Mozart mania

The works of Amadeus Mozart are avidly being performed to mark his 250th birth anniversary. Tomorrow, Sunday, at 7 p.m., the US Embassy will present Requiem in the Union Church. It will feature the Ateneo Chamber Singers and the Union Church Chancel Choir, soloists, and orchestra conducted by Prof. Jonathan Velasco.

Not too long ago, "An Evening with Mozart" was held at the Santuario de San Antonio. On Nov. 10, "An Evening with Amadeus" will be held at the Captain’s Bar, Mandarin Oriental.

Seven Austrian artists consisting of pianists, singers and a violinist will render pieces from Mozart’s "Little Night Music," some concertos, and arias from his best operas. The program will close with the popular song Amadeus, Amadeus.

Franz Langer, an Austrian impresario from Salzburg, will be bringing the artists to Manila for the benefit concert, proceeds of which will go to the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The musical will be under the auspices of the Johann Strauss Society with Letty Syquia as chairperson. Fortune Ledesma and Olga Martel are vice-chairpersons. In past years, the JSS has held various charity events, among them the successive Vienna Opera Balls which raised P6 million for the Philippine Cancer Society, the National Red Cross, and other agencies.

CCP president Nes Jardin announced that jointly with the Mozart concert will be an inter-agency celebration/tribute to National Artist Arturo Luz by the CCP, NCCA, Ayala Museum, National Museum, Metropolitan Museum and the Design Center of the Philippines to honor the artist on his 80th birthday. Luz will be donating an outdoor sculpture for the November celebration.

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James Coyuito, his eminent pianist-wife Cristine and their daughter Caitlin just returned from Salzburg, Austria, where they attended the Mozart Music Festival.

Herewith is James’ letter describing the Festival and its effect on each of them.

We have just returned from Salzburg where we attended the Mozart Music Festival. In a span of ten days, we were able to watch The Magic Flute at the Festspiele Haus, The Marriage of Figaro at the newly built Mozart Haus, a performance of the Vienna Philharmonic with Daniel Barenboim conducting and playing a Mozart piano concerto, the Requiem (Mass) rendered in a cathedral where Mozart himself had conducted before, and a chamber music recital of Mozart violin sonatas performed at the Mozarteum.

The music was glorious, the sound was awesome, the Mozart spirit was infectious to the point that upon our return to Manila, my daughter insisted on watching all our DVDs of Mozart’s operas. Caitlin is now familiar with at least five of them.

We also made a side trip to Vienna where we visited the homes of Beethoven and Schubert, and places where they composed some of their best-known works. A visit to the final resting places of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms gave Cristine a wonderfully eerie feeling; a certain transcendental spirit of their music was felt by her in an even stronger manner. She now seems to relate to their music in a very different way. We just simply cannot explain it.

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The Coyuitos’ visit to the composers’ homes and final resting places serves as an ideally unique inspiration and impetus for Cristine’s recital on Oct. 1, Sunday at 4 p.m. in the CCP Little Theater.

The outstanding pianist will interpret Beethoven’s Alla Ingharese quasi un Capriccio (The Rage over the Lost Penny). Commenting on this piece, Schumann wrote: "It would be hard to conceive of anything more amusing than this little escapade. How I laughed when I played it for the first time! And how astonished I was when a second time through, I read a footnote telling me that this capriccio, discovered among Beethoven’s manuscripts after his death, bore the title ‘Fury over the Lost Penny vented in a Caprice’ …O! It’s the most adorable, futile fury, like that which seizes you when you can’t get your boot off, and you sweat and swear and the boot looks up at you, phlegmatically and unmoved!"

To the program notes is added: "Today, the theme of this capriccio has been popularly used everywhere, in the ringing tones of cell phones and also in animated films, like the children’s classic Curious George."

Other pieces in Cristine’s recital are Schumann’s Fantasiestucke, Chabrier’s Bourree Fantasque, Ravel’s Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and Chopin's Sonata No. 3 in B Minor.

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Tomorrow, Sunday at 3:30 p.m., the 14-year old Elielle Viaje will give a farewell recital at the Greenhills Music Studio of her teacher, Prof. Carmencita Arambulo. Elielle’s program follows: Handel’s Harmonious Blacksmith, Haydn’s Sonata in F Major, No. 38, Schubert’s Impromptu in A Flat Major, Chopin’s Grand Valse Brillante, Liszt’s Un Sospiro, Mendelssohn’s Scherzo in E Minor and Concerto No. 2 in G Minor (Presto), and Augusto Espino’s arrangement of Itik-Itik.

I recently wrote about Elielle’s impending trip to Graz, Austria, where she has been admitted as a full scholar to the Musikgymnasium, a school for gifted children. It will audition her on Sept. 15.

Judging by Elielle’s performance last Sunday at the Suzuki Musical held at the Makati residence of Pennie Laperal, Elielle is an immensely gifted pianist whose talent should be further honed abroad.

I trust my earlier appeal to prospective sponsors to help finance the trip and monthly maintenance of the Viajes, mother Wina and her daughter, has drawn the response it urgently needs. Elielle’s parents, Lt. Col. Archimedes and Wina Viaje, are at Rm. 18, TOQ, Camacho St., Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

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Yesterday evening’s "Frenzified," the performance of Cesare A.X. Syjuco and his daughter Maxine for the New Alternative Space, coincided with "Drama Unfolds," PPO’s opening concert for its 23rd season under Conductor Eugene Castillo.