Arthur Espiritu
The year 2025 will see tenor Arthur Espiritu making more grand debuts in the international opera scene,
In February to March 2025, Espiritu will make his debut at Teatro Massimo in Palermo Italy in the title role of Faust which he has sung many times in European opera houses.
In May 2025, Espiritu sings the role of the Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka at the Opera de Massy in France.
October 21 last month saw him debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca at Staatstheater Karlsruhe in Germany.
Before his Palermo debut, Espiritu has sung Faust in Theater Lubeck, at Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland and in Latvia, among other opera houses.
His favorite staging remains the new production of Faust in Theater Lubeck: “This production of Gounod’s Faust is quite fresh and pretty much more conceptualized in a more cerebral way. There are certain aspects of the story where some analogical symbolisms are used, but it does not veer away from the focus of the story. There are plot twists and certain uses of items from modern times, and a feeling of switching from the past to the future, which recurs throughout the piece.”
The production of Faust with the Lithuanian National Opera in Latvia was equally interesting. “The Walpurgis Night scene was included with the ballet section. Although slightly cut, I was able to experience more of the whole of the otherwise cut versions often done today. It was more traditional, and my dream of portraying operatic roles in traditional staging was realized.”
For him, Faust remains a supreme vocal challenge. “It is one role where one has to remain in the drama. Vocally, it’s not very demanding tessitura (range)-wise, but it is demanding in the size of the orchestration and how it’s composed. You really have to sing it. There are some dolcissimi (very sweet and soft) sections where you have to express your vocal skills in the way it’s phrased. It’s a very long opera. You have to know the interjections, or you will lose your entrance. That duet in the third act has some of the most beautiful music ever written.”
Before he leaves for Europe, Espiritu is slated to appear in a special concert at the Manila Pianos on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in between singing Rodolfo in La Boheme at Cologne Opera in Germany until the new year. Pianist Gabriel Paguirigan is collaborating artist with guest artists Nerissa de Juan and Elle Tuazon, soprano.
For tickets to the Nov. 16 Manila Pianos concert of Arthur Espiritu, call 09065104270 or email: artsnewsservice@gmail.com. Manila Pianos Showroom is located at the 4th Floor, Lifestyle Building, Paseo de Magallanes, Magallanes Village, Makati City.)
Cecile Licad
Even as Cecile Licad is busy preparing for her return at the Carnegie Hall on December 5, she paused during the weekend to remember her late father, Dr. Jesus V. Licad.
“He was a good father and disciplinarian,” Licad said. “He was always playing Beethoven symphonies in his magnetic tape recorder while I was growing growing up. I grew up listening to Beethoven’ s Third Symphony so much so that when I was asked, (at age six) what my favorite music was, I promptly answered The Eroica of Beethoven.”
Before she was born was born, Dr. Licad, used to play classical music in his recording machine and he’d bring that music closer to her mother’s womb. “I suppose I listened to music even before I was born. Both my mother and my father planned a life where I could enjoy my music and make a career out of it. They made sure my early routine was strictly divided into school time, practice time, piano lesson time and lastly, TV time. I remember her growling, ‘If your piano teacher scolds you once, I’ll scold you twice.’ When I showed signs of being bored by piano lessons, my mother would say, ‘You forced me to teach you piano, remember? Now that we’ve started this, I want you to become a better pianist that I am.’”
Apart from the Buencaminos, Licad traces her Licad musical genes to her great grandfather Tiburcio Licad who was a clarinetist and a flutist. Her grandfather Fermin, was a choirmaster and a tenor. The two sisters of Fermin Licad were pianists and organists. Gloria Vitug Licad Lanot, sister of Cecile’s dad Dr. Jesus Vitug Licad, acquired an M.A. in Piano at the Chicago Musical College with a standing ovation at her graduation recital, and was a music professor at the University of the Philippines College of Music.
Meanwhile, Licad’s first solo recital in Connecticut last week of September was well-received. “They were just so enthusiastic I got a standing ovation before the intermission,” she said.
“Such an incredible performance!” said Kathryn Taylor Kloss. “What a great gift to our audience! You are a total rock star. Such imagination and artistry!”
Susie Hill called it “a dazzling and incomparable performance.”
Licad’s December 5 Carnegie Hall program includes Scriabin’s Two Impromptus, Op. 12, Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Beach’s “Hermit Trush at Eve,” Op. 92 No 1, Schelling Nocturne, “Ragusa” and Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso including selected works by Joplin.
Licad is slated to do a national outreach tour in the Philippines February to March 2025
( Tickets for the Dec. 5 Carnegie Hall recital of Cecile Licad can be purchased online at https://www.carnegiehall.org/…/Cecile-Licad-Piano-0730PM and at the Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. Student and Senior tickets are available at the Box Office.
