A magical evening of music and friendship

A magical evening of music and friendship | Daily Tribune

Joining Sunico onstage was saxophonist Archie Lacorte, a dedicated educator and seasoned performer with a global footprint. A graduate of the University of Santo Tomas and a master’s degree holder from the Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima, Japan, he delivered a cosmopolitan sensibility to the performance. Seamlessly blending jazz, Latin and rockabilly influences, Lacorte’s interpretation was as precise as it was passionate.

The repertoire began with a transatlantic dialogue. George Gershwin’s "Summertime" floated in a languid haze, followed by Cole Porter’s sultry Night and Day, rendered with such velvet smoothness, it seemed to melt into the warm Manila evening.

What followed was a nostalgic overture to Broadway, as Sunico performed solo pieces from My Fair Lady, threading together hummable melodies such as "Wouldn’t It Be Lovely?," "On the Street Where You Live," and "I Could Have Danced All Night." With subtle pedal work and a deft touch, Sunico transformed the piano into a storyteller, and for a moment, one could almost imagine Eliza Doolittle herself walking past the front garden and the all-around terrace of the mansion.

"Rhapsody in Blue," another Gershwin classic, was a highlight — Sunico’s dexterity anchoring the complex piano solo passages, while Lacorte’s saxophone sang with clarity and confidence.

And yet, it was the Filipino segment which truly captured most hearts of the evening. The beloved Ilocano folk song "Pamulinawen," with its timeless theme of unrequited love, was arranged into a piano-saxophone conversation which felt both fresh and respectful of tradition. The audience was visibly moved as the program continued with "Dahil Sa Iyo," "Maalala Mo Kaya," "Saranggola ni Pepe," and "Pandangguhan." The arrangements drew on classical, jazz, and kundiman styles, wonderfully establishing the familiar as new again.

As the final notes of the "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Freddie Mercury, "Spain" from Joaquin Rodrigo’s famed Concerto de Aranjuez, "Never Let Her Slip Away" — one of the First Lady’s favorite tunes – and Gershwin’s masterpiece "Rhapsody in Blue," danced across the hall, the visibly awed attendees burst into a series of applauses — one louder than the next — for the technical brilliance of the masters and how the performers told a story of a shared heritage.

In addition to guests from the arts community — including National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ Victorino Manalo, cultural chronicler Lisa Nakpil, Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Kaye Tinga and Carissa Coscolluela, arts and culture lover Ping Valencia, Asia Society’s Ernest Escaler and Tess Rances, The Philippine Star’s Millet Mananquil and husband Robert, art collector Jose Mari Treñas, makeup artist Patrick Rosas among many attendees — others seen were Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia, PNP chief Nicolas Torre, OWWA administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan, BizNewsAsia’s Tony Lopez, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation director Atty. Mike Toledo, and Philippine-American mixed martial artist Brandon Michael Vera.

Special guests were students from the Silahis ng Katarungan Special School, Bagong Barangay Elementary School, Doña Teodora Alonzo High School, Elpidio Quirino High School, Lakandula High School, and Chinese General Hospital Senior High School.

The evening reaffirmed Filipino-American friendship on the eve of 4th of July no less.

¡Enhorabuena, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos! ¡Mabuhay, Raul Sunico and Archie Lacorte!