Archive - Arts & Culture

THE country’s three leading orchestras, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and the FILharmonika--resume their concert seasons this month with assorted musical menu for music lovers of all ages

THE coming concert of violinist Joseph Esmilla with the Manila Symphony Orchestra in Cebu City on Nov. 12 is as good a time as any to reflect on the golden age of violin music in the country.

FOR Julie Lluch, one of the Philippines’ top sculptors, home truly works as proven by her and her three daughters in their first family exhibition at Alliance Francaise in Makati City.

A partially covered burnay (earthen jar) placed in a corner of the veranda catches the eye while the smell of a decaying chick inside a red plastic hang at the doorway greets visitors at the wake of Concepcion Bag-ayan-Balansi in Barangay Damayco in Peñarrubia, Abra.

HE anchors a weekly radio program, writes a newspaper column, gives regular seminars and has published 16 books on psychic phenomena. He is known as the paranormal researcher, scientific psychic, fortune teller, exorcist and the intuition professo

AS a child growing up in Marikina, Sinag de Leon thrived in an environment strewn with samples of Philipine folk arts and crafts, her parents being avid aficionados and lecturers on the subject.

THE coming of an Italian dance company to Manila to showcase contemporary choreographic works inspired by legendary Italian film-maker Federico Fellini will surely bring back memories of lasting musical ties between the Philippines and Italy.

GERARD Salonga is emerging to be a star all his own. The brother of multi-awarded international singer Lea Salonga, Gerard is carving a place in another musical field: conducting.

RICHARD Merk, jazz singer, comic singing host and owner of Merk’s Bar and Bistro at Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City, regards his diminutive mother,Annie Brazil, as still the undisputed Asian queen of jazz at age 77.

WHEN Manang Bolabola came out, there was a new doll in her secret room, with eyes the color of twilight that had been grazed by the twinkle of the first evening star.

COMPETITION prizewinners are again in the news in Manila’s music scene as Russian pianist Sofia Gulyak debuts in Manila Oct. 14 at the Philamlife Theater.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA “And in keeping with his oft-repeated philosophical belief that novels should enhance and amplify life, not merely recount it, he has taken some liberties with history. But he quickly adds that ‘with essential facts, I have been loyal.’”–interview with Mario Vargas Llosa in January Magazine, 2002. It is a fact of literary