comes across as a quiet, unassuming and most affable individual, her modesty concealing her vast professional knowledge and experience as an active musician. Besides English and Filipino she controls a high degree of fluency in German also singing with immaculate pronunciation in French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.
Distinction during her studies has always been one of her traits. One of her teachers remarked Ena is never satisfied with achieving 98%, she wants it all. Once singing a contemporary piece – the world premiere of “Ishmaela’s White World” - she traded her score against the full presence of her manifestation, something neither composer nor conductor had expected. Gifted with an incorruptible ear Ena sometimes already moans if the pitch is off just by a tad.
A career for the sake of glamorous fame has never been her ambition. Rather she is driven by the thought of understanding the great masters’ compositions in their historic vesture and communicating this wealth to her students.
One of her most dominating qualities is her expression, sheer unfathomable depths of content, easily rivaling some of the world's most famous singers. It is not uncommon that the audience finds themselves in tears.
Ena has been serving as Chair of the Keyboard Department at the University of the Philippines College of Music since August 2015. She also is Artistic Director of the Art Song Academy Manila. She is playing on a Steingraeber Grand
was born in Naga City, Bicol Province, in the Philippines. She was educated already at a very early age by her father in music theory, solfège, guitar and violin before she started her formal studies in piano and voice.
After finishing Bachelor of Arts degree in English with magna cum laude and Bachelor of Music in Piano with cum laude under Sr. Ester B. Peña, D.C. at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel, she pursued graduate studies in piano under Nita A. Quinto at the University of the Philippines.
Subsequently she took Voice for two semesters fulfilling her academic load requirement for a scholarship. These two semesters then extended into many years of serious graduate studies in Voice under Elmo Q. Makil and Ma. Cecilia O. Valeña. After finishing her Master of Music degree in Piano she was appointed in 1997 to teach at the Keyboard Department of the College of Music.
She played for almost all voice literature classes confronting her with wide scope of art songs, operas, oratorios and cantatas. This culminated in her Master of Music degree in Voice in 2004.
From 2003 to 2006 she served as rehearsal master of the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus and led the male ensemble to win the first prize in the Concorso Internationale di Canto Corale "SEGHIZZI" in Gorizia in 2006.
From 2008 until 2010 she was a member of the Philippine Madrigal Singers performing in over one hundred concerts on four continents.
Her solo engagements started in 2003 with the JeugdOrkest Nederland at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival and then in 2006 with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2011 she was the only applicant from Asia to be granted a voice scholarship by KAAD. In 2013 she received a scholarship from the Albertus-Magnus- und Hildegardis-Verein (Studienstiftung der Erzdiözese Freiburg).
In 2010 her international singing career increased while studying under Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll. She was selected by Maestro Mario Venzago to sing the part of Marie in Alban Berg’s Drei Bruchstücke, op. 7 (Wozzeck) at the Konzerthaus in Karlsruhe. What followed were solo engagements with German and Italian orchestras in key European cities.
Her achievements as art song singer were capped by her election to RISING STARS! FESTIVAL 2015 together with pianist Melanie Bähr, which took place in Stuttgart. This festival is a prestigious project of three universities in Baden-Württemberg (Hochschulen für Musik Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Stuttgart) aiming to present the best graduates of each university to the public media thereby facilitating their international concertizing career.
Ena gives Art Song recitals regularly in Europe reaping excellent reviews. She was featured together with pianist Matthias Alteheld at the Steingraeber-Haus during the Richard-Wagner-Festspiele 2018.
Living European composers like Wolfgang Rihm, Olga Neuwirth and Heinz Holliger were especially enthralled by her range of voice, phenomenal breath control that culminates in levitating suspense, precision of pitch even with difficult intervals, depth of interpretation and her tremendous charisma on stage.
As a pedagogue she has produced prizewinners and successfully coached concert singers and young pianists for auditions, festivals and international competitions.
About eighty of her recordings on YouTube and Vimeo serve the public as a sound groundwork in learning the Art Song repertoire.
All works are sung in their native language - their order of relevance being German, French, Italian, English, Russian, Tagalog and Spanish - many of them having been performed on several occasions.
Art Songs: 191 works (30 composers), 79 recorded Chamber Music: 36 works (10 composers), 8 recorded Oratorio: 12 works (10 composers), 5 recorded Concert & Opera: 20 works (6 composers), 7 recorded
“Ich denke oft an Dein wunderbares Künstlertum, Deine Energie und Konzentration beim Singen, Deine Gestaltungskraft und Deine Bühnenpräsenz. Dein Stuttgarter Vortrag bei »Rising Stars!« zusammen mit Melanie Bähr bleibt mir unvergessen. Ich hoffe, Dich bald wieder in Europa hören zu können."
["I often think of your wonderful artistry, your energy and concentration while singing, your creative power and your stage presence. Your recital during "Rising Stars!" with Melanie Bähr in Stuttgart remains unforgetable to me. I hope to hear you soon again in Europe."]
“Sehr herzlichen Dank für das wunderbare Singen! Ich hoffe dass wir bald noch mehr zusammen musizieren werden."
Original scan
["Very cordial thanks for the wonderful singing! I hope that we shall work together again soon."]
“Vielen herzlichen Dank für deine Präzision und deine schöne Stimme."
Original scan
["Heartfelt thanks for your precision and for your beautiful voice."]
Here are some of the many who sponsored my education by footing the tremendous cost.
Without their material support my artistic development would have been absolutely impossible.
“Ena Maria Aldecoa infatuated with exceptionally beautiful timbre.”
[BNN: 6. Mar. 2013]
“… extremely versatile … she also impressed with fine shades of temperament and dynamic differentiation.”
[BNN: 4. Jul. 11]
„… deeply submerged in this female figure she illuminated the very different moods through intensive
interpretation: joyful in 'Er, der Herrlichste von allen', profound in 'Süßer Freund' or finally 'Nun hast du mir den
ersten Schmerz getan' in almost distressing melancholy.“ [BNN: 18. Sep. 13]
“… she precisely caught the sentiment of Brahms, her presentation being full of nuances.”
[HZ: 22. Nov. 11]
“The undisputed highlight of the evening was Ena Maria Aldecoa … she sang in excellent Russian thereby submerging deeply into the lyrics’ sentiment, something one can only rarely experience. Goethe's 'Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt' in Russian may have left the largest impression of all. Brava!” [BNN: 21. Feb. 14]
“Ena Maria Aldecoa is quite petite … but her perfectly focused soprano was capable of great outbursts, an interpretation of utmost intensity.” [BNN: 10. May. 11]
“… she and Eduard Brunner (clarinet) perfectly shaped in sensitive synergy the virtuoso 'Zu singen' from 'Mnemosyne' by Friedrich Hölderlin.” [BNN: 5. Apr. 12]
“… she lends her clear and emotive soprano voice to the narrative figure (of the composition). From afar her
singing floats into the web of whirring sounds ...” [BNN: 19. Mar. 12]
This section contains 40 of over 100 recordings.
German Art Songs
German Art Songs (2)
French Art Songs
Russian Art Songs
British + Austrian Art Songs
Spanish + Polish + Filipino Art Songs
Concert
Concert (2)
Concert (3)
in concert with MADZ (Freising)
in concert with MADZ (Bruxelles)
with MADZ (Lago di Garda)
with Sergi Giménez-Carreras & Pilar Jurado
100 dark red Roses after concert at Manila Pen
arriving at Rising Stars Festival 2015
Lied-Duo with Melanie Bähr
rehearsing with Staatsorchester Stuttgart
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