A night at the opera with Mendezona

Friday, January 21, 2011

AFTER nine years of being away from her hometown, international opera singer Antoni Mendezona is back in Cebu. She will perform at the Marcelo B. Fernan Cebu Press Center tonight.

Sponsored by Omnilo-gy Inc., a non-profit organization committed to empowering communities in Southeast Asia, the musical event, dubbed “One Voice: Breaking Down Barriers That Divide Society,” will feature Mendezona, pianists Rudolf Golez and Eunie Choe and orchestra director Gideon Bendicion.

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The world-class talents will perform the compositions of Villalobos, Ambroise Thomas, Eva dell’Acqua, Leo Delibes, Leonard Bernstein, Andrew Lloyd Weber and some Visayan composers.

Background

Mendezona, 26, will sing two Filipino songs: “Ang Maya” and the Cebuano song “Sa Kabukiran.”

Tonight’s concert, which will start at 8 p.m., will be her first performance in Cebu after she turned professional.

Mendezona studied at the St. Theresa’s College (STC) before migrating to the US, where she finished high school and took her bachelor and masters degree in music.

She recalled joining plays, with her playing the piano, during her days at the STC, where she studied until second year high school.

“It felt nice to be back. But Cebu is so different now. It’s almost overwhelming,” she said in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.

Mendezona recently performed the role of Sophie during the international debut of Tobias Picker’s Emmeline, held as part of the Mezzo Television Festival in Szeged, Hungary.

The performance was broadcast live in 36 countries in Europe and South America.

She also recently sang the role of Veronique in the New York City premier of Thomas Pasatieri’s The Hotel Casablanca, which earned her good reviews from the New York Times.

Mendezona received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the California State University of Sacramento and Masters of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy at the West-minster Choir College of Rider University.

Workshops

She arrived in Cebu last Jan. 12, and has been spending time with her family and childhood friends.

Before going back to the US on Jan. 29, the opera singer will perform and hold workshops in Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro.

Her secret to her voice, Mendezona said, is “not being around smoke, not drinking too much.” The singer said she also hydrates her voice by drinking a lot of water.

Like the previous years, 2011 will be a busy year for Mendezona, as she will be joining opera auditions in New York and Switzerland.

Even as she’s miles away from the place she grew up in, Mendezona will surely keep coming back to Cebu.

“I do love Cebuanos. I love Cebu,” she said.