Monday, January 22, 2007 Cancer-survivor soprano performs in Rodelsa Hall
SOPRANO. Stage actress. Vocal coach. Voice therapy and rehabilitation consultant. These descriptions hardly begin to introduce us to the vitality of Joscephine Gomez (yes, there is a "c" after the "s" in her first name).
As Boy Abunda proclaimed in his column in The Philippine Star, "Few artists have the courage, the determination, and the bravura of famed Filipina soprano Joscephine Gomez.
She is the country's longest cancer survivor. For her, there are things that cancer cannot destroy, like love, passion for music, and faith in God.
On the evening of January 26, concertgoers in the Southern Philippines will finally get to see Ms. Gomez up close when she sings at Liceo de Cagayan University's Rodelsa Hall, the first theatre for the performing arts in Mindanao.
In "All About Love," she will serenade the city's culturati with love songs from a wide-ranging repertoire---assisted by the prize-winning pianist Rudolf Pelaez Golez.
Ms. Gomez's voice has been described as "exceptionally beautiful crystal-clear. with built-in expressiveness, very intelligent interpretation, above-average ability for vocal coloring.
She is sometimes classified as coloratura and sometimes lyric leggiera as her voice is able to handle the demands for both repertoire."
"Her tones," observers aver, "are brilliant and even from top to bottom, but they can be darkened when necessary. The range spans almost three octaves: from F below middle C, to E flat above the very high C."
Immersed
Noted for her "strong and moving stage presence," Ms. Gomez is considered "able to intelligently use a variety of singing styles to suit a specific music genre, thus singing French opera different from German opera, and singing kundiman, Broadway, and (lately) pop without sounding 'operatic'."
Aside from being a singer, she is also a vocal coach and Voice Therapy and Rehabilitation Consultant. She founded in 1995 and runs the Gomez Clinic for Voice Therapy and Rehabilitation, the Philippines' first center for the treatment of voice disorders.
She has also written music features for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, Manila Bulletin, Times Journal and Women's Journal.
Last year alone, she had three thoroughly different concerts: "Essence of Love" at The Podium (Feb. 17), a concert of popular French, American, German, and Italian love songs popularized by Josh Groban, Edith Piaf, and the like; "Classical Journey" at SM Megamall (July 11), a concert of popular classics, and; "Unexpected Song" at The Podium (Dec. 2), a concert of Broadway and Christmas favorites.
But that was not all. Last year, she also showed her acting and vocal prowess in 12 performances as a lead player in Tanghalang Pilipino's "Orpheus sa Impiyerno" (Orpheus Descending) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
But then again, as Highlights Magazine puts it, "Love for music is in (her) blood."
Ms. Gomez's mother was a radio singer and her father, a producer of mainly musical programs in radio and television. He also composed songs. He introduced her to the kundiman when she was four, and when she was eight years old, so the family story goes, she was by then immersed in classical music.
Distinction
Her music education, which spanned 25 years, included Master of Arts in Vocal Performance (to be completed) at Dr. Hoch's Conservatorium in Frankfurt, Germany; Voice Interpretation at the Anna Rodeselskaya Music School in Ashdod, Israel; and Voice at the University of the Philippines College of Music and at the Philippine Women's University.
She also undertook private voice studies with Lilia Reyes, Florencia Nepomuceno, Kathy Sternberg, and Irma Ponce-Enrile Potenciano.
She went on to master classes under Donna Zapola, Hanna Ludwig, Ernst Hoezl, John Lester, and Eleanor Rona. And, yes, she had private lessons with Eva Icykowska, Lani Misenas, and Evelyn Mandac, who has since performed at Rodelsa Hall.
Aside from voice, Ms. Gomez has studied Choral Conducting with Martin Behrman of Hamburg, Germany, Orchestra Conducting under visiting Russian conductor Valentin Kurzhev at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Composition, Harmony and Counterpoint at the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music.
In 1992, Ms. Gomez was the Philippine representative to the First International Music Festival for the Asia-Pacific Region, held at Krasnoyarsk in Russia.
There she achieved the distinction of being the first Filipino to ever sing the kundiman in Russia and one of the first Filipinas to give a concert in Russia.
Moreover, she braved an international round of auditions for the Mozart opera "Le Nozze di Figaro" and won the lead female role.
Excellence
From there, she was on a spree of solo recitals.
She sang 19 kundiman songs and various German opera arias at the Brunei International Convention Centre in Brunei Darussalam in 1994---the first Filipino to be presented in concert by the Brunei Music Society in its then 21 years of existence.
She also sang French and German opera arias as well as Mozart lieder and kundiman at the Artists' House in Ashdod, Israel in 1997---the first Filipino soprano to give a concert in Israel.
Ms Gomez has since been a recipient of the 1997 Parangal ng Bayan Youth Achievement Award for Culture and the Arts, 2000 Gintong Sikap Award for Professional Achievement, and 2003 Blue Falcon Award for Arts and Culture
When asked what her motto is, Ms. Gomez is quick to reply: "Excellence in everything I do."
She further articulated, "To be able to do all that can be done using all that I have and despite what I do not have and to be able to assist in others' development as I inculcate in them the need to rise above one's circumstances."
And we haven't even begun to talk about Joscephine Gomez the cancer survivor. But that, as they say, is another story.
