The Impresario (Der Schauspieldirektor) at The Podium

This is me singing Madame Silverpeal's aria, "Bester Jungling." Warning: Crazy camera! I think Mama and my twin were fixing some stuff while recording this.

Exhausted...

But oh so happy! For I got to sing AND go to The Podium for the first time ever! :)

It's a pretty nice mall. Reminds me a lot of Powerplant. Not so many people, which makes for a hassle-free malling experience.

After the performance, I had dinner with the family at Cafe Mediterranean. Their pizza is REALLY good! But lentil soup is an acquired taste. And so is red wine.

One down, four more to go. Kaya ito...

Afterwards, we went shopping at Park Square for some work out stuff that Ogot needed. (Yeeee-eeeees, serioso talaga kapatid ko sa kanyang 'getting fit and gorgeous' regimen! Little bro, you are my thin-spiration.)

Tata and I came across this stall selling HERMIT CRABS!!! Some were REALLY huge, as big as my fist (and I'm no dainty female with dainty hands, mind you)... we got SO freaked out. But the small ones were rather cute! Tata and I purchased 4 small ones whose shells hadn't been painted Pikachu/Spongebob faces, and a matching plastic case to transport the little crabbies in. It's our advanced Christmas gift to Ogot. The little ones in their plastic cage are on top of our piano right now... ooooooooooh so cute so cute...

On acads: I never knew how hard teaching could be. :(  I'm taking MuEd 120 right now, which will prepare me for my teaching practicum next sem. I'll be teaching grade school kids. ANG HIRAP PALA!?!?!?!

I also have two voice students. Yay! I'm officially a voice teacher now. Wish me luck! Hopefully, they'll be singing at a recital at the end of the semester. :)

A weekend (gosh I miss the sem break...)

Opera Goes to the Mall! The Mall Tour of Mozart's Opera: THE IMPRESARIO at SM Southmall

Start:	Nov 29, '06 5:30p
Location:	SM Southmall

Opera Goes to the Mall! The Mall Tour of Mozart's Opera: THE IMPRESARIO at Mall of Asia

Start:	Nov 30, '06 5:30p
Location:	SM Mall of Asia

Opera Goes to the Mall! The Mall Tour of Mozart's Opera: THE IMPRESARIO at SM Manila

Start:	Nov 27, '06 5:30p
Location:	SM Manila

Opera Goes to the Mall! The Mall Tour of Mozart's Opera: THE IMPRESARIO at SM North

Start:	Nov 28, '06 5:30p
Location:	The Block (SM North)

Opera Goes to the Mall! The Mall Tour of Mozart's Opera: THE IMPRESARIO at The Podium

Start:	Nov 25, '06 5:30p
Location:	The Podium

Haaaay...

Sometimes I can't understand how our college works. Heck, sometimes I can't understand why UP works.

Today I spent a total of three hours running around collecting signatures and getting my add-mat papers processed for PI 100. I nearly had a heat stroke, see-sawing back and forth the O.U.R, A.S. and our college (most of the time, on foot).

(Hurray! I got to pre-rog my PI subject!!! It's true... the early bird gets the worm. I came to the prof's 7 am class, even though I was gunning for the 8:30 class. After getting his signature, I left. When I returned for the class proper, there was a note on the board with the assigned readings for the next meeting. And NO PROF. Whew! Buti na lang nanigurado ako! I feel a bit sorry for the others in the 830 class who wanted to pre-rog as well... most of them said they won't pursue it any longer because they might not make the deadline).

I was supposed to have my change-mat papers processed as well (from piano minor to chorus class), but then Ma'am Gemma said I didn't have to, anymore.

"Huh?" I said. "But Ma'am, my piano teacher said that YOU told her that taking extra units for minor/concentration subjects are no longer allowed."

"Yes, I DID tell her that. But then we decided to enforce it next sem," she told me.

 And after I went through all the trouble to stalk Sir Mark and ask him to let me in his class..... Haaaaay...Sayang yung 4 hours na hinintay ko siya Friday afternoon to get his signature...

On the bright side, I will be reunited with my beloved teacher: Ma'am Pia!!

And I'm taking the same PI 100 class as my twin!! YAY!!

"Can't Believe It's Time For School Again" ---> a parody of a Westlife song

For the first time ever, I shall have to prerog a subject. *gulp* I don't know if I'm going to get it, but I really hope I do.

Prof. Tinio of PI 100, PLEASE PLEASE ACCEPT ME!?!?!

I can't imagine a sem with only 16 units!! Granted, my subjects are rather heavy (what with a practicum subject and my second solo recital thrown in)... but I've always been used to having 19-21 units on top of the things I do on the side (e.g. college performances/harangs/athletics etc.).

There's this new college rule that discourages students to take minor/concentration subjects that are not required (or, in my case, no longer required) in their curriculum, and IT SUCKS! :(  I have to "change-mat" [yes, it's now a verb] my piano minor this sem. Sayang... I was SO looking forward to studying under Ma'am Pia Balasico again. She was my piano teacher for 6 sems/3 years, and she's played a huge part in my musical growth! I owe her a lot.

In exchange for the 1 unit of piano, I will be in the Chorus Class of Sir Mark Carpio!! How exciting! As in, THE Mark Carpio. The conductor of the best choir in the country... the Philippine Madrigal Singers!!!

This sem promises to be an exciting one.

My First Recital! Part 1

Oct. 20, 2006, Friday
5:30 pm
Abelardo Hall Auditorium
UP College of Music

Michelle Nicolasora, assisting artist

living up the last days of the sem break...

For the past several days, our family's been going mall/bar/restaurant-hopping like mad! Ang saya saya!

Last night, the family and I went to Chef and Brewer at Ortigas to watch Lala & Djiwa LIVE!!  Wahoo! They're really good! Domini is the QUEEN of the guitar! Mabuhay ang College of Music!!

I'm a bit sentimental about the sembreak coming to an end. I feel like it's barely begun! On the bright side, when school starts I'll start losing the pounds I gained whilst being a lazy-daisy.

I'm excited about taking piano again this coming sem!! I've missed it so. I'm going to request this 3-part invention by Bach... it's GORGEOUS! It's no. 11 in the book, in g minor. I've heard Raymond play it before and it literally brought tears to my eyes, it was that exquisite.

Join me in a toast to the best sem-break ever!

The Sem Break! Part 2

A happy day at SM Mall of Asia

Excerpt from our college's production of Mozart's short opera, Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario)

Apologies! Audio is not perfectly in sync with the images...

This is from the penultimate trio, with Sir Raymond Diaz, Ma'am Mary Ann Lanuza and myself singing. Sir Greg de Leon is in the background, happily imbibing. The UP Student Orchestra is playing (not shown in the video).

Excerpt from the Voice Dept.'s production of Menotti's opera: "The Old Maid and the Thief"

a short excerpt: my character's aria "What a curse for a woman is a timid man..."

apologies! audio's not perfectly in sync

The BEST interpretation of Erlkönig... and one of the best singers EVER!!!

I LOOOOOOVE Anne Sofie von Otter!!! She's AMAZING! Grabe! Just look at her interpretation of ERLKONIG. She successfully manages to play the four different characters in 1 song (Narrator, Son, Father, and of course, the wicked evil Elf King).

Plus she manages to make all four have their own different vocal timbre... ang galing niya, sobra! Idol! I get the goosebumps when she does the character of the Elf King!

Here's the translation:

Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.-

"My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide?"
"Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?"
"My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain."-

"Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
Full many a game I will play there with thee;
On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold."-

" My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?"
"Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives;
'Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves."-

" Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care
My daughters by night their glad festival keep,
They'll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep."

"My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?"
"My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight."-

" I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty,dear boy!
and if thou'rt unwilling, then force I'll employ."
My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Pull sorely the Erl-King has hurt me last." -

The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread,--
The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.-