Daven Tamayo

A Filipina takes on Norina: Karlene Moreno-Hayworth steps into one of opera's most iconic roles

Article (news)

Mye Mulingtapang

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1783049583721Karlene pink half.jpg" style="width:650px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Photo courtesy of Karlene Moreno-Hayworth </div>The orchestra has not yet played its first note.Backstage, the chatter of costume assistants grows quieter as the minutes before curtain call disappear. Wigs are adjusted one last time. Makeup is checked under unforgiving lights. Somewhere beyond the stage, an audience settles into their seats, unaware that another performance is about to become part of opera&#x27;s long history.For the singer waiting in the wings, however, this is no ordinary evening.A role debut is unlike any other performance in an opera career. It is more than learning new music or stepping into a fresh production. It is an invitation to join a lineage shaped by generations of artists who have interpreted the same character, each leaving behind their own artistic imprint while carrying the weight of centuries-old expectations.This summer, that moment belongs to Filipino soprano Karlene Moreno-Hayworth.At Opéra de Baugé in western France, she will make her role debut as Norina in Gaetano Donizetti&#x27;s &quot;Don Pasquale,&quot; one of opera&#x27;s most enduring comic masterpieces. The performance places her among an illustrious succession of lyric coloratura sopranos who have brought the witty young widow to life since the opera premiered in Paris in 1843.For audiences, &quot;Don Pasquale&quot; is an evening of laughter, romance, mistaken identities, and dazzling vocal fireworks. For Moreno-Hayworth, it represents something more personal — and perhaps something larger than any single performance.It is another chapter in the growing story of Filipino artists finding their place on international opera stages, not as novelties, but as interpreters of some of the most demanding roles in the classical repertoire.&quot;My first reaction was honestly a mixture of excitement, joy, nervous anticipation, and a healthy amount of anxiety — which is probably the correct emotional cocktail when Donizetti comes knocking at your door,&quot; she said with characteristic humor.Her response captures the peculiar thrill of a role debut. Opera singers spend years preparing for opportunities that may arrive only once. Unlike concerts, where repertoire changes frequently, certain operatic roles become lifelong companions, revisited and refined over decades. A first performance marks the beginning of that relationship.Norina is one of those coveted roles. Within the bel canto tradition, Donizetti&#x27;s music demands extraordinary technical control while never allowing technique to overshadow character. The Italian phrase bel canto — literally &quot;beautiful singing&quot; — describes a style that values elegance, flexibility, expressive phrasing, and vocal agility. Yet audiences rarely fall in love with bel canto because of technique alone. They remember the humanity beneath the virtuosity.Norina embodies that balance. She is playful without becoming frivolous, intelligent without arrogance, affectionate without surrendering her independence. She outwits the men around her not through manipulation but through wit, emotional intelligence, and unwavering confidence in her own judgment. More than a comic heroine, she becomes the engine that drives the opera forward.&quot;What I love most is that Norina is far more than just a comic character,&quot; Moreno-Hayworth said. &quot;The more I study her, the more fascinating she becomes. She is emotionally astute, fiercely intelligent, and completely in control of her own destiny, qualities that feel remarkably modern for a nineteenth-century heroine.&quot;<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1783049689624Sulamite France Angers.jpg" style="width:960px;display:block;height:auto" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Photo courtesy of Karlene Moreno-Hayworth </div>That complexity has helped keep &quot;Don Pasquale&quot; alive for nearly two centuries. While many operatic heroines are remembered for tragedy, Norina survives because she refuses to be confined by it. She laughs, schemes, negotiates, and ultimately shapes her own future.&quot;Unlike many comic heroines, she does not simply react to events,&quot; Moreno-Hayworth explained. &quot;She drives the entire story. In many ways, she is the mastermind of the opera.&quot;The observation also reveals something about the singer herself. Moreno-Hayworth has never viewed her career as a sequence of fortunate accidents. While she acknowledges that unexpected opportunities have altered its course, she believes they only mattered because she was prepared to meet them.&quot;None of these milestones were part of a carefully designed master plan,&quot; she reflects. &quot;They came through a combination of hard work, perseverance, faith, and the willingness to say yes when unexpected opportunities appeared.&quot;That philosophy quietly links her to the role she now inherits. Like Norina, Moreno-Hayworth has repeatedly chosen conviction over certainty. Long before France entered the picture, before European opera houses and professional productions, there was a teenage student in the Philippines whose future nearly changed forever.While studying as a Voice Major at the Philippine High School for the Arts, she developed severe vocal nodules while preparing for her first solo recital at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The injury became so serious that she temporarily lost the ability to speak.&quot;It was one of the darkest and most depressing periods of my life,&quot; she recalled. &quot;For someone whose identity was so deeply tied to singing, losing my voice felt like losing a part of myself.&quot;Doctors advised surgery. Instead, she chose rehabilitation. Recovery demanded months of discipline and something even more difficult: accepting that she would have to relearn the very instrument she believed she already knew.&quot;I had to learn how to sing again from scratch,&quot; she said. &quot;Singing, which had once felt so natural, suddenly felt like learning an entirely different instrument.&quot;Rather than diminishing her artistry, the experience transformed it. She developed a deeper understanding of vocal health, refined her technical approach, and gained an appreciation for the delicate relationship between the body and the voice —knowledge that now informs not only her performances but also her work as an educator.Looking back, she no longer describes that period as a setback.&quot;In hindsight, I see that experience as a blessing in disguise. It gave me a profound respect for vocal health and taught me never to take the voice for granted.&quot;Years later, another decision would prove equally consequential. Faced with the possibility of pursuing Music Therapy in the United States or continuing advanced vocal studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, she chose the uncertainty of a professional singing career.&quot;Choosing singing was a leap of faith,&quot; she said. &quot;It meant following my passion rather than a more conventional route, and trusting that the journey would unfold as it was meant to.&quot;That leap eventually brought her to Europe, where she auditioned for Opéra de Baugé hoping simply to join the chorus and gain professional experience.Instead, she was entrusted with the title role of Puccini&#x27;s &quot;Madama Butterfly.&quot;&quot;To walk into an audition simply hoping to be part of the production, and then be entrusted with one of the most demanding and iconic soprano roles in the repertoire, was both humbling and life-changing.&quot;Today, as she prepares to become Norina for the first time, Moreno-Hayworth carries those earlier experiences quietly with her — not as dramatic chapters in a biography, but as reminders that every role begins long before opening night.Each aria contains years of unseen preparation. Each curtain call represents countless rehearsals that audiences never witness.For Filipino artists working within classical music, those unseen years often include another challenge: navigating an international industry where representation has historically remained limited.&quot;There have certainly been occasions where people have assumed they already know what my voice sounds like before I have even opened my mouth,&quot; Moreno-Hayworth said,Her response has remained remarkably uncomplicated: &quot;Ultimately, I have found that the most powerful response is simply to walk into the room, sing, and allow the voice to speak for itself.&quot;Perhaps that is what makes this Norina debut resonate beyond one production in France. It is not simply another engagement on an accomplished soprano&#x27;s calendar. It is another reminder that Filipino artists continue to expand the global conversation around classical music — not by asking for permission to belong, but by earning their place through artistry, discipline, and excellence.For Moreno-Hayworth, the significance of stepping into Norina extends beyond fulfilling a personal ambition. The real measure of progress, she believes, will come when seeing Filipinos leading productions in Europe&#x27;s opera houses no longer feels remarkable.&quot;The real milestone,&quot; she said, &quot;will be when seeing Filipino artists leading productions at major opera houses is simply part of the normal fabric of the operatic world.&quot;When that day arrives, Norina will remain exactly as Donizetti imagined her nearly two centuries ago.The difference will be who gets to tell her story.

As she prepares to make her role debut in Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" in France, Filipino soprano Karlene Moreno-Hayworth joins a centuries-old operatic tradition— bringing a distinctly Filipino voice to one of bel canto's most celebrated heroines.

As she prepares to make her role debut in Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" in France, Filipino soprano Karlene Moreno-Hayworth joins a centuries-old operatic tradition— bringing a distinctly Filipino voice to one of bel canto's most celebrated heroines.