‘Celebration of life, love, hope’: Suzie, Paolo Abrera underscore family togetherness

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino celebrity couple Suzie Entrata-Abrera and Paolo Abrera have been tapped as narrators for the first ever Philippine concert of the world-renowned The Tabernacle Choir in Mall of Asia Arena from February 27 to 28, where internationally-acclaimed Filipino singers Lea Salonga and Ysabelle Cuevas are guest artists.

At a press conference in Conrad Hotel Manila yesterday, the couple recalled their experience seeing the choir perform live at the choir’s home base in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Paolo and I had the wonderful opportunity of watching the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. The Christmas concert, the feeling was just immense,” Suzie shared.

According to her, onstage, the choir seemed to be “so disciplined and orderly.”

“But when you talk to them backstage, they’re like little kids on their way to a field trip. That’s the kind of excitement that you’ll feel from them… It was a great opportunity to see both sides of the choir…”

It is a great honor, she said, to have the choir in the country and to host the concert.

“It’s one thing to hear the music, see the television special, but be in their presence at the concert center, you just feel the energy the choir gives out. It’s a total different experience,” added Paolo.

He assured that the Philippine concert would “uplift the spirit” and reinforce “bonding” among the people and between music and people.

“Those people who will come to the concert would get something they would remember for a lifetime,” he assured.

Among the lasting memories the couple had are the lessons they learned from the choir that they can adopt for their own family.

“It’s really important to pass down from generation to generation good values, practices – celebration of life and love and hope…” Suzie asserted.

“It’s important especially nowadays for the family to be as strong as possible, with everything that comes from all over the place, the Internet. It’s not a terrible place to begin with. It depends on how exposed you are to it… It’s really important to keep the family intact and pass it down from generation to generation as it’s supposed to,” she elaborated.

“It’s really important to us to attend the famed Christmas concert because us Filipinos, you know, we like Christmas a little bit,” he quipped. “And to be a part of an organization that puts value on Christmas and what it means to bring the family together, to draw the family back together… and Christmas is a time for us Filipinos to bring the family together… It’s all about bringing the family together and the Christmas concert reminded me of that…”

Related video: Lea Salonga shares learnings from Tabernacle Choir

— Videos by Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardo; video editing by Anjilica Andaya, Martin Ramos, EC Toledo