The Song of Rachelle

As Team Philippines made its victory parade down Ayala Avenue in Makati City, another Filipina winner sat down with Starweek in a small cafeteria just outside the University of Santo Tomas in Manila to tell a story of hope and achievement.

Petite and pixie-ish soprano Rachelle Gerodias, a two-time Aliw Awardee for Best Female Classical Artist, has scored her share of honors for the country, yet she looks at other Filipinos, such as the national team’s athletes, and says their achievements are great, that they "make me proud to be a Filipino".

Following the music that has become her life, Rachelle has racked up a solid list of credentials. She was a scholar at the famed Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she received a Master of Music Degree in Voice Performance and Literature with a Performer’s Certificate under Professor Masako Toribara.

First taste of courage

While studying in New York in 1995, she won the top prize of the Civic Morning Musicals Vocal Competition in Syracuse. It was at this time that Rachelle learned first-hand the pain of separation from her family, which is religious, close-knit and loving.

"I wanted to turn tail and come home during my first week in New York," she says, laughing at the memory. "I was so afraid I would fail and I missed my family so much.

"But then my next thought was how nakakahiya (shameful) that would be, after all the hard work I and my family put into this, if I came home a coward. So I stayed and I did my best," she adds.

Music has always been part of Rachelle’s life and her sense of hearing is so keen that she must sleep with earplugs to get any rest at all.

"Sometimes, I envy people who can sleep heavily, no matter what sounds surround them," she says, flipping her dark curls to one side of her face. Rachelle goes on to say that her keen ears enable her voice and musicality to reach the formidable depths of expressiveness that have earned her international acclaim as a classical soprano.

"I took piano lessons when I was a child, though I didn’t like them," she says, pulling a face. "Then I got into the choir, where I sang with Lani Misalucha. I can barely believe that I sang with Lani in the same choir! Her voice is so wonderful and it was as good then as it is now."

Unusually enough, Rachelle was not raised solely on classical music. "I love listening to other types of music, especially rock music," she says with a small grimace. "I mean, I already listen, teach and sing classical music for a living, and sometimes I want to listen to something else."

Rachelle earned her Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice under Professor Gloria Dizon-Coronel at UST and was the recipient of The Young Thomasian Alumna Achiever Award.

As a student, she won first prize in the Mozart Aria Competition in 1992, second prize in the National Music Competition for Young Artists in 1990 and first prize in the Kundiman ng Lahi Competition that same year.

Rachelle finished her voice training in UST in "just seven years," and, by way of explanation, she says that was a "short" stint in college "because, unlike other college courses, voice demands a lot of discipline, training and on top of that you have to wait for your voice to fully mature."

The discipline of music involves the "care of your instrument," she says. "In my case, my instrument is my voice, so I have to care for my body, especially my vocal chords and throat."

The rigors of training and the high degree of personal discipline that the classical voice demands have taken their toll, and she has had her share of heartbreak as she stuck to her career in classical music.

"Siyempre, the first consideration you have is that you need to find a partner who understands that you do this job because you love the music," she says leaning across the table. "I had a relationship that failed because he couldn’t understand my passion for the music, how it was my world, how it is the priority for me."

Rachelle still hopes for a family and children. "Of course I want a husband and a family, but I also want to see how far I can go with this career, with this passion for music. I am sure that God will bless me with both in His good time. While I am waiting for that, I will put my time to good use by singing and teaching music, by seeing where it takes me."

Travels, travails

The music has already taken Rachelle to other countries. Rachelle received a full scholarship at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where she received a professional diploma in opera under Kevin Miller.

During her student days, Rachelle recalls with fond reminiscence that "we had to work much harder than most students now do. We had to scrounge for classical music tapes in the sale racks at record stores. Walang Internet noon, we did not have the luxury of using a search engine to find classical pieces or of downloading music."

Now that she is teaching aspiring classical singers at UST, "I make sure to pass on the practical life lessons I’ve learned, as well as the curricular ones, to my students."

"Hindi kasi nila ma-appreciate how much easier it is to be a student now that there is the Internet. Before we had to research through piles of books in the library. So, before I tell them they can download music, I see if they can exercise good, old-fashioned resourcefulness first by looking for recordings in the (UST) library or in music stores."

Teaching music, particularly voice, is also a job that demands a level of commitment that is different from that needed to teach other subjects: "As a voice student, you need to bond with your teacher, there must be a close rapport between you and there must be a personal commitment to the discipline of music from both of you."

Teaching music has become Rachelle’s bread and butter since she came home from Hong Kong after she had a polyp removed from her vocal chords.

"I was silent–I couldn’t talk or sing–for weeks. I thought I would go crazy because I love to chat and sing," Rachelle recalls, her face clouding over with remembered pain. "I was so uncertain kasi, before the operation, I had my whole future mapped out before me, I had traveling to do and operatic roles to perform then, suddenly, there was something wrong with my singing."

She had the operation late in 1997, about a year since she first sensed there was trouble with her voice. "Something was definitely wrong with my voice, but I was too afraid that finding out what was wrong would end my career as a classical singer. When I finally got the operation, I came home full of fear and uncertainty."

Rachelle responded to the uncertainty of her post-operative life with resilience. She applied for work as a teacher with the UST Conservatory of Music and she was accepted and she now passes on her hard-earned nuggets of wisdom to the next generation of classical singers under her tutelage.

"I am so glad I can still sing, because not all singers who go through such illness recover their voices. At one point during my recovery period, I was wondering if I had better just learn a new trade or prepare to work in an office or something, but God has been good to me," she says with a smile that must have dazzled quite a few audiences.

The full operatic roles that she has performed in the United States, Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore include: Norina in Don Pasquale; Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte; Pamina in Die Zauberflote (Mozart’s The Magic Flute) and the title role in Suor Angelica (both conducted by George Tintner); Lilla in Una Cosa Rara; and Madmoiselle Silberklang in Die Schauspiel Direktor.

She has also sung the roles of Ernestine in Offenbach’s operetta, RSVP; was the understudy for the role of Tiresias’ in Poulenc’s Le Mamelle de Tiresias; Musetta in the CCP production of La Boheme with the PPO conducted by Yaacov Bergman; Bastienne in the CCP production of Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne; Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi; Seraphina in Il Campanello; Micaela and Frasquita in the Singapore Lyric Opera’s (SLO) production of Carmen; Kathy in The Student Prince, also with the SLO where she gained critical acclaim; and Adina in L’Elisir D’Amore (The Love Potion) in Hong Kong.

She has also sung the lead roles in the world premier performances of Sikhay sa Kabila ng Paalam and Dangal ng Lahi by Dr. Francisco Feliciano, Aba! Sto. Nino and Lord Ukon Takayama by Fr. Manuel Maramba.

Rachelle’s powerful and emotive voice is distinctive and she is well-known for her rendition of art songs, operas, oratorios, musicals and Kundimans.

Rachelle has been a featured soloist of the PPO, Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra, San Miguel Master Choral, The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Eastman School of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra and the World Youth Orchestra and Chorus. She was the soprano soloist of the Northeast German Philharmonic Orchestra under Koji Kawamoto in the 2003 Toyota Classics concert in Manila.

Rachelle’s angelic face and heavenly voice are also very visible on television, as she is a regular guest in Aawitan Kita Special and she has done recordings with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and Warsaw Philharmonic orchestras under the baton of the late Redentor Romero.

However, being onstage is not what most people who knew Rachelle as a child would have expected. "I was a shy little girl and I barely spoke to people when I was little. It’s such a big change that, now, I can get on a stage and sing with confidence."

She says this confidence, though hard-won, "is there because I was given a lot of support and strict discipline by my family."

"Being on the stage allows me to be in the skin of a different person, to explore facets of my personality that I haven’t had much experience exploring, expressing myself in song and I love that," she adds.

In April Rachelle was in Singapore giving a series of master classes and concerts and was one of the judges for the Art Song Competition Grand Finals of the 2nd Festa Canzone International Art Song Festival.

It was at the Fiesta Canzone that Rachelle was asked to audition early for a small and exclusive workshop that begins in February in Germany.

"I was so surprised, because I was the only Filipina who joined the festival and I made the semi-finals despite the fact that there were over a hundred other people whose voices were beautiful, professionally-trained and who had great discipline," she says. Though she did not make it to the finals, her voice and performance captured the attention of one of the judges at the competition who conducts a classical voice workshop for which many aspiring classical singers the world over would give their eyeteeth to join.

The other competitors in the Fiesta Canzone "told me that these auditions are almost never given out the way I was selected," Rachelle shares. "I was also told that auditioning for this workshop was really, really tough, especially since only 15 people are given the chance to participate in it."

"Filipinos are innately musical," she explains, "it seems that we have an easier time injecting emotion into our voices, into our music, than many other people of other nationalities. It is easier for us to express our emotions."

This gives Filipinos an edge when it comes to musical pursuits, she says, attributing this inherent musicality to the fact that our pre-Hispanic traditions "include sung oral traditions that demand that you sing your history and hand down such songs and chants to the next generation. It is in our blood, this affinity for music."

"I am proud to be Filipino," Rachelle says, "especially when I am approached by people of other nationalities who tell me they like Filipinos for their talent or their courage or their achievements."

Because of this "proud to be Pinoy" attitude, Rachelle is determined more than ever to excel on the world stage as a classical singer: "I want to make my contributions by uplifting the standards of classical music in the Philippines."

"I want to be a Filipina who brings honor to her country. This is why I do my best every time I get onstage and sing–because I am proud to be Filipino and I want to make my country proud, too," Rachelle says earnestly, though she smiles, as night falls and the interview comes to an end.