New opera based on 100-year old diary of Filipina American girl

The San Francisco Girls Chorus

An opera based on the diary of an 11-year old Filipina immigrant will have its world premiere this summer.

Angeles Monrayo began writing her diary in 1924 after she immigrated to the United States because, “I would like to read about me — what everyday things happen to me — when I am an old woman,” she writes.

The diary, “Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary,” is the inspiration of a newly commissioned choral-opera by Matthew Welch to be performed by the San Francisco Girls Chorus June 22-25 this year.

The world premiere of the first Filipino American opera will debut at the Magic Theatre. Forty singers and soloists, ages 14 to 18, will tell and sing to bring Angeles' story to life. Featured guest artists for this program include stage director Sean San José, guitarist Florante Aguilar, violinist Patti Kilroy and percussionist Levy Lorenzo.

The music will employ elements of kundiman, the Filipino tradition of love songs, and other Filipino songs sung in Tagalog.

Angeles' story was edited by her daughter Rizaline Raymundo and published by the University of Hawai’i Press in 2003. The diary begins with her life in a Hawaiian intervention camp and continues as she moves to California. 

The diary tells with the joys and sorrows of a young girl growing up in a migrant family in the 1920s and the poverty and racism immigrants experience while trying to adjust to life in the U.S. and the role Filipino Americans had in the history of the U.S.

In the months leading up to the premiere of Tomorrow’s Memories, group discussions led by a variety of historians and community members about topics relating to Filipino heritage, immigration, music history, and more will be held. 

All sessions are free and depending on the event, will be held in-person or online.  It is recommended, but not mandatory, for attendees to puruchTomorrow’s Memories  at Arkipelago Books, here at University of Hawai’i Press or here on Amazon.

The first of five planned events will be held 11 a.m. Sunday, (Jan. 23) at Kapwa Gardens, 967 Mission St. in San Francisco's Filipino Heritage District. Speakers include Lily Ann Bolo Villaraza, PhD, Department Chair, Philippine Studies History Professor, Fides Enriquez and Joanne Boston.

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