Long before Lea Salonga's break into Broadway, there was
already Jovita Fuentes' portrayal of Cio-cio san in Giacomo Puccini's Madame
Butterfly at Italy's Teatro Municipale di Piacenza. Her performance has been
hailed as the "most sublime interpretation of the part". This is all
the more significant because it happened at a time when the Philippines and its
people were scarcely heard of in Europe. Prior to that, she was teaching at the
University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music (1917) before leaving for
Milan in 1924 for further voice studies. After eight months of arduous
training, she made her stage debut at the Piacenza. She later embarked on a
string of music performances in Europe essaying the roles of Liu Yu in
Puccini's Turnadot, Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme, Iris in Pietro Mascagni's
Iris, the title role of Salome (which composer Richard Strauss personally
offered to her including the special role of Princess Yang Gui Fe in Li Tai
Pe). In recognition of these achievements, she was given the unprecedented
award of "Embahadora de Filipinas a su Madre Patria" by Spain.
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| Jovita Fuentes' portrayal of Cio-cio san in Giacomo Puccini's Madame
Butterfly |
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| Jovita Fuentes' portrayal as geisha Cio-cio |
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| Other Filipina who joined Ms. Jovita Fuentes in the opera |
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| Other Filipina who joined Ms. Jovita Fuentes in the opera |
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| Other Filipina who joined Ms. Jovita Fuentes in the opera |
Her dream to develop the love for opera among her countrymen
led her to found the Artists' Guild of the Philippines, which was responsible
for the periodic "Tour of Operaland" productions. Her life story has
been documented in the biography Jovita Fuentes: A Lifetime of Music (1978)
written by Lilia H. Chung, and later translated into Filipino by Virgilio
Almario.
The photos are from Pinoy Kollektor's collection.
Source: http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca/org-awards/music/jovita_fuentes.php
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