Archive - Arts & Culture

Metro Manila’s millennials probably had their first taste of Filipino opera Friday afternoon in one of the last performances of Felipe Padilla de Leon’s “Noli Me Tangere” based on the famous novel of Dr. Jose Rizal.

When Ballet Philippines stages Swan Lake starting February 24 at the CCP main theater, balletomanes will most likely look back to the decades the ballet was first interpreted by distinguished Filipino and foreign ballerinas.

Founded in 1973 as an accompanying orchestra of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Philippine Philharmonic -- as it was known since 1982 – has evolved since the time of its first music conductor, Maestro Luis Valencia.

Her ambition was to become a medical doctor. She prepared for that by graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology at St. Louis University in Baguio. Because Corazon Patarata had to help her family and see siblings through school, she got a job as a teacher. Later, she qualified for foreign service.

Sumi Jo gave a special request to the organizers of her Manila concert “The Divine Diva.” She said she wanted pianist Najib Ismail to be her collaborating artist again at her coming Feb. 7 concert at 8 p.m. at the Meralco Theater in Pasig City.

Violinist Diomedes Saraza, Jr. is likely to wax nostalgic when he plays Mendelssohn’s Violin concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 with the Philippine Philharmonic under the baton of Yoshikazu Fukumura on Friday, January 20.

The central figure of the Music Artes’ Opera Gala at the newly built Maybank Performing Arts Center at the Global City January 15 was no doubt tenor Arthur Espiritu who generously coached the young artists and even agreed to sing duets with them.

Painter and art teacher Yasmin “Jigs” Almonte isn’t called a survivor by friends for nothing. She has gone past the pain of cancer that claimed part of her jaw and prevailed over other physical and psychological challenges.

  By ELIZABETH LOLARGA Photos courtesy of the artist Painter and art teacher Yasmin “Jigs” Almonte isn’t called a survivor by friends for nothing. She has gone past the pain of cancer that claimed part of her jaw and prevailed over other physical and psychological challenges. If there’s a song to describe her, it may

  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS SHE captured our hearts with her stirring performances in “Sophie’s Choice” and “Deer Hunter.” She helped us forget our problems with enjoyable performers in “Mamma Mia” and “The Devil Wears Prada.” She was a joy to watch in last year’s movie, “Florence Foster Jenkins.” But her acceptance speech for being

“Dagon sa Hoyohoy” (Amulet of the Breeze) – Bohol’s first sung-through musical on the legendary hero Francisco Sandijas was a fitting cap for Bohol’s vibrant cultural scene for the year just passed.

By COOPER RESABAL Photos from CCAD, Kasing Sining TAGBILARAN, Bohol– “Dagon sa Hoyohoy” (Amulet of the Breeze) – Bohol’s first sung-through musical on the legendary hero Francisco Sandijas was a fitting cap for Bohol’s vibrant cultural scene for the year just passed. Mounted by the Dulaang Kasing Sining Teatro Bol-anon Ensemble, the more compact production

“We can sustain it. But it would take a village.”

  By ELIZABETH LOLARGA Artists photos by JOJIT LORENZO “WE can sustain it.  But it would take a village.” This was international tenor Arthur Espiritu’s response to the idea of an opera company that would accommodate the boom in young, classically trained vocal artists in this country. “We can sustain it.  But it would take

Via Mare and restaurateur Glenda Rosales Barretto are synonymous in having, in Felice Prudente Sta. Maria’s words in her foreword, moved “Philippine cuisine upwards onto a new and higher plane of creativity, innovation and artistry over decades.”

    By ELIZABETH LOLARGA MICHAELA Fenix. Via Mare: 40 Years of Iconic Events Through Menus, Recipes, and Memories. Mandaluyong City: Anvil Publishing, Inc. 2016. 176 pp. Via Mare and restaurateur Glenda Rosales Barretto are synonymous in having, in Felice Prudente Sta. Maria’s words in her foreword, moved “Philippine cuisine upwards onto a new and