A benefit concert for Lillibeth Nacion

MANILA, Philippines - World-renowned music and theater artists mount “Anima,” a benefit concert for Lillibeth “Beth” Nacion, a librettist and creator of liturgical worship as theater and performance art, on Jan. 17, 7 p.m. at the Philamlife Theater, United Nations Ave., Manila.

Beth has been diagnosed with a rare cancer of the lining of the lungs. She describes her illness as the result of the “deranging lifestyle of the sick and famous.”

Two internationally awarded chorales — the Philippine Madrigal Singers under maestro Marc Carpio and the Ateneo Chamber Singers under master conductor Jojo Velasco — will perform Arrivederle Stelle from Dante’s Inferno and Eric Whittaker’s Aer Sacred Spirit Soars.

Soprano Camille Lopez-Molina and pianist Najib Ismail will do Ob Heller Dag by Tchaikovsky and tenor Pablo Molina will perform Malia by Tosti. The two will perform Makikiliti from Walang Sugat. Velasco will shift to baritono with the song Younger than Springtime from South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein. Marc Carpio will present his rendition of Caccini’s Ave Maria, to be danced by Myra Beltran and played on the cello by Renato Lucas. Theater, film, and television personality Richie Chan will accompany himself on the piano and sing the aria from the contemporized La Boheme — Rent. Francis Makil-Ignacio will do Sorry from The Threepenny Opera.

Joining the powerhouse group are The Philippine Youth Symphony Band, the Woodwind Quintet, and Noel Cabangon.

World Olympics of Song champion Jon Joven will sing Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha accompanied on the piano by former dean of PWU College of Music Harold Galang. Franz Miguel Ramirez (oboe) and Mary Anne Espina (pianist) play Legende Pastorale Op.138 from Scotch Scenes by Benjamin Godard.

The Philippine Youth Symphony Band and the Jazz Quintet will respond to one another’s surprise fare topped by Fides Cuyugan’s own surprise, a role she has not performed at all in her years onstage as singer and actress: the seductress Aldonza. She will be accompanied by pianist Nita Abrogar-Quinto.

Coke Bolipata will gather all the performers to the solemn Thais Meditation, capped by The Lord’s Prayer.

The concert was conceived by Beth’s friends Anton Juan, Jojo Velasco, and supported by DWWW’s Bert Bacsal, actress Frances-Makil Ignacio, and the artistic staff of World Theater Project at Samba Likhaan.