YOUR SPINE TINGLED AS YOU LISTENED to Dulce’s voice soar to the highest point of “Memory” from “Cats.” You looked up, your eyes sweeping the vast ceiling of the Northwing atrium. Never thought you’d see the day operatic diva would sing “Memory” in a mall.

She just did last Saturday at the Northwing when SM City Cebu opened “Cebu, Cebu—A Celebration of Cebu’s Finest” and the launch of “My Cebu, My SM.”

Of course, Dulce was among Cebu’s finest. Her voice, her music, the exhibit set up in the entire activity area, and the buffet spread arranged in native-chic style by Cebu’s “Martha Stewart” (only better) Teresin Mendezona, were enough to give every Cebuano present a feeling of pride of place.

The Jan. 9 event, a collaboration of SM and the Arts Council of Cebu Foundation, had exhibits and performances of world-renowned talents from the country’s oldest city that today is a bustling metropolis with its own international airport.

It also celebrated some of Cebu’s best global talents—artist Romulo Galicano, furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue, jewelry designer Annie Chen, fashion designer Philip Rodriguez, and chanteuses Dulce, Raki Vega and Eva Santos.

SM paid tribute to Cebu, where it has its fourth-largest supermall, in the “My City, My SM” campaign featuring style diva Teresin Mendezona, and the Aldeguer brothers Jay, Michael and Chris, who, through their diverse businesses, showcase its bustling economy.

Running up to the Sinulog Festival this weekend, the program featured the “Mantones” collection of Philip Rodriguez, which he showed at the Los Angeles Fashion Week late last year, and the show-stopping performances by Dulce, Raki Vega and Eva Santos. The Peace Philharmonic Double String Quartet also performed.

Wife of Cebu City mayor and Cebu’s First Lady Margot Osmeña, SM Prime Holdings vice president Marissa Fernan, and SM vice president for Marketing Millie Dizon led this star-studded tribute.

Mall-goers have until today to view the exhibits at the Northwing Atrium of SM City Cebu—paintings by Romulo Galicano, a son of Carcar, Cebu, who is undoubtedly the most sought-after portraitist, with his portrait of Eddie Chua receiving top honors in the prestigious 2005 Portrait Society of America Competition in Boston; and the highly acclaimed furniture of Kenneth Cobonpue, including the Bloom chair, which was awarded the Coup d’Cour prize by Home Magazine at the September 2009 Maison et Object Show in Paris (See related story below).

Cobonpue, whose mother Betty founded a furniture manufacturing company known for its innovative use of rattan, studied at Pratt Institute for Industrial Design. Upon returning to Cebu, he integrated his traditional design heritage with his industrial training, using a wide array of native natural materials like palms, sea grass, bamboo, abaca and rattan in his works.

Annie Chen exhibits her limited line of cutting-edge jewelry and accessories in silver and precious stones. Photographer Billy Mondoñedo exhibits his breathtaking photographs from the “Cebu: Pride of Place” coffeetable book. Also on exhibit are gowns by Sinulog queens.

The Cebu launch was the second in the “My City, My SM” campaign, where accomplished personalities of key cities take the reader through a visual tour of his/her city and SM.

The first, “I Left My Heart in San Fernando,” which was launched at SM City Pampanga, featured internationally acclaimed director Brillante Mendoza and Mutya ng Kapampangan 2006 Nicolette Henson.