This actress can do opera, too

 Venturing into the cutthroat world of opera might seem like a big gamble, especially in a country where it is tagged as an elitist form of entertainment. Not everyone can appreciate opera. Not everyone can sing its exceedingly challenging songs as well.

It takes tons of discipline to become an accomplished opera singer. If you’re not careful, your voice can be damaged. You must also learn languages like English, Italian, German, French and Spanish so you can perform a broad range of operatic materials.

If you’re lucky and persistent and tenacious enough to become a professional, you’ve got to be ready for the pressures. Highbrow critics, if they notice, take sadistic delight in ripping to shreds the performances of young rookies.

Though hurdles abound, Ana Feleo, a mezzo-cum-lyric soprano, an actress, a vocal instructor and a classical music singer, was not dissuaded from pursuing this art. For her, opera singing is an art where she can express her soul. “Opera is a very challenging craft,” Ana shares. “It’s a highly technical, specific and demanding art form that requires an incredible amount of discipline and training.”

Being one of the members of the Philippine Opera Company (POC), a group of opera enthusiasts who would like to promote its appreciation to the Filipino audience, Ana, along with other opera singers, had to undergo regular training in opera singing and acting to hone her craft.

Opera is a far cry from the world where her equally talented parents actor-director Laurice Guillen and actor Johnny Delgado have carved their names. But being Laurice and Johnny’s daughter has its perks: Ana gets to be critiqued by authorities in the field of acting right at home.

POC intends to modernize opera without sacrificing its quality. To do this, several projects are in the pipeline like staging the highly-popular opera, La Boheme (The Bohemina), an opera by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

Puccini’s opera tells the story of young Bohemians living in Paris in 1830. It is about a pair of ill-fated lovers, Rodolfo and Mimi, and their artist friends, all of whom live in abject poverty. Its themes like getting a job, finding love, and dealing with loss will resonate among young people.

La Boheme will be staged at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in October 2008. Ana will reprise one of the lead roles in the opera. To prepare for her role, Ana will train under W. Stephen Smith, a voice faculty at The Juilliard School. Mr. Smith’s voice students have performed leading roles in most of the major opera houses and concert halls around the world including the New York City’s Metropolitan Opera, London’s Royal Opera at Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, among many others. 

Aside from that, Ana will appear in Filipino Operas at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in February and in Strauss Opera Ball at Fort Bonifacio. She is also in Masterclass at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium at the RCBC Plaza in Makati City. My good friend, Cherie Gil, will give life to one of the roles in the said opera. 

Ana would like to make a name as an opera singer who can really act. And based on her recent sojourns in theater acting, Ana is convincing even the most hard to please critics that she has what it takes to be the Pinoy Maria Callas, an American-born Greek operatic soprano and perhaps the best-known and best-selling among her peers until this time.

Callas created a name for herself by being the only opera singer who could give life to a character through impressive and felt acting with an impressive bel canto technique. Her remarkable musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed La Divina. Bel canto (to sing beautifully) is an Italian musical term that refers to the art and science of vocal technique that focuses on perfect evenness throughout the voice, skillful legato, a light upper register, tremendous agility and flexibility, and a certain lyric, sweet timbre.

Ana, who has always seen herself performing on stage since she was eight years old, intends to perfect her bel canto technique. She has appeared in countless concerts, oratorios, operas and musicals from different productions such as Tanghalang Pilipino, Trumpets, Musikat, CCP, NCCA, among others.

Her performances include Magnificat; Sino Ka Ba, Jose Rizal; Alikabok; The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; Messiah, Spoliarium: Juan Luna, and The Glass Menagerie, where she shared the stage with mom Laurice.

Ana took her voice training at the University of the Philippines College of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Fides Cuyugan-Asencio. This Christmas, the Philippine Opera Company is holding its Christmas Greenbelt Series at the Greenbelt chain of malls. Ana, along with Jack Salud, Sherwin Sozon and Karla Gutierrez, will regale music lovers with operatic, Broadway, jazz and a bit of Pop at Greenbelt 5 today, Dec. 21.

The POC will also have a theatrical dinner at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila on Dec. 31. In the show, Ana will share the stage with fellow POC members Elver Esquivel, Jennifer Uy, Glenn Gaerlan, Jack Salud, Lara Maigue, Sherwin Sozon and Fame Flores.