It’s all systems go for Ginugunita Kita, a performance art featuring Maningning Miclat‘s poems and award-winning composer Jesse Lucas‘ all-original music.
Ginugunita Kita will be presented by the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation Inc., in cooperation with District Gallery-Artist Playground and the Far Eastern University President’s Committee on Culture, on September 26, Wednesday, 6 p.m. at the historic, newly-opened FEU Auditorium along Nicanor Reyes St. (formerly Morayta) in Sampaloc, Manila. This will be held in line with the foundation’s 18th anniversary celebration.
Maningning Miclat was a poet, fictionist and essayist in English, Filipino and Chinese as well as a painter in the Western and Chinese genre. She was a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and a fellow of the UP National Writer’s Workshop, Silliman Writer’s Workshop and Rio Alma Poetry Clinic. Her Chinese poems made her one of the top-rated women poets in Chinese in the world.
Miclat’s eleven poems, Ginugunita Kita, Tawag, Anino, Panibugho, Duet (nina Rizal at Bracken), Kulay sa Bagyo, Ang Naliligaw, Shi Bu Shi, A Stare, Verse #2 and To Catch a Second and Turn it to Forever, are published in her trilingual book of poetry Voice from the Underworld (Anvil Publishing, 2000).
Jesse Lucas said the inspiration came easily to him after reading the book, which was a National Book Award finalist for poetry in 2001. “The poems of Maningning Miclat are almost melodious that I can hear the music through the poetic images. It spoke and at the same time sang to me poignant thoughts about life, pain and love…. the experience in writing the music was really meditative and cathartic at the same time. It feels like I have discovered a new language, a language that speaks directly to the soul. These are the foundation of Ginugunita Kita’s music.”
The composer, who considers Ryan Cayabyab and Chino Toledo as his mentors, won awards from FAMAS, which catapulted him to the Hall of Fame, and from Gawad Urian, Young Critics Circle, Gawad Tanglaw and Aliw Awards. In 2005, he won at the Screamfest International Film Festival in Los Angeles, USA, for his music for the film Sigaw. Ballet Philippines, Dulaang UP, Dramatis Personae, Gantimpala Theater Foundation, Philippine Ballet Theater and Tanghalang Pilipino have also adapted his music.
The performance art, directed by film and theater actor Roeder Camañag, will feature soloist Banaue Miclat-Janssen and master cellist Renato Lucas, together with singer Al Gatmaitan and Angela Castro of the FEU Dance Company, with live interactive visual art of Nasser Lubay.
Roeder Camañag describes the show as “all about poetry and the creation of emotive response. From the poetry of the life of a poet to the poetry of interpreting the poems of someone you love and the poetry of putting the right music to amplify the auditory experience of powerful images embedded in a poem.”
Banaue Miclat-Janssen is currently the Artistic Director of Dulaang UP and the Executive Director of the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation. She sings the opera, acts and dances on stage and hones young artists as professor of theatre arts at UP Diliman’s Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts. She obtained her Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and her Bachelor of Arts from UP. In New York, she attended voice lessons from Evelyn Mandac, Robert Carpenter, and CUNY’s Judylee Vivier. She had stints at the Metropolitan Opera in productions such as Salome, Faust, La Boheme, Don Carlo, I Puritani and La Traviata, among others. She has performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, UP Abelardo Hall, UP Theater and Ateneo de Manila University.
One of the finest cellists in the country, Renato Lucas studied at the UP Diliman College of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music (USA), Royal Northern College of Music (England), Hochschule fur Musik Detmold (Germany) and Universitaet der Kunst Berlin (Germany). He has been the principal soloist of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for three decades. He has performed as soloist with the Manila Symphony Orchestra, Manila Chamber Orchestra and UST Symphony Orchestra, as well as the CCP’s Filipino Artist Series, Pundaquit Arts Festival, Las Piňas Bamboo Organ Festival, and Maningning Poetry Awards.
Al Gatmaitan is an opera singer, theater actor, and three-time Aliw Awardee for Best Performer of the Year. He can also be seen on film, television, and online advertisements.
Angela Castro is one of the principal dancers of the FEU Dance Company headed by Edward Malagkit. Her performance has brought her to various competitions that FEU has joined in and outside the country.
Ginugunita Kita had its gala world premiere at the UP Aldaba Hall in May 2015. It was also performed at the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio V. Tolentino in September 2015 to coincide with the 7th Maningning Miclat Poetry Awards.
The show garnered the 2015 Aliw Awards for Best Performance in a New Concept Production for Miclat-Janssen and was nominated Best Director in the same category for Camañag.
Ginugunita Kita is presented in cooperation with Frontrow Entertainment and Ruben & Elizabeth Vedar. For ticket inquiries, please contact the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation c/o Carmela at 0999-8050681 or call Ticketworld at 891-9999.
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