Cecile Licad with Rustan’s president and CEO Anton T. Huang at the post-concert presscon.
A day after she received double standing ovation at the Metropolitan Theater last March 19, Cecile Licad sat down with media in the home of the Tantoco family of Rustan’s and answered questions candidly.
The questions were mainly on how she prepares for a concert.
On her interpretation of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1, which she, at 21, performed with the Chicago Symphony under Sir Georg Solti, the pianist talked about how she likes starting from scratch. “I don’t like listening to other recordings. I start from scratch as though I am performing it for the first time. I study the notes carefully, including the ones in between, and from there I work on my own interpretation. After preparing technically, I rewind the concerto in my mind and prepare to tell a story to my audience. After all, I compare performing to telling a story. My audience should be able to follow me, and that is the reason I try very hard to communicate to my audience and not just the notes through my hands.
“My entire body should help me tell a story. I like to make music flow in all parts of my body and on to my audience. I experiment with what will work and what will be effective in communicating to my audience. Even if I have performed the concerto many times, I prepare as though I’d play it for the first time.”
She has performed with legendary conductors, from Zubin Mehta to Sir Georg Solti and Claudio Abbado, among others. Licad has a special heart in her heart for Maestro Eugene Ormandy of the Philadelphia Orchestra. “I was very young when I worked with that legendary Maestro. When I was told he had worked with Rachmaninoff himself, the more I was thrilled. It was a special honor to be soloist of Maestro Eugene Ormandy in my late teens. The first time I visited him, the first thing he told me was that he had a Filipino helper. I was his soloist in Variations on A Theme by Paganini.”
Ormandy passed away in 1985.
Veteran American critic Harold Schonberg concluded his obituary for Ormandy: “Ormandy does not conduct with the overwhelming personality of a Furtwängler, or with the ferocity and clarity of a Toscanini, or with the immense knowledge and classicism of a Szell. But he has carved out an area for himself, and within it he is secure, a perfect workman and a sensitive interpreter. And it is an area that takes in a great deal more than Strauss waltzes.”
Licad said her friendship with the late Rustan’s chairman and CEO Nedy R. Tantoco, who passed away a month before Licad’s concert at Metropolitan Theater, started way back. “My mother was close to her mother (Rustan’s founder) Glecy Tantoco.”
Glecy Rustia Tantoco was from Baliuag, Bulacan, while Licad’s mother, Rosario, came from the musical Buencamino clan of San Miguel, Bulacan.
Rustan’s president and CEO Anton T. Huang with Pablo Tariman at pre-concert cocktails.
“Nearly all my concerts in Manila were spearheaded by Nedy Tantoco who worked very fast and solved problems fast. I see the same character and super efficiency in her son, Anton Tantoco Huang. In my first rehearsal with the PPO, I was concerned with the not-so-ideal acoustics of the Metropolitan Theater. It was mainly due to those curtains which served as stage backdrop, absorbing all the sound. It prevented the sound from bouncing back to the audience.”
The pianist asked her piano tuner, Danny Lumabi, to check how she and the orchestra sounded like at the back of the theater.
Continued Licad: “Imagine Mr. Anton (Huang) produced an acoustics shell made of plywood in less than 24 hours!”
The result was the new look of the Met stage and a better acoustics on opening night. A member of the diplomatic corps once watched a concert in the newly renovated Met and deplored the theater’s bad acoustic.
The improvised acoustics shell was turned over to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, through NCCA director Ino Manalo, just in time for the March 19 concert.
The day before she left for New York, in her media meet-up, Licad acknowledged her host, the Tantoco family whose home she was staying. “I live in a lovely house with a garden which is what I need to cope with stress.”
Licad chilling with Nedy Tantoco’s mutts (Photo from Licad’s social media)
She loved the house pets and posted a picture of herself with the mutts (Nedy’s well-loved dogs) and house cats, noticing their huggable paws. (I posted my comment: “Cile I have a paw of a singer.”)
Cecile Licad playfully sweeping the garden in the home where she stayed as guest.
A day after her rehearsal with the PPO, the pianist posted a photo of herself sweeping the Tantoco garden with walis tingting.
Cecile Licad watering the plants, chilling, on the day of her departure for New York.
On the day of her departure for New York, she posted a photo of herself watering the well-trimmed garden. (My comment post, sounding like the house owner: “Cile please don’t drown my orchids.” Babeth Lolarga followed up with: “Cecile please be careful treading on Pablo’s petunias.”
The pianist replied with guffaw emojis.
The night at the Met was worth recalling.
The concert was graced by the two National Artists for Literature, Virgilio Almario, and Gemino H. Abad. Missed were the living National Artists for Music, Ryan Cayabyab and Dean Ramon Santos.
Many music teachers and students were in the audience.
Cecile Licad with Sen Loren Legarda, culture officials led by NCCA chairman Ino Manalo, PPOSI president Margie Moran-Floirendo, Maestro Nowak (Contributed Photo)
Sen. Loren Legarda’s office took care of the invitations to ensure that a cross-section was well-represented. She said: “I am honored to have organized this special occasion together with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc. (PPOSI). I am grateful to my dear friend, Nedy, who started this project last year. This concert is a tribute to her life and legacy.”
Actor Pen Medina, the author’s grandson Emman, and Cecile Licad at the Met balcony after the concert.
The country’s esteemed columnist and educator Randy David and his granddaughter Julia were in the audience, and so were writers Jose Dalisay and wife Beng, and actor Pen Medina and his son Seth, all raving over Licad’s performance.
It was an evening of rousing ovations and three encore numbers, and rock star treatment of the pianist, from fans yelling her name from the balcony section to the theater lobby where she was mobbed by autographed seekers along with PPO conductor Grzegorz Nowak. The concert made evident that the PPO has finally acquired its best music director in 50 years!
Cecile Licad playing Chopin’s ‘Revolutionary Etude’ at the post-concert presscon.
From the cultural cognoscenti:
Painter-actor Ivi Avellana Cosio: “Brahms Symphony No. 2 (played by the PPO before the Licad repertoire) was sublime. I have never heard the Philippine Philharmonic play so excellently and, of course, the reason is Maestro Nowak in full control. As for soloist Licad, I understood what she meant by being able to be free! (Because of a superb conductor) Her rendition of the Tchaikovsky was brilliant and all hers. I heard notes I had never heard from other performances of this concerto. I can’t remember who said this—I’m paraphrasing here— ‘I play exactly the same notes as the other pianists, but it’s the pauses between the notes that make the difference.’ As for her encore, her Widmung by Schumann (dedicated to the late Nedy Tantoco) was so touching, (Francisco) Buencamino’s Hibik ng Puso was very personal, and Chopin’s Minute Waltz was probably only 45 seconds long! I must also mention the rapport and respect between Licad and Maestro Nowak! Brava Cecile! Bravi, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra!”
Deanna Ongpin Recto described the performance as “impeccable,” while Mav Rufino said “it was spellbinding!”
National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario was so moved he posted in FB: “Tutula ako para kay Cecile Licad!”
Senator Legarda recalled that the concert was the idea of her dear friend, the late Nedy Tantoco. president of the PPO Society, Inc. “Her passion for the arts was so inspiring, and I’m delighted we could honor her vision with this landmark concert. We invited teachers and students as our way of supporting and encouraging the next generation of Filipino musicians to pursue their passion and improve their musical skills.”
She concluded: “This wasn’t just a concert—it was a tribute to the power of women and the magic of music.”
Author-poet Susan Lara: “It was an unforgettable evening with the ‘pianist’s pianist,’ Cecile Licad. And what a night! From soft and gentle passages to powerful crescendos, Cecile was so captivating, mesmerizing, we refused to let her go. She responded with three encores! The bonus was seeing familiar faces that made me feel I was in a literary event: National Artists Gemino H. Abad and Virgilio Almario, Jose Dalisay and my newly discovered cousin June P. Dalisay, Babeth Lolarga Princess Nemenzo, Julie Lluch, Bibeth Orteza and many others.”
Licad herself was stunned by the new PPO music director and the orchestra.
‘In that concert, nobody was sleeping’
She noted: “We were so super synchronized at the concert. It was a wonderful collaboration with the new music director of the PPO. I loved Maestro Novak’s rehearsal process. It makes the performance much more fun and enjoyable. The PPO that night was in top form.”
In the spirit of fun, she added, “In that concert, nobody was sleeping.”
Cecile Licad greeting Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija Vice-Mayor Nestor Alvarez at the Met lobby. (Photo: Kiko Cabuena)
Maestro Novak admitted to this writer that working with Licad was an exhilarating musical experience. “She’s a brilliant pianist with perfect technique and command of the instrument, as well as a passionate musician whose interpretations move the orchestra and the audience. Our orchestra eagerly and enthusiastically joined her deeply profound interpretation of this masterwork. We look forward to performing with her and to participate in her musical creations as often as possible.”
Then he pointed out the need for a new piano for the orchestra. “Licad’s art is one more reason we need to have a superb quality Steinway piano. We will apply for a budget to get one. When we get the right piano, we could present Licad to our audience the full spectrum of her extremely rich palette of tone and color.”
Before her flight back to New York, the pianist handed me the biggest bouquet she received from her Met engagement. She also played for the media Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude which she performed in a New York Festival in 2021, with my late daughter Kerima, the revolutionary poet, in mind.
We had time for a glass of wine.
“Thank you for everything, Pablo,” said she.
The author will release his second book, Encounters in the Arts, in May 2024. He had his first book of poetry, Love, Life and Loss—Poems During the Pandemic, and was one of 160 Asian poets in the anthology, The Best Asian Poetry 2021-22, published in Singapore.
