The last time we communicated, Nedy Tantoco expressed great interest in having Cecile Licad and the sensational 23-year-old Filipino-Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski partner in a big concert.
But as the young conductor was fully booked until 2027, we couldn’t make it happen this year.
We frantically emailed the conductor’s German agent but there was nothing she could do to make a Manila concert happen in 2024. We settled for a possible 2025 date.
I even had to “scheme” with the conductor’s mother (a Filipino from Davao) to closely monitor the hectic sked just in case there is a sudden open slot due to cancelation or other reasons.
“Tell him Pablo I can send a helicopter if he can make it to Manila,” she added not in jest.
I updated Nedy about the conductor’s schedule but his availability would not happen in a near future.
Then I told Nedy, “You know what? The new PPO music director — Grzegorz Nowak – is just as good.
Never saw such an excellent conductor of the PPO since Oscar Yatco’s time.”
Then I got in touch with Cecile (Licad) and guaranteed the PPO already has a damned good conductor. The pianist said yes.
Nedy said yes to a March Women’s Month PPO concert with Licad and another one in May.
But as she was preparing for coming concerts, she had a heart operation on a Monday and on a Thursday
night (February 8), she breathed her last.
Next day (Friday, February 9), the CCP dedicated the 6 th PPO season concert to Ms. Tantoco who happened to be the head of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc.
CCP president Michelle Nikki Junia defined her fruitful 19 years as CCP trustee and unwavering love for
arts and culture.
She planned several fundraising efforts to help the CCP resident companies. On top of that, she raised funds for purchase of new musical instruments and repairs for aging ones. Tantoco was instrumental in bringing the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) to the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York.
Foremost of all, she was an opera impresario.
The productions she helped mount were Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore (The
Elixir of Love) in 2017, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in 2020, and Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot in 2022, among others.
Concluded the CCP president: “The CCP and the arts community grieve the loss of a strong ally of cultural
endeavors and promoting artistic excellence. May her soul rest in peace and rise in glory.”
Thus, the family announced the passing of Zenaida “Nedy” R. Tantoco – the retailer, philanthropist, patroness of the arts, loving mother, and grandmother — on the night of February 8, 2024, at 11:42 p.m. She was 77.
I can only recall Nedy’s presence in those press conference before the opening of her various opera productions.
During the presscon for Lucia di Lammermoor, I asked Nedy and the lead singers of the Donizetti opera
what their real-life mad scenes are (the opera is famous for the Mad Scenes of the heroine).
Nedy replied: “It’s true that preparing to mount an opera involves some kind madness. The opera is full of
entertaining arias but it also involves a lot of hard work. For another, it is very expensive to mount one. The
madness begins while raising funds through the help of various sponsors and looking after the needs of the artists and production team. It involves a whole lot of preparations that can induce madness. But when your
audience enjoys it, you realize later your act of ‘madness’ actually paid off.”
In one presscon for the production of L’Elisir d’Amore, I asked both singers and producers if opera might just die a natural death due to dwindling audiences on top of expensive production expenses.
The cast and producer of L’Elisir d’Amore said they’d prefer to be positive and optimistic.
“For as long as singers are around and producers believe in its good effect in society, opera will thrive,”
said the lead tenor in the opera.
Nedy the producer answered opera remains a source of first-rate entertainment. “Let’s face it, music gives us pure joy. I get pure delight just listening to Elena Ponti and David Astorga. I think Filipinos will remain an opera lover at heart.”
Nedy’s biggest opera hit, of course, was Lucia di Lammermoor which was staged just a few weeks before the pandemic would close theaters all over the country.
The feedback for the opera was staggering.
“Thanks to ‘Lucia di Lammermoor,’ I forgot my endless anxiety on coronavirus at least for three hours,”
said opera watcher Margie Logarta who witnessed a huge audience turn out on a Sunday afternoon.
In both performances, tenor Arthur Espiritu as Edgardo was the star of the night after delivering an immensely moving tomb scene in the last act.
On the second performance, Espiritu’s cabaletta for the finale aria, “Fra poco a me ricovero,” was interrupted by long applause. When the audience uproar died down, he finished the aria as a volley of “bravos” shook the theater.
Opera lover Joseph Uy said, “I am so fortunate to have witnessed some of the greatest Edgardos live from
Carlo Bergonzi to Placido Domingo, Luis Lima, Jose Carreras and Pavarotti (in concert version only with
Sutherland). On both nights, Arthur (Espiritu) proved he had nothing to fear from all of them. His was a most
heartfelt portrayal of Edgardo I have seen in my long operagoing life.”
Writer Cielo Lutz, “What made the performance on Sunday extra memorable for me was the audience reaction. I’ve seen many excellent opera productions in New York and Philadelphia, but none of them received the rock-concert treatment of Sunday’s ‘Lucia di Lammermoor.’ These kids, many of whom were
experiencing opera for the first time, reacted loudly: laughing, gasping, snickering during a number of kissing scenes between Lucia and Edgardo, making loud comments, and clapping any time they wished, usually after a long-held high note.”
It turned out the 2020 CCP production of Lucia di Lammermoor was several notches superior to past CCP
productions such as “Rigoletto,” “La Traviata,” “Barber of Seville,” “L’elisir d’amore” and the last one, Turandot in 2022.
Arthur Espiritu can still remember the opera producer at the end of Lucia production at the CCP. “After the
opening night, she gave me a wonderful barong as a gift with a personal note. She told me, ‘I hope you will enjoy this little token of my appreciation for your great performance. It’s good quality barong and will last you for a while.’ I felt that she really puts her heart into what she is doing. Yes, she is the undisputed supporter of our great art but I will not say what everyone is obviously asking: who else will mount operas in the Philippines with great care, vision, and respect for the traditions of the art form? I will say instead, ‘She is a great loss to her family first and foremost, to all the people whom she worked with and have earned great respect, a great loss to the people that loves her. She set the bar at a very high level with her leadership, her personal touch to what she does. I can tell that she brings with her great passion to whatever she does and with people that have worked with her, worked for her. It takes great courage and conviction
to do what she does.”
One anecdote he remembers was after one of the performances of Lucia where I invited him and family for
dinner with other music fans at the Aristocrat Restaurant.
“After that we came back and Tita Nedy (Tantoco) was there grabbing me and said where were you? We were waiting for you?”
Tenor and wife said they bought alcohol and then she just laughed so loud. “It was so great to see her in that motherly role. I can tell that she really cares not just about the people around her wining and dining but for people like myself. I realized that she really cares. I could never forget that moment.”
To Nedy, the tenor said: “Thank you for being the mother to most of us musicians.”
To the lady impresario, doing two concertos in one night is quite a challenge.
She asked Cecile (Licad) what made her decide to accept the challenge. playing Chopin No. 1 and 2 in one
night. The pianist replied: “Well, Tita Nedy, I was challenged by Olivier (Ochanine, the principal conductor
of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra) and I thought it was time I took the challenge.”
A lifestyle editor asked why the pianist was all-smiles in one gathering in Nedy’s house.
Pianist confided to Nedy in 2017: “My son Otavio (Meneses) has a very good effect on me. I’m happy when
he is present because he has such a positive vibe.”
The day after the concert, mother and son went to Amanpulo for four days of bonding.
It turned out art and culture are not strange territory for Nedy Tantoco.
She confided to a lifestyle editor: “As a romantic teenager, I remember really enjoying the ballet Romeo and Juliet at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. My father (Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco) would buy seasonal tickets so we would be assured of chances to see the best shows.”
At the heights of the pandemic, Nedy spearheaded an online recital for Cecile Licad for the benefit of the
Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc. The setting is the historic Lotos Club of New York, one of the oldest literary clubs in the US, founded on March 15, 1870 by a group of young writers, among them Mark Twain, who was an early member in 1873.
“I’ve never figured in an online recital,” said Licad. “But when it is Nedy Tantoco suggesting, I know that it
will produce good results and the feedback from online audiences confirmed that.”
The last time Nedy talked to Cecile, it was to tell her that Maestro Grzegorz Nowak said yes to a Women’s Month PPO concert at the Met in March.
“Nedy works fast every time she has a music project. I’ve seen that for many years I worked with her,” added Licad.
It would be another strange concert as the lady who thought about it has gone to the great beyond.