OFW Journals (OFW Stories on the News) and Some OFW Employment, Career & Business Tips

Filipino tenor, Sal Malaki, is one of Los Angeles Opera's most seasoned artists. Now on his 12th consecutive season with one of America's most prestigious Opera houses, he has appeared in over 60 opera productions with the company including distinguishing roles in the company's most recent production of La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Der Rosenkavalier, La Rondine, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

As an esteemed member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, also in his 12th year, he was the tenor soloist in the world premiere of Jeremy Soule's L'extase, and Bach's Christmas Cantata Part I, under Maestro Grant Gershon, in Nielsen's Hymnus Amoris with Maestro Paul Salamunovich in his farewell concert as Music Director of the LAMC. Sal is also involved with the LA Opera's Education and Community Services Outreach Program. He plays the role of Ramerrez/Dick Johnson in its productions of The Prospector, an operetta version based on Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, now in its 4th season, reaching and connecting thousands of Southern California students with the world of opera.

Concerts across the United States include recitals at the Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall both in New York, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Royce Hall in the Los Angeles area, among other performances with different orchestras across the USA. He is very much into philanthropic concerts with upcoming invitations in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Since he left the country in 1995, Sal has been making it a point to come home sometimes twice a year for vacation and, often, to perform in fund-raisers for religious organizations, foundations and NGOs, which is his way of giving back to those in need the blessings that he has received all these years.

Today, Sal is performing Classics From the Heart in Surigao for the benefit of the Catholic Archdiocese of Surigao del Norte; and next Friday, July 27, in Le Concert Classique, 8 p.m. at the Meralco Theater (for the benefit of The Christian Witness and Service's many projects) with violinist Joseph Valdes and soprano Rachelle Gerodias.

“I have been lucky,” said Sal, among whose high moments was a meeting with Placido Domingo who watched Sal in The Merry Widow. If plans don't miscarry, Sal might perform with Domingo in Beethoven's Fidelio.

“When I auditioned for the L.A. Master Chorale,” Sal continued, “I was immediately hired even if other had been waiting for years. Almost at the same time, I auditioned for the L.A. Opera. I sang Che Gelida Manina, that famous aria from the opera La Boheme, and they must have liked what I did because they awarded me three contracts for my first year with the company.”

http://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/docs/art_and_culture/current/sal_malaki.html