MANILA, Philippines - “Songs from the heart,” presented July 6 at Theater 2 of SM City Cebu, celebrated Philippine-American Friendship Day. Featured was Trio Amical courtesy of the United States of America Embassy, in cooperation with the Arts Council and SM Northwing.

An audience of more than 600, mostly students, applauded every number. The trio consists of Victoria Robertson, a dazzlingly beautiful mezzo-soprano who was once Miss San Diego in California; Lois Kim, an excellent pianist; and Marian Liebowitz, a virtuoso with the clarinet.

Victoria and Lois met Marian in the fall of 2007 at the University of San Diego. Both diploma candidates, they qualified to enroll in Dr. Liebowitz’s seminar on Professional Orientation for Performers. They formed Trio Amical and have been praised wherever they performed.

In Cebu, it was on a sylvan setting as Jaime Chua adorned the stage with potted trees and giant dapo ferns. All three took turns performing, save for Lois who did all the accompaniments. Menchit Ybud helped her turn the pages of the score books.

The program started with Victoria singing an aria from Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito.” Lois then played the dreamy “Ballade No. 4” by Chopin, and Victoria returned to sing four famous songs from Bizet’s opera “Carmen.” It was Marian’s turn to render a solo on the clarinet—“Tonada” by Argentinean composer Carlos Gustaviano (1912-2000).

Part 1 closed with Victoria singing two more arias, this time from “Samson and Delilah” by Saint-Saens.

During the brief interval, Arts Council staff Mariz Rallos and Gerra Cabatingan asked some young audiences if they were coming back.

“We’ll just eat something. Of course we will come back, because it is so nice,” they said. Most amused were Arts Council trustees Angelina Escaño and Dominique Riegel as they saw the students hurry back when the warning chimes were played at the lobby.

Gershwin music

Part 2 started with George Gershwin as Victoria sang “Summertime” and Lois, his three immortal “Preludes for Piano” composed in 1927. Then they performed songs from popular Broadway musicals.

Victoria sang “Till There Was You” from “The Musical Man” by Meredith Wilson, and “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady” by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner.

There was another clarinet solo from Marian—the wedding dance from “Fiddler on the Roof” by Jerry Boch. The finale had all three doing the title song and “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

It was a truly wonderful evening with this trio of ladies who looked as great as they performed. And they’re terribly nice, too, as we found out later during dinner at Casino Español. “We are impressed with the program notes,” they told Arts Council president Petite Garcia and vice president Maxwell Espina.

Responsible for the program is Petite herself who surfs the Internet and finds out details about composers and their works. Many concert-goers keep these notes for reference.

Trio Amical visited Cebu with Jomar Ascano and Jennifer Frias who handle cultural affairs at the US Embassy. With the success of this performance we may expect more great artists to come to Cebu.

Master classes

Next day was a busy one for the trio, as they gave master classes in piano, voice and clarinet at the Marcelo Fernan Cebu Press Center auditorium. All three spoke on the topic Careers in Music.

They shared insights about what they were performing, and gave a slice of their private lives which endeared them all the more to the audience.

The next musical event at SM City Cebu will be at the Northwing Atrium
Aug. 3, 5:30 p.m., with Ingrid Sala Santamaria and Reynaldo Reyes. The event is part of their 16th Romantic Piano Concert Tour which takes them all over the Philippines twice a year.

This is the second tour for 2008, which started in the cities of Dipolog, Ozamis, Oroquieta and Pagadian. They are now in Manila. After Cebu, they will go to Tagbilaran in Bohol, and hold a concert in Las Piñas. Then they’ll go to Dumaguete in Negros Oriental and Davao City.

Their tour ends Sept. 12 in Zamboanga City, birthplace of Ingrid’s mom, the late Pilar Blanco Sala, who had her first piano lessons at a very young age.