Weekends are for recharging out of town. Life seems to get better as the landscape softens to a green that’s as clean as the sky is blue.

Away from one’s usual haunts, the usual weather and what-nots, what unfolds is something like “shaking off the dust of everyday living.”

Precisely what happened last Saturday the 12th of July when Mariel Ilusorio’s piano music pulled us away from Manila to a verdant little place called Mary Sophia House in the heart of Makiling Reserve, Sta. Elena Village in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Mariel described it as “an old house” – yes, it was, old but not that old on the outside. Inside, the hall, looking very new, was big enough to hold 200 persons, and there stood a Kaysburg piano (made in China) waiting for her and Abel Galang, for their four hands to play together and take their listeners through a repertoire of Schubert, Arensky, and Piazzolla.

Mariel – now, there’s music in her name! Scramble the letters and you will find at least three musical notes: mi, la, re. And more than performing piano music, Mariel teaches it. I am told that Mariel’s home in Makati has space big enough for a studio, a gift from her mom Sylvia, that is a state-of-the-art gem of acoustical and architectural perfection.

I’ve been watching Mariel since she began to bloom – now I’ve run out of words to describe the model-like figure she cuts in her long straight gown in black, with a thigh-high slit. She moves with the gracefulness of a model.

What a delight to find, in this little out-of-town event, nearly two hours away from Manila, old friends like Chichi Laperal, Jun Alvendia, Tony Pastor (who came from Batangas City) and his niece Tata Medado, all of us drawn by the power of music and the allure of Mariel’s musicality. That the venue was “something new” and not only promisingly photogenic but also pleasurable to eyes and ears – minus the aggravation of traffic jams – made the trip to Sta. Elena worth every mile.

According to Mariel, it was pure chance that she discovered Mary Sophia. May we be as lucky when we plan our next weekend trip to Cavite, Laguna, or Batangas.