Pinay Soprano praised for concert in Spain

A Filipina soprano earned praise for her concert featuring classic Filipino kundiman selections at a local Filipino parish church in Barcelona, Spain. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Ma. Michelle Sullera held her concert at L'Esglèsia Sant Agustí in Barcelona last August 14. Sullera received a standing ovation after the concert, the DFA said in its website. Between the soprano's kundiman Canto del Viajero ("Song of the Traveler") and the Canto de María Clara, some Spanish-language verses from Dr. José Rizal's famous novel "Noli Me Tangere" were read. There were a number of Spanish and other foreign guests among the 300 members of the audience who joined the Filipino crowd in praising the beauty of Philippine music and verse, and the sterling quality of Sullera's lyric soprano voice and musical interpretations, according to the DFA. "The concert appropriately coincided with the celebration of August as the Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa (National Language Month) in the Philippines," it added. According to the DFA, Sullera is finishing a master's degree in opera singing at the Korea National University of Arts. She is a chemical engineering graduate of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. She arrived in Barcelona as a Filipina tourist, but upon learning of her arrival, a local Filipino organization arranged for a concert with the assistance and cooperation of the Philippine Consulate and the L'Esglèsia Sant Agustí parish church. With the help of the Consulate and the Filipino parish church in Barcelona, along with other Filipino associations and individuals, Ang Bagong Filipino (Asociación Filipina de Escritores e Investigadores en España) successfully staged the soprano's concert. Days before the concert, Sullera and members of the Filipino community, led by Ang Bagong Filipino president Daniel Infante Tuaño, had called on Consul General de Vega. The Consul General praised the initiative of the community, and highlighted the beauty of Philippine folk and classical music for being a unique blend of both European and Asian artistic traditions. Among the noted classical singers of the past who performed Filipino kundimans was the Italian tenor Arrigo Pola, a frequent opera performer in Manila in the 1950s, and who had been Luciano Pavarotti's voice teacher in Modena, Italy. "As many of these kundimans were also composed with original lyrics in Spanish, artists from the Spanish-speaking world could also be encouraged to include these songs in their repertoire," the DFA said, adding that this helped spread worldwide appreciation for these Filipino musical masterpieces. In her August 14 concert , she was accompanied by two young artists currently taking music studies in Barcelona – Filipina pianist Marina Gomez and Russian violinist Yevgeni Casimov. Classics like Anak Dalita, Bituing Marikit, Mutya ng Pasig and Ay Kalisud were sung before the final number Pilipinas Kong Mahal, where Philippine Consul General Eduardo de Vega led the crowd in rising to sing the second part of the patriotic song. In the Philippines, Sullera had performed in productions of such operas as Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" and Mozart's "The Magic Flute." — with Carmela Lapeña/LBG, GMANews.TV