Eugene Domingo is mega-excited for this year’s Valentine’s Day. Her new show, Dear Uge, is scheduled have its pilot episode on February 14 on GMA, her mother studio for many years now.
She headlined the top-rating game show Celebrity Bluff for many successful seasons and it’s good that the talented artist is doing something new. We think this new concept of a show is great for her, one that fuses comedy, romance and drama. Eugene will be the main host of the show, which will feature different stories every Sunday. She also gets to do a special role in every episode, which excites her.
“It’s one of the reasons I accepted the show because aside from the fresh concept and the ability to make many viewers happy, I also get to participate as an actor. Of course, laughter and enjoyment are still at the core of the new show.”
Dear Uge has also opened the big door for a promising actress, discovered in theater, by the name of Divine Grace Aucina. Eugene shared that the new show will also be prioritizing both promising artists and thespians from the theater and indie film communitites as guests.
“I’m grateful to the executives of GMA because they listen, and they are open to providing avenues for really talented artists to showcase their talents to a wider audience, in this case, television. If we can be instruments for them to be discovered, or rediscovered, or for them to cross over to mainstream, then that is priceless.”
This coming love weekend, Eugene still does not have concrete plans, but she revealed that she’s very inspired these days.
“I’m happy. I am not saying that I have found the one, but I am inspired. It will definitely be a happy Valentine’s Day and a very good and happy year.”
FREE CONCERT AT UP DILIMAN
AS part of the Carillon Concert Series that aims to showcase achievers and award-winning performances from the University of the Philippines (UP), the UP Alumni Association (UPAA) presents Faces of Love: Mga Mukha ng Pagmamahal featuring the UP Arco String Orchestra on February 12, at 6pm at the Carillon Plaza in UP Diliman.
The UP Arco (formerly known as the UP String Chamber Orchestra) will take the audience through different kinds of love in the form of music and melodies. The free concert will be anchored by Prof. Patricia Brillantes-Silvestre, and performed under the baton of Prof. Michi Martinez.
The UP Arco was formed as one of the resident performing groups of the College of Music during the term of the late Dean Reynaldo T. Paguio back in 1988. They won the Silver Band Award at the 2015 Bratislava International Youth Music Festival competition in Slovakia, and are currently preparing for the competition at the Florence International Choir and Orchestra Festival in Italy next month.
The UP Carillon Concert Series is the brainchild of the UPAA Board of Directors headed by Atty. Ramon M. Maronilla. Part of the proceeds from sponsorships is allocated for the maintenance and enhancement of the Carillon tower and plaza.
For those who are not familiar with the UP Carillon, it was inaugurated on August 1, 1952, as a contribution of the UPAA to the new Diliman campus after UP transferred from Padre Faura in Manila. The Carillon brought joy to generations of students and other members of the Diliman community for more than three decades—until the bells fell into disrepair in the late 1980s, and eventually became silent in 1988.
The alumni gathered all their resources and pulled all their strings to raise funds for the restoration of the Carillon, including the replacement of the bells and the landscaping of the Carillon Plaza. The restoration became a priority project of at least three successive UPAA boards. In December 2010 the UPAA turned over the newly refurbished Carillon to UP Diliman, marked by a concert at the Carillon Plaza.
ART-INSPIRED BALLET
Members of the culturati and the local art and performance communities are looking forward to Ballet Philippines’s season-ender Opera.
This production brings a synergy between artists and art forms, with French choreographer Redha Beintefour transforming the groundbreaking installation of noted scupltor Gabriel Barredo into a contemporary ballet performance at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s Main Theater on February 13 and 14, with a Fundraising Gala on February 16 at 8 pm. Barredo’s Opera exhibit was first presented at the Silverlens Galleries in January 2015, and it was showcased in Singapore last November. For the ballet, Barredo is creating an array of new works, which will also double as the show’s set design.
Redha’s choreography is also something that excites us. Envisioning his dancers on bare feet, pointe shoes and stilettos, he is set to present a work that is stimulating and sensual. “Being part of this production is a great thrill,” Redha shared, adding “Meeting the scupltor and seeing his work up close was very inspiring for me and the dancers.”
Based in France, Redha has choreographed for several of the world’s leading dance companies such as the Bolshoi Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the National Ballet of Cuba, Le Jeune Ballet de France, the Het Nationale Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet. He has also created choreographies for the feature films of great filmmakers like Roman Polanski, Alain Delon and Francis Ford Coppola.
“Opera is shaping up to be one of the most innovative productions that Ballet Philippines (BP) has produced in a long time,” BP Artistic Director Paul Alexander Morales said. “We couldn’t be happier that the shows will also fall on the Valentine weekend, and we can offer an option for those who would be celebrating the love weekend.”
Presented by Ballet Philippines, Opera features the collaborative libretto of Yvette Tan and Erwin Romulo; original music by Malek Lopez; lighting design by John Batalla; and costumes by the low-key but brilliant designer James Reyes. The production is made possible through the generosity of the Embassy of France. n