A Filipino baritone

By ELINANDO B. CINCO

February 24, 2011, 10:47pm

 MANILA, Philippines – Sometime in the spring of 2005, a European conductor of the hallowed Carnegie Hall in New York City remarked that the American opera scene would see rare talents “who are outsiders performing as baritones, tenors, and sopranos in the next decade.”

In an interview with an American news weekly journal, the master lamented the dearth of pure American talents in the classical or opera type of production. Critics agreed with his observation.

However, little did the maestro know that in less than a decade, his prediction is now coming to a reality.

He is in the person of young Filipino baritone, Jerome Sibulo who is pursuing a Master of Music degree, major in Voice Performance, at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University, USA. He had earned earned a Bachelor of Music degree in the same institution.

Jerome will be singing Pinellino in UI Opera Theater’s production of Gianni Schicchi in 2011. He was last seen as Leporello in Don Giovanni for the Sieur Duluth Summer Arts Festival. Working with the school’s Latin American Music Center, he created the role of El Señor de El Paso in the world premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s Unicamente la Verdad. He has sung various roles in opera scenes programs.

Last January, he performed in a homecoming concert at the Ateneo de Manila University on the occasion of his being a recipient of the First Loyola School of Music awards. Beatriz Robles, a clarinetist, was also a featured awardee-performer. Kimberly Redick, a soprano from Indiana University, was another featured artist.

At the institution, he is currently the vice president of Student NATS at IU, and is chair of the organization's 7th Annual new Voice Educators Symposium.

He graduated from the Ateneo with a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Psychology. He was bestowed the Loyola School’s Award for Arts and Music in 2005.

Jerome is the son of Dr. Antonio Sibulo Jr., director of the Heart Institute of St. Luke's Medical Center, and past president of the Philippine Heart Association and the ASEAN Federation of Cardiology, and Dr. Constancia Sibulo, an OB-Gyne specialist in the same hospital.

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MOUNTAIN BLUES. Equally important to taxpayers relative to the current Senate inquiries about military misdeeds, a taxpayer-complainant has urged Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Teofisto Guingona III to look into reports that a property developer may be paid more than a billion pesos "for residual value" of a project which was already reportedly scrapped by the government.

According to journalist Romeo Lim who filed a taxpayer's complaint against the developer, it still has pending cases before the Supreme Court and at the Office of the Ombudsman. These cases should be resolved first before any decision is made on the so-called "residual value" issue, he said.

An e-mail statement sent to this columnist, stated the developer has allegedly been paid for its investments, consisting of several millions representing advances, the worth of property inside the area and the company's common shares.