Registrar /
chorus member in “Madama Butterfly”
(February 2013). As a chorister, he was a member of the U.P. Singing
Ambassadors (UPSA) in 1995 and was able to travel with the group to the U.S.A.,
Israel, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Denmark, the
United Kingdom, and finally to Switzerland, where UPSA won First Place in the Festival Choral de Neuchatel. In 2001,
he was a pioneer resident artist of the first professional choir in the
Philippines, The San Miguel Master Chorale. Lawrence is the vocal coach and
vocal arranger for Philippine Opera Company’s “Harana” and “Ang Bagong
Harana”. He acquired his diploma from
the U.P. College of Music, Major in Voice, under the tutelage of the late
Professor Elmo Q. Makil. He is a currently a freelance vocal coach, vocal
arranger, and voice instructor and is a voice faculty member of the University
of the Philippines College of Music Extension Program.
Dingdong Fiel
earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the UST conservatory of music and was
the recipient of the RECTOR'S AWARD FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE having obtained the
highest academic average of the entire course, as well as the BENAVIDES AWARD
FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT.
After graduation, he studied
for more than 2 years at the FRANZ LISZT Academy of Music in Weimar, Germany
under Rector ROLF DIETER ARENS (Solo Piano and Chamber Music). He also studied
Vocal accompaniment with the eminent pedagogue PROF. KARL PETER
KAMMERLANDER.
FIRST PRIZE - UST ETUDE COMPETITION Cat. A (2002)
FIRST PRIZE - UST MOZART/HAYDN SONATA COMPETITION (2003)
FIRST PRIZE - UST BEETHOVEN/SCHUBERT SONATA COMPETITION
(2003)
FIRST PRIZE - DR. ERNESTO LEJANO AWARD IN PIANO (2005)
FIRST PRIZE - PTGP MOZART CONCERTO COMPETITION (2006)
Through
sponsors like the DEUTSCHE POST, THUERINGER AUFBAUBANK, SPARKASSE THUERINGEN
and THE FRANZ LISZT STIFTUNG, Dingdong was able to perform in a series of
CONCERTS AROUND EUROPE, ASIA and the USA- in Spain, Italy, Belgium, France,
Germany, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Guam, China and
Japan among other countries.
He was commissioned by the
Embassy of Greece to write music for the Greek silent film "THE GREEK MIRACLE"
and was commissioned to write music for the SPANISH FILM "PILAR
GUERRA". Both films were shown at the 5TH MANILA INTERNATIONAL SILENT FILM
FESTIVAL 2011.
Last February and March 2013,
He was the Musical Director /Vocal Coach for Repertory Philippines' manila
staging of the musical " NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY". Dingdong was the Musical Director of “LORENZO” Rock Opera
by Ryan Cayabyab, which is set for a repeat run at the CCP. He is at present
the musical director of “Into the Woods” produced by Upstart Productions.
Nazer D. Salcedo is a stage actor,
director and classical singer. He is currently finishing his Masters in Theater
at the University of the Philippines Diliman. A faculty of De LaSalle
University Dasmarinas and MINT International College. Trainer and Artistic
Director of Teatro Lasalliana of DLSU-D, He was part of the Actors company of
Tanghalang Pilipino of The Cultural Center of the Philippines from 1999 to
2004. A Grand National winner of the 1994 Kundiman Fiesta. One of the first Filipino
to perform in Avignon theater festival in France. Inquirer’s Bravo best of
theater best featured actor in a musicale in 2006, 2007,2010. He has worked
with Repertory Philippines, Trumpets,Tanghalang Pilipino, Gantimpala theater
foundation, Dulaang Talyer, Dulaang UP, Music Theater Foundation Of the
Philippines, Opera Guild, Kidz Act, Philippine Opera Company, Bit by Bit
production GMA-7 and ABS-CBN. Some of his memorable Theater Credits are Mabini
(Aguinaldo, Dulaang Up 2014) Maxie the Musicale (Mang Paco, Bit by Bit
production 2013), Josephine (Director, Up’s Dulaang Laboratoryo, Teatro
Lasalliana 2013), Ang Bagong Harana (Philippine Opera Company 2011-2013), Orosman
at Zafira (Boulasem, Dulaang UP 2010,2011,2013), The Three singing Gondoliers
(Venetian Macau, Asian Tour 2009) Isang Panaginip Na Fili (Tunying, Dulaang UP
2009), Pilipinas Circa (Tanghalang Pilipino 2007) Himala (Pilo, Tanghalang
Pilipino 2005), Rite Of Passage (Tiyoy Berning, Tanghalang Pilipino 2004),
Walang Sugat (Tanhalang Pilipino, World Expo In Aichi, Japan 2004) Le Cercle
(Dulaang Talyer, Avignon France Theater Festival 2003), Candide (Candide,
Dulaang Talyer 2000), Mayo Bisperas ng Liwanag (MTFP, US Tour 1998). Recently
he was a nominee in The Aliw Awards.
“Seasons of Desire” is a story of a couple
excited to start their lives together as a family. While they prepare their
wedding festivities (Cinque dieci, venti – Le Nozze di Figaro), there was a
reminiscence of the man searching for a maiden to be his wife (Ein Madchen oder
Weibchen – Magic Flute). A call of fate happened that one rainy afternoon, he
saw this lady doing her chores singing to herself (In uomini, in soldati – Cosi
fan tutte). Their eyes met and the man serenades her (Deh vieni alla finestra –
Don Giovanni). This encounter blossomed into a romantic entanglement. Nothing
is sweeter than love. They finally got married and started their lives together
they did planning on having children (Papageno/Papagena duet –Magic Flute).
Soon, season of love bears fruit to a lovely daughter.
The mother died during childbirth.
The season of treachery and vengeance loomed. The used to be strong man is now
an old weak father. He raised the daughter on his own. She grew into a
beautiful maiden. Every morning she goes to work at the Hopia de Leche Factory.
The infamous owner of the factory is known for using his charm to lure women.
For him, women are nothing but a bunch of toys for pleasure (Questo o quella –
Rigoletto). With her innocence, she never thought that this man has an evil
agenda on her. He did his sweet talks and she immediately fell for them (Signor
ne principe – Rigoletto). She felt like floating in love, enchanted by his
charms, his handsome physique (Caro Nome – Rigoletto).
The owner asks permission from the
maiden’s father, with the intent of bribe to take her out for a day. The
father, enraged by the man’s seemingly immoral character, turns him down, sends
him away. His refusal pushed the owner to do something drastic.
As the day is about to end, the
father went to fetch his daughter from the factory just to find out that his
daughter was no longer there. Desperately he searches for his daughter fears
for her safety and time is running out (Cortigiani). Suddenly the father hears
a cry, calling his name. He sees a helpless maiden apparently torn of her
dignity (Mio Padre…tutte le feste). The father vows vengeance as soon as he
finds the mystery criminal (Si vendetta, tremenda vendetta).
The mystery man wore a mask man
revealed his identity at the bar as he brags to his drinking buddies that women
are easily replaceable (La donna e mobile). The father recognizes the boss of
her daughter in the Hopia de Leche Factory is the mastermind. He found an
opportunity to plot his revenge by knocking the man unconscious. When the man
gained consciousness, he was tied up and shouts for help. The innocent maiden
freed him in return he killed her. This is treachery. The father saw a dead
body in the room where he locked the man never to expect it is his daughter.
She apologizes to her father as she bids farewell. Her spirit will rest
together with her mom. She pleaded her father to forget vengeance and just
forgive (V’ho ingannato). She pleads to forgive and let go of all the anger (Addio del passato – La Traviata).
