EDGEDAVAO
A4 INdulge!
VOL.5 ISSUE 5 • MARCH 9-10, 2012
EVENT
Four hands and a piano BONDING with the kids.
TAKING a bow after a wonderful performance.
Jinggoy Salvador, Maite, and Kay gempesaw.
W HAT do you get when you have a pair of the Phil ippi n e s’ finest talents play piano duets all on one keyboard? You get an unforgettable evening of fantastic music. And that was what the Side-by-Side piano concert was, breathtakingly unforgettable.
The concert featured 2007 Aliw Awardee for the Best Instrumentalist Category and 2010 GSIS MuseongSining Awardee, Mary Anne Espina back to back with Daphne Jocson, Piano Teachers’ Guild of the Philippines Concerto Competition prize winner and finalist in the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ National Music Competitions for Young Artists Piano Category C in 1995. Mary Anne is one of the most sought-after collaborating artists in the country today. She continues to team up with outstanding local and international artists in all major concerts and recitals in the country. Some of her notable collaborations are those with renowned Filipino pianist Nena del Rosario-villanueva; French violinist Frederic Pellassy; Israeli violinist Hagai Shaham; Russian violinist Anastacia Chebotareva, winner of the Tchaikovsky and Paganini Competitions; soprano Joan Gibbons; renowned Filipino tenor Otoniel Gonzaga; American cellist Stephen Framil, Filipino cellists Wilfredo Pasamba and victor Michael Coo; German violinist Angelo Bard, Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu and French baritone, Jerome Correas. A favorite in the local scene, she was the pianist for the CCP’s Special Concert Series II in cooperation with the Goethe Institute in “Konsiyertong Tatlong Kusing” staged at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino. Mary Anne was
DENNIS and Chinchin Santos.
DAPHNE Jocson and Mary Anne Espina.
MALOUCHI Gahol, Emil Sitjar and Marissa Salonga-Tionko.
I can see tears in people’s eyes but many of them smiled, indicative of their joy and pride of being there to witness two piano virtuosos playing side-by-side
likewise the pianist for the full-length staging of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Great Moments in Grand Opera,” “verdi, After Aida,” “Puccini: A Retrospect,” which featured Japanese soprano Kaori Sato and the Philippine premiere of Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle,” with Andrew Fernando and Clarissa Ocampo. In 2002, she joined the Manila Woodwind Ensemble in Seoul, Korea at the Asia Music Festival. She was the repetiteur and keyboard player of the hit Broadway musical “Miss Saigon” in Manila, Hong Kong and Singapore. And most recently, as keyboard player in the Atlantis’s production of Hairspray, the musical, manifesting her versatility as a pianist. Daphne on the other hand is a recipient of a full scholarship at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, Daphne studied piano with Prof. vera Berskaya and Dr. Hugo Goldensweig, and chamber music with Prof. Nancy Garniez and the Alaria Chamber Ensemble. Daphne received her first piano training from Prof. Encarnita Fernandez in Davao City. She eventually was under the tutelage of Prof. Alice Araneta-Lim and Prof. virginia Laico-villanueva at the St. Scholastica’s College of Music Recently, she was engaged as pianist/repetiteur for several productions, among others, Dulaang U.P.’s “Noli Me Tangere” and Ryan Cay-
abyab’s musical “Ageless Passion.” Moreover, she was an accompanist during the 2011 National Music Competitions for Young Artists The concert started promptly at 6 p.m. at the Apo view Hotel Ballroom with no seats to spare as it was a full house. The Mary Anne and Daphne started with duets composed by Mozart, Faure and the famous Hungarian Dances of Brahms. After the intermission, arrangements from the Baroque period and by Fritz Kreisler filled the air as the duo’s fingers made music fly like butterflies on a summer breeze. The concert winded up with well-loved Filipino songs that were masterfully arranged by Agot Espino. I can see tears in people’s eyes but many of them smiled, indicative of their joy and pride of being there to witness two piano virtuosos playing side-by-side, four beautiful hands sharing one keyboard and making one moving, beautiful, and unforgettable evening.
MARY Anne, Wency Cornejo, and Daphne.