Why Italian ambassador to the Philippines, Marco Clemente, thinks the staging of the Puccini opera in Manila is a ‘streetcar that may never pass again’
When the new Italian ambassador to the Philippines, Marco Clemente, was called in to say a few words, he took to the stage as if his message was a matter of life and death.
This was at a lunch hosted by Rustan Group of Companies (RGOC) chair and CEO Nedy Tantoco at the Hilton Manila in behalf of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Filipinas Opera Society Foundation Inc., and RGOC to introduce the staging of Giacomo Puccini’s monumental opera Turandot at the CCP Main Theater on Dec. 9, 10, and 11.
But first the ambassador expressed gratitude toward Nedy Tantoco and CCP president Margie Moran-Floirendo for embarking on what he described as “a huge, huge enterprise” and, later when I sat down with him, as “an immensely difficult, expensive, almost impossible” production, even a thankless job in a country where the arts are not on the priority list for government subsidies.
“I don’t want to scare you,” said Ambassador Clemente. “But you have a big responsibility. If you don’t make the public aware of what opera is for the cultural life of this country, you will regret that in the next years. If we lose this last, uhm, streetcar, to quote a famous American play, if you let it go without people knowing there is something so important for your culture called opera, this streetcar may not pass anymore.”
It’s been said that opera is dying. Even in the West, including Italy, where it started at the end of the 16th century by way of what is considered the first true opera, Dafne, composed by Rome-born musician Jacopo Peri and staged at Palazzo Corsi in Florence in 1594, there is a conscious effort to keep it going. “Opera in Italy will never die. It’s in our DNA. After all, we have the world’s best opera house, La Scala in Milan,” said Ambassador Clemente. “But like the rest of the world, we have to keep creating a new public for it.”
This is why the ambassador is emotionally invested in the staging of Turandot in Manila, of which the Italian embassy is a major sponsor. This epic tale, set in mythical Beijing, about a princess who would cut off the heads of suitors who failed to answer her riddles, was the final work of Puccini and also his boldest musically.
Opera as a form of art is unique. Many consider it the most complete art form, combining all artistic elements, such as words, music, drama, dance, costume, and stage design. What sets it apart is its use of music to convey an entire story or plot as well as its use of the voice, from soprano to baritone, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller music ensemble, to carry the storytelling, transcending even the language barrier, resonating with audiences even on a foreign tongue.
‘If you don’t make the public aware of what opera is for the cultural life of this country, you will regret that in the next years.’
Not all’s well on the opera front. Even in Rome, Moscow, New York, Berlin, or Paris, the art form has been rumored for decades to be on the brink of dying—too expensive to mount, too elitist for modern audiences, too long-winded for the new generation’s short attention span.
But we must fight to keep it alive. “Why?” Ambassador Clemente asked, throwing out his emphatic answer before I could say a word. “Opera is a necessity. It’s the encyclopedia of human feelings that sometimes cannot be expressed in spoken words. I always use this example: If you see Shakespeare’s Othello on stage, sometimes you don’t find it very believable, you might find it artificial, but if you listen to Verdi’s Otello, everything sounds so, so real. I think it’s the magic of music. It’s the music that transforms the words into something so emotional, something everyone can identify with. Music enhances the power of spoken words.”
Ambassador Clemente watched his first opera when he was 13. “It was love at first sight,” he mused. His obsession is to make the next generation experience the same thing. Which is why—“and I’m very proud of this,” he said—the envoy solicited the help of Vice President and concurrent Secretary of Education Sara Duterte to have 700 students, nine to 15 years old, to witness a dress rehearsal for Turandot on Dec. 7.
“An opera isn’t something that happens every day, especially in this part of the world,” Ambassador Clemente explained. “It’s not part of your culture. You need a little more effort to introduce it to the young people.”
For lack of time, the ambassador didn’t mention that, once upon a time, opera was a good enough proposition in the Philippines for some of our literary jewels to be transformed into a libretto, such as Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Composed by national artist Felipe Padilla de Leon, the Noli premiered at the CCP Main Theater in 1970 and Fili in 1975 in a tradition for which Sandugong Panaginip by Madrid-educated Pedro Paterno paved the way. Credited to be the first Filipino opera, the work of the 19th-century novelist, poet, and musician, who was also a politician, was staged on Aug. 2, 1902 at the Zorilla Theater on C.M. Recto Avenue in Manila.
But yes, Ambassador Clemente believes there is hope Filipinos can be drawn to opera. “Of course, the Philippines is privileged,” he explained. “You have Spanish heritage, the Americans also, and you love music, and you had zarzuelas… Yours is such a rich culture.”
Turandot’s scale and spectacle should be enough to wow the Filipino. Aside from its music and its story, its costumes, its scenery, and its lighting, imagined and made exotic by Puccini in those days Asia was a distant, spellbinding region, are sure to resonate with Filipino sensibilities, both Asian and Western or, in today’s parlance, global.
Plus, Filipino talents, like soprano Rachelle Gerodias who will sing the role of Liu, tenor Ervin Lumauag as Pang the Grand Administrator, and tenor Ivan Nery as Pong the Grand Intendant, will share the Turandot stage with the international cast. Also in the cast is Rachel’s husband S Byeong In Park, who plays Ping the Grand Chancellor as part of the trio of ministers Ping-Pang-Pong, as well as other Filipinos, tenor Nomher Nival as Emperor Altoum, and baritone Greg de Leon as Mandarino. The opera dance ensembles will come from the ranks of Alice Reyes Dance Philippines.
Helming the production is Italian director Maestro Vincenzo Grisostomi Travaglini. He and assistant director Prince Ravivaddhana Monipong Sisowath have worked together on operas staged at the CCP, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in 2017 and Lucia di Lammermoor in 2020.
Italian tenor Alessandro Liberatore takes on the role of Prince Calaf. Korean soprano Lilla Lee plays Princess Turandot. Bass Jinsu Lee plays Timur, the exiled Tartar king.
Also flown in is lighting designer Giovanni Pirandello, who has worked on the set of Verdi’s La traviata, Puccini’s La bohème, and Donizetti’s Marino Faliero, who is to heighten its visual impact.
Ambassador Clemente’s obsession is to make more young people know more about opera. To him, Turandot is a good choice for starters. “In my life, I have seen Turandot 20 times, maybe more, but every time I see it, I discover new things,” he says. “Please do not miss this one. Bring your children to watch it.”
Gala night is on Dec. 9, at 8 p.m., at the CCP Main Theater, Tickets at Php ₱6,000 at orchestra center, ₱5,000 at orchestra sides, and ₱2,500 at balcony. There’s a matinee on Dec. 11 at 3 p.m.. Tickets at ₱4,000 at orchestra center, ₱3,000 at orchestra sides, and ₱1,500 at balcony. Call Lulu Casas at 09175708301 or email [email protected] or Maricar Alamodin at 09175384508, email [email protected].