Soprano Camille Lopez Molina
(Following is an article by Pablo Tariman on soprano Camille Lopez Molina who will be performing with tenor Otoniel Gonzaga and Dulce on Dec. 9 at the Philamlife Theatre, 8 p.m.
(For tickets: P3,000 for orchestra seats and P2,000 for loge please call 900-70-23 or 0906-5104-270.)
A couple of weeks from now, soprano Camille Lopez Molina will be Mother Abbess in the Sound of Music mounted by Repertory Philippines and a week later, she will be singing an Andrea Chenier duet with tenor Otoniel Gonzaga at the Philamlife Theater with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra under the baton of Rodel Colmenar.
Although Camille is a mother of two (Beatriz Milagros, 2 and Sofia Isabel, 10 months), she just finds it tough sinking through the part of Mother Abbess in the musical. “She is a lot older, wiser, more spiritual and she is the big boss of the convent,” she says. “I’m certainly not young anymore but I’m very far from being wise and spiritual and not fit to be an administrator. Acting is being so I find it really hard to act wise when I feel such an idiot inside sometimes. I’m glad I’m finally finding my way around the role but it’s still a big, big effort.
Another thing, Mother Abbess’s song, Climb Every Mountain, was written in such a low key it’s actually vocally far from being a walk in the park. It’s heavy, it’s sustained and it comes at a time when I’ve been sitting around in the dressing room for more than an
hour doing nothing but letting my voice get cold and waiting for my entrance cue.”
In between her Mother Abbess rehearsals, Camille is preparing for the Andrea Chenier duet with Gonzaga.
The duet comes at the end of the Giordano opera when the lovers Andrea Chenier (Gonzaga) and Maddalena de Coigny (Camille) welcome their death by guillotine
after being sentenced by the French revolutionaries. Says she: “The duet is very beautiful, dramatic and vocally demanding the way all verismo operas are.
There are sweeping phrases and high notes galore, thick luscious orchestrations, you name it. Passionate pretty much sums it up. I’m so lucky this opportunity comes to me at a time when I already have some moxy tackling it vocally. I will probably never get to sing this onstage but at least I can say that once in my life, I sang the final duet and did it with no less than the great Otoniel Gonzaga.”
The first time Camille heard Gonzaga at the CCP in the early nineties, she was easily floored. “The size, the ring, the power, the expression of the voice, the elegance of phrasing -I couldn’t forget all that. It was a voice for opera, for an orchestra, for a big
hall and it belonged to a Filipino. I truly feel privileged and super excited singing with him because it hasn’t sunk into my brain that I will share the stage with him. It’s still incredible to me that this duet is actually going to happen.”
Camille started singing mezzo (middle voice) parts when she was with Prof. Fides Cuyugan Asensio at UP but she reverted to being full soprano when she went to Hong Kong as a scholar of the Academy for Performing Arts. In Vienna, a contralto teacher
assigned her “zwischenfach” (in between) roles like Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo and Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. But after giving birth, her voice became more flexible and open at the top.
“This has allowed me to finally be comfortable singing Ritorna vincitor (from
Verdi’s Aida) and Vissi d’arte (from Puccini’s Tosca) and a big surprise, Nedda (from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci).”
To her credit, Camille has the “best tutor and coach” she can find and at her own disposal. Her mother is choirmaster and pianist (Dr. Myrna Lopez Ascutia) and she is married to a tenor (Pablo Molina).
Having a singer for a husband she finds an invaluable asset. “At least I have someone who knows me thoroughly as a person and therefore as a singer,” she tells the Inquirer.
“His observations and his advice are almost always right and I have learned so much
about singing just from our incessant discussions, analysis and theorizing about vocal technique. It’s like having a coach for free. Which isn’t to say that we’ve never had disagreements – we’ve had a lot – but in the end, I have someone who is at all times
painfully honest and whose opinion I can absolutely trust.”
Warming up properly before any kind of singing is a must but sometimes she finds it alarming having to practice everyday.
At this point, she can almost see her husband Pablo shaking his head because he constantly reprimands her about warming up everyday. “But I just hate hearing
myself at home. I feel like such a cow mooing in a meadow.”
She says having a mother who is also a musician has also its interesting moments and she keeps them. But being mother and musician in the same field, she confides, it can be really difficult to treat things more objectively. She is sure of one thing though.
“Those moments can be triumphant, exasperating, absolutely fun and totally exhausting but they’ll never be boring and thanks God, my Mom and I share a sense of humor.”
On the other hand, she learned the value of commitment from her Mom. “She would always say: if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it the best way you can. There’s no such thing as doing or giving too much.”
Camille thinks there are other ways of preserving your voice other than avoiding cold drinks and having a good rest. “The best protection I give my voice is avoiding getting neurotic about my throat. I always try to just relax and bring my sanity and survival
instincts to the fore. I’m a great believer in mind over matter.”
Camille Lopez sings Vissi d’arte from Tosca and Vicino a te from Andrea Chenier with Otoniel Gonzaga with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Rodel Colmenar on Saturday, December 9 at the Philamlife Theater. Soprano Rachelle Gerodias sings the Carmen duet with Gonzaga while singer Dulce will reprise The Prayer with the Filipino tenor. Two-time NAMCYA winner Christopher Oracion plays the Traviata
Concertwaltzer and Carmen Fantasy in between arias.
For free ticket delivery, please call tel. 9007023 or cell 09065104270.
November 25, 2006 11:00 pm
Posted in: General
Welcome!
63 Responses
Sound of Music is a spectacular stage production, fine voices, good music and splendid colorful dress designs, complimented by a good story.
Its another experience of life. Shame the cost of tickets are out of reach of the masses.
we-will-never-learn,
the cost of tickets are out of reach of the masses and only the well-heeled can afford the price. Funny thing, remember way back then when pianist Van Cliburn was a frequent visitor of the Marcosses and the so-called well-heeled of our society didn’t even know when to applaud or scream or evenknew the piece being performed One time I was watching the performance on tv and not only few, but about the whole front audience clapped and applauded during pauses for Reprise..
Vic, I was in the front audience during Van Cliburn’s performance. I think it was at the Cultural Center. Kidding aside, high priced tickets during this very poor economic climate is uncalled for.
it maybe a sort of “pampaalis suya” kumbaga sa pagkain para naman huwag mawala ang gana sa susunod na hain!
I have a friend who is a good soprano, Alegria Ferrer. I just don’t know if she still sings as she teaches now at the UP College of Music. She trained in Salzburg as a matter of fact.
Filipinos, by nature, have good ears for music. It is just too bad that they are not all exposed to the fine ones. They should have discounts for students as a matter of fact, or give complimentary tickets to students who cannot afford to pay such exorbitant fee. They do that in Japan and even in UK. In fact, when I was there, I used to buy those seasoned tickets at good discounts. With my Oxford U Society membership card, I guess I’m still entitled to those pretty good discounts.
Remind me to see a good play or musical when I am at SFO this Christmas.I know Andrew Lloyd Webber is having his own stage version of the Sound of Music, and I would love to see it.
Sorry…I should write: It was more relevant or had more relevance. Can you be kind enough to explain what’s wrong with this article that you deleted? Vic made a reply and his reply was allowed to remain posted. I’m very confused.
Japan conducted experiments on Filipinos during WW2
TOKYO–The Japanese navy conducted surgical training on Filipinos, including women and children, during World War II and then killed them, a repentant medic who said he took part was quoted as saying Saturday.
Akira Makino, 84, a former navy medic stationed on Mindanao island in the Philippines during the war, told Kyodo News agency that about 30 people were operated on as part of medical training before being strangled to death between December 1944 and February 1945.
Operations performed on the victims included severing legs and arms and abdominal surgery, in some cases after their faces were covered with a cloth and sprayed with ether, Kyodo quoted Makino as saying.
The bodies of the 30 Filipinos were later buried, he said.
Makino, who is now living in the western Japanese city of Hirakata, said he came forward because of nightmares after keeping the grisly secret for more than 60 years, Kyodo said.
“We should not repeat such miseries again,” Makino said. “I want to tell the truth about the war, even if it is to only one person or two.”
It was believed to be the first account of such atrocities by the Japanese Imperial Navy in the Philippines, Kyodo reported. The Imperial Army’s Unit 731, based in northern China, is believed to have conducted medical experiments on Chinese prisoners during the war.
Unit 731, in Harbin, China, injected prisoners of war with typhus, cholera and other diseases for biological warfare research during the war, historians and former unit members say.
Researchers say at least 3,000 people died from injections, human vivisection and induced gangrene in experiments, or were executed later to keep them from talking.
Officials at Japan’s Health Ministry and Foreign Ministry were not available for comment Saturday.
With your kind permission Vic and the rest of the group, I’m re-posting Vic’s reply to the above article that should not have been deleted in another thread:
vic Says:
November 26th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I hope the Japanese government will follow up on this reported atrocities and conduct an investigation as to the nature of the experiments and if possible identify the victims and proper apologies and compensations to the surving families be extended if found to be true. If wrong were committed it is never too late to right it. We have apologized for the Head Tax imposed on the relatives of Chinese Labourers who brought their relatives after building the transcanada railroads. We have apologized for the Canadian of Japanese descents for being interned during the War as pre-emptive measures. Those were mistakes done in the context of time, but mistakes they were and to admit and be humble and apoligized for them won’t mean weakness but being honest and honourable and I believe the Japanese people are just as honourable and humble enough to admit the mistakes and wrongs…
There’s an article by Pablo Tariman in today’s Philippine Daily Inquirer on the Dec. 9 Gonzaga concert.
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