WHENEVER we see Chino Gutierrez, he’s with his violin or he’s on stage being the hottest violinist (the Hannover, Germany violin competition a year ago, this summer the Singapore International Violin Festival). It’s hard to picture him as anything else, but he’s also a polyglot, mathematician, scientist and co-author of a book on etymology – in five languages. What we don’t know is, does he own a panoply of screens and apps, does he have time to fool around with people his age (he is definitely an old soul, after all), is he as introverted as he looks once he starts bowing and plucking the strings?
Those questions surfaced again last Friday when Chino performed at BDO Francisco Santiago Hall with his recently acquired soulmate, a 1760’s violin of Neapolitan origin under the brand name Vinaccia. Unfortunately, Chino does not own the instrument. “It’s on loan from the Bankers Association of the Philippines,” explained Bel Cunanan, who has been at the forefront with Ching Montinola in helping organize the schedules and wherewithals of Chino’s concerts, trips, and international events.
Partnering with a violin not your own is not as unusual as it sounds, Bel added, it’s standard practice “in the violin world,” given the cost of such priceless, highly prized instruments from another era, another continent. I don’t know how much of a difference the “new” violin made last Friday, because it was Chino’s music and his genius that captivated the audience more than the quality of the sound emanating from the instrument, unless some of them had extraordinarily sensitive ears and the vocabulary to share the knowledge.
Describing what he calls “making sense of the music” for the listener, Chino came up with the expression of being “in the zone”: It is “not just a dialogue between musician, composer, and audience, but a complete, full-body experience for all involved” – a process that “can be very engrossing” as it can also tempt with the “danger of the unknown” before finally letting the music flow.
For Chino, choosing the Vinaccia last September was no easy task. It involved compatibility, comfort, and that indefinable quality that tells you something is not only right, it is true, and it belongs. (Jullie Y. Daza)
