|
ell-known Filipino soprano Irma Ponce-Enrile Potenciano is
regarded in the music circle as the total performer. “When
she sings,” a critic observes, “she is all there, mind,
heart, her entire physical being.”
A staunch perfectionist, she has stubbornly
refused to compromise her music to the temporal demands of
shifting moods and trends, always abiding by the dictum that
perfection is the key to artistic success.
At the early age of 12, Potenciano began her
training with her mother Purita
 Ponce
Enrile, of the well-known musically gifted clan. She alter
received formal lessons from Asuncion Loangco Lopez, who
helped her prepare for her musical debut at age 15, as
soloist of the Filipino Youth Symphony Orchestra, under the
baton of the late Prof. Luis Valencia.
During her high school days in the United States
after World War II, she managed to take up voice lessons
under the famed Olga Eisner. Back in her home country, she
enrolled in the class of Santiago Mossesgeld, who was to be
her teacher until his death.
“One who aspires to become a good singer has to
have formal training,” say Potenciano. “I’m quite fortunate
to have received the best education from the country’s best
teachers and also one of the best conservatories.” Her early
marriage to Dr. Victor Potenciano, who passed away in 1984,
and the coming of two children, however, kept her away from
the scene, but only temporarily. She obtained her bachelor
of music, major in voice at age 30 from the University of
Sto. Tomas (UST). Three years later, in 1964, she finished
her master or arts in voice performance also at the UST
where she obtained the highest honors of meritissimus. (In
1984, she was conferred the most Outstanding Thomasian Award
for her contributions to music, the highest honors accorded
by her alma mater.)
Her list of mentors here and abroad reads like a
veritable who’s who: Salvacion Oppus-Yñiguez, Hans Bruck,
Felix Wolfres, Reynaldo Reyes, Aurelio Estanislao, Boris
Goldovsky, and the famous maestra Jovita Fuentes.
A teacher at heart, Potenciano taught at the
University of Sto. Tomas conservatory of music from 1961 to
1973. She resumed her career in 1981 after an eight-year
spell. In her desire to help promote music education for the
young, she served as head of Ateneo de Manila’s grade school
music department, from 1961 to 1968. All these years, she
has likewise continued to offer private lessons at home to
aspiring voice students, whose ages range from 14 to 60.
Potenciano has performed in numerous operas,
zarzuelas, variety shows, radio, TV and film, as well as
in concert tours throughout the country and abroad. Twice,
in 1978 and 1981, she traveled with the Vocal Ensemble of
the Philippines (of which she was founding member and
soprano) in a six-month tour covering Southeast Asia,
Australia, the United States, Canada and Europe.
It was in 1970 when her international star shone
brightly. Upon the invitation of the Romanian government,
she went on a concert tour of the country, performing with
leading symphony orchestras as soloist, singing not only
famous arias but also, in effect, popularizing Filipino
music. She duplicated her feat that same year when she
recorded a long-playing album of Philippine love songs,
entitled Iniibig Kita, with the London Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the baton of another internationally
renowned Filipino, conductor Redentor Romero. She cut
another album, Irma, in 1983.
Today, the lyric pinto soprano, whose voice has
matured like good wine, devotes most of her time to teaching
and singing, two lifelong tasks which have given her utmost
pleasure. She sings, at least once a year, she says, “for
the love of it”. Indeed, on stage, the soprano’s voice soars
magnificently, her innate musicality, honed by rigorous
training and discipline, permeating her every note and every
world in the libretto.
Irma Ponce Enrile Potenciano is, without doubt, a
consummate singer.
|
Irma
Potenciano (Singer)