Archive - Arts & Culture

BARITONE Andrew Fernando has tackled another Russian role with flying colors in Shostakovich's lone operetta, “Moscow, Cherry Town,” mounted recently by the Long Beach Opera (LBO) in California.

YOUNG independent comics creators are struggling to help revive the local comics industry-- once an indelible part of Philippine culture -- by crafting something uniquely Filipino in the digital world.

ERWIN Fernandez's children's story entitled "Si Liwawa, say pusan agto gabay so ondangol" (Liwawa, the cat who refused to bark), is not just about animals' struggle to assert their own identity. It's  an allegory of the state of culture in his home province Pangasinan, where the vernacular language is under threat of extinction.

WHEN Edita Aguinaldo-Dacuycuy first held a dragon fruit, it was for a cure of her daughter Kate, who is afflicted with cerebral palsy. Never did she imagine that the scaly bright pink fruit that reminded some of a dragon would also bring her fortune and honor

A FILIPINO baritone based in Berlin is now considered one of the world’s most versatile interpreters of contemporary music in the German opera scene after appearing in an important segment of a contemporary opera by acclaimed composer Karlheinz Stockhausen last April 9 and 10 at the Cologne Opera in Germany.

ON May 16, the grand ballroom of the Dusit Thani Manila hotel will be filled with the delightful hits of the Hotdog band when the trailblazing Pinoy pop- rock group in the 1970s stages a one- night reunion concert.

PRIZEWINNING German cellist Alban Gerhardt has chosen to team up with celebrated Filipino pianist Cecile Licad in his latest CD "Casals Encores" under Hyperion label set to be launched in June.

EVEN if they are thousands of miles away, overseas members of Abra indigenous peoples (IPs) are actively involved in a virtual community that uses the ancient, indigenous practice of dap-ay and the social networking site Facebook to help their fellow Maengs in this northern province.

TO celebrate the National Pet Month this May, animal lovers can give their pets a “gift of love” that can ensure their greater chance of survival, that is, by having them spayed or neutered.

WITH th the onslaught of disasters around the world, many have committed to saving the environment in their own creative way. As the country celebrates Earth Day, VERA Files reports on four environment advocacies that form part of this year’s theme, “A Billion Acts of Green.”
Click on image for the video.

CELEBRATED Filipino pianist Cecile Licad makes history in Russian soil when she becomes the first Filipino soloist to perform with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra on April 15 at the highly revered Tchaikovsky Hall at Triumfalnay Square in Moscow.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
AS if living up to its moniker “murder capital of the north,” shooting incidents in Abra in the first quarter of 2011 have almost tripled compared to those recorded in the same period in 2010, an election year.

HEALTH Secretary Enrique T. Ona appealed for a ceasefire in conflict-stricken areas in the country to ensure the safety of about 40,000 health workers who will vaccinate an estimated 18 million Filipino children during the 20-day nationwide door-to-door campaign to combat measles that started yesterday.

IF you happen to be in Antique make sure to stop by Floring’s. It serves delicious chicken adobo in an ambience uniquely Antique. Floring’s Carinderia is Antique’s version of “the house that chicken built,” the slogan of the long-established Max’s restaurant. It’s right beside the approach to Cangaranan Bridge in Barangay Ilaures, Bugasong and sits cozily under the verdant canopy of an acacia tree.

THIS year marks the 66th anniversary of the Battle of Manila, also known as the Holocaust of 1945. On that year, members of Manila’s prominent families became victims of war-time massacre, among them the Lims (Vicente), the Escodas (Josefa Llanes Escoda, mother of former Cultural Center of the Philippines president Bing Roxas), the Quirinos, the Syquias, the Del Mundos and the Colaycos.

THERE'S a lot that renowned Filipina soprano Evelyn Mandac can share with aspiring local singers. La Mandac is in town and she will be conducting master classes for singers in a private home on March 18 and in San Lorenzo Village arranged by the Philippine Opera Company from March 27 to May 5. (Interested parties may call tel.no. 892-87-86.)

HOW does a pet lover grieve when a cat in his menagerie passes away? It was the wrong question to ask of a pet lover like Victoria Rico Costina, author of the recently launched book Those Who Love Cats and a literature professor at the University of the Philippines Baguio.

THE University of Santo Tomas (UST) Conservatory of Music has many reasons to celebrate its 65th year. First, it is the only music school which has mounted two full-length operas (Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” and Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus”) in a span of two years, showcasing the best musical talents of the conservatory.

PLAYING to please the jury is no sure way to win an international piano competition, multi-awarded Filipino pianist Albert Tiu said in a recent interview with the Singapore music news agency PianoMania.

By CENTER FOR MEDIA ADVOCACY
AFTER years of languishing in jail, some 150 overseas Filipino workers have been granted amnesty by Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz and may finally be repatriated by the government. In February last year, the OFWs in Al Hair Central Jail sent several text messages through the SOS SMS Helpline of the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) requesting assistance in facilitating their immediate mass repatriation.

TIMELESS is the word for superior jazz vocalists Jacqui Magno and Richard Merk. The rare singing tandem Jacqui and RichardMerk timed their concert “My Foolish Heart” at a deadly date (Valentine's Day) when those on romantic dates were off at more popular gigs around town.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
THE 1986 People Power Revolution, also known as EDSA 1, is memorable to Filipinos who have experienced living under the Marcos dictatorship. But what does this historic event mean to young people who belong to the post-EDSA I generation?

THE classic Puccini opera “La Boheme,” which opened in Turin, Italy in 1896 on the year Jose Rizal was executed in Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park), Manila, has obviously inspired a generation of music lovers not just in the realm of opera.

LIKE acclaimed French actress Isabelle Huppert, multi-awarded director Brillante Mendoza is not afraid to confront the dark side of life. Mendoza’s films, like “Masahista,” “Serbis,” and “Kinatay,” show the other side of a predominantly Catholic country. “Kinatay” won for him the best director award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Huppert, on the other hand, won the 2001 Cannes Best Actress award for the role of the cold and unemotional piano teacher.

IT'S a most valuable brown bag because it contains offerings that are priceless: love and sacrifice. Brown Bag Auction is one of the activities undertaken by Mentor Philippines, a group of young urban professionals tapped by the Overseas Workers and Welfare Administration to mentor OWWA college scholars, many of them from the provinces to adjust to college life.

MANY Filipinos do not know that 19-year-old violinist Diomedes Saraza, Jr., the latest star soloist of the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, is the first Filipino Outstanding Academic Achievement awardee of U.S. President Barack Obama’s Education Awards Program.

THE adjective "imeldific" connotes over-the-top extravagance and a graspingly ambitious, opulent lifestyle. It derives its origin from the fallen cultural czarina and former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos.

WITH a generation that goes wild over Justin Bieber, Charice Pempengco, Bamboo, River Maya and Parokya ni Edgar, how can the rondalla survive and prevail in the Philippine music scene?

A worthy component of “Ikaw Ang Pag-ibig,” the latest film of Marilou Diaz-Abaya, is not just the excellent story and a superb cast but the profoundly moving musical scoring of Nonong Buencamino.

THE best female artist at the recently concluded first Ilonggo Music Awards in Iloilo City is not an Ilonggo but a Karay-a. Singer-composer Rubie Rizza (who is Rubie Rizza Estaris-Villavert when she’s not performing) comes from neighboring Antique province, but her song “Ti Ano Karon?” (So What Now?) won the votes from the Ilonggos, making her the true diva of original Kinaray-a music (OKM).