The Art of Song: A master class at the Conservatory

By John Anthony S. Estolloso

Independence Day sounded a bit different this year at the University of San Agustin’s Conservatory of Music. The college celebrated with a culminating concert for a master class for voice: the two-hour-plus programme featured both Western and Filipino art songs – quite predictable enough for an intimate classical concert. But what were heard onstage that afternoon was more than mere performance: it was a product of conversation and critiquing between master musicians and young artistes.

The days leading to June 12 explored ‘The Art of Song’, an apt title for a master class on the finer aspects of vocal music. Subjected under the expertise of their mentors – Camille Lopez-Molina and Pablo Molina of the Viva Voce Voice Lab, together with renowned pianist Najib Ismail – musicians and singers of the conservatory undertook a regimen of training, honing that close collaboration (and sharp ears!) crucial between singer and accompanist during performance.

Sopranos abounded – the roster of the conservatory’s lady singers took on a formidable repertoire: art songs and selections by Schubert, Strauss, Grieg, Mozart, and Handel, and local airs by de Leon, Cuenco, Silos, Peña, and Abelardo. One readily sensed the work put into the deliveries of Ivory Nicole Bedia, Daevie Iligan, Demmie Nicolette Maza, Adrianne Kylle Cortez, Felyn Joy Fajanel, and Nelvi-an Joy Arquisola – and with continued practice and perseverance, there is much to expect from them.

From the men, Ally Tupas II’s tenor remained vibrant and rich in his singing of Mendelssohn and Santiago. Conservatory faculty Jomel Garcia brought a seasoned profundity with his interpretation of Donaudy and Grieg; his take on Ilonggo folksong Pinalangga featured a soaring lilt to the old melody. Burgeoning into the scene was Kris Kyler Esposo, his soft timbre providing a lyrical charm to Tosti and Abelardo’s melodies. Oliver Partosa as lone baritone in the programme offered the same delightful revelation of his prowess with low registers, especially in Schubert and Cuenco’s songs.

It goes without saying that the conservatory’s accompanists were in top form, the pianists especially nuanced and perceptive in articulation, complementing the subtleties of the singers. Performed in the interlude was Rubio’s Salamisim, played on the violin by Nicky Carumba and accompanied by conservatory music supervisor Dr. Gerardo Muyuela on the piano. Jofranz Ambubuyog reprised Paterno’s Sampaguita on the guitar; his Gaano Ko Ikaw Ka Mahal was quite adequate, amid the trembling shifts and turns of finger-work on the fretboard.

While contemporary professional musicians are more at home with OPM songs – or the inescapable mesh of band music, in all its multifarious genres and trends – rarely does one find a constant platform for the performance of the canon of Filipino music through the centuries. Instances like ‘The Art of Song’ not only provides an avenue for our aspiring young musicians to hone their talents, but also elevate our regional sensibilities to the idea, that yes, there are other genres of Filipino music that dig deep into a more national and universal worldview of music. Then again, where else would you hear an Abelardo kundiman or a de Leon song if not from these concerts?

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Master classes in music are rare opportunities where fledgling talent and seasoned praxis meet and interact. With notable practitioners and performers lending their wisdom earned through experience and study to younger musicians, they provide a space where conversations and critiquing can take place, ensuring an ongoing process of mastery of the form and lending a certain continuity to its development. For Iloilo City, budding with musical talent and situating itself in the artworld, these are essential to fostering and nourishing its young musicians.

So, it must be sustained. Truly yours skipped the ovations that afternoon and as I was making my way out of the crowded hall, I encountered Dr. Muyuela near the doorway. He remarked that this master class and its corollary concert were but the beginning of more classes, a forthcoming series of musical discourse and performance. And truly, we need more of these.

[The writer is a humanities teacher in one of the private schools of the city. Photos are from AR AR Nuwebe.]