Cecil licad biography

Licad was once invited to sit in the jury of the Chopin Competition in the s, but the jury deliberations fell on the day of her engagement with the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Recalled Licad: “Apparently Pollini had to have six strong espressos before he played, and he splashed his face with ice water.

That was his ritual.

Rowena arrieta The organizer was a nun named Sister Fideles who will fly to Iloilo from Baguio to reunite with the piano prodigy who performed in her fundraising concert 43 years ago. Her recording with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg will be released soon, and next spring she records a solo album. Comment Reblog Subscribe Subscribed. Having given solo recitals, in addition to performances with almost every major conductor and orchestra, throughout North America, Europe, the Far East and Australia, Licad has found that geography can affect her performance.

He was Claudio Abbado’s best friend and favorite musical partner. I was very lucky because at that time, Maestro Abbado only performed with a small handful of soloists. That I was one of them was a great honor I will never forget!”

Pollini’s friendship with Abbado started as both of them were like-minded left-wing idealists.

They explored radical ways of bringing classical music to factory workers.

Picture of cecil licad The encores were revealing. Cecile Licad with her late father, Dr. No, her hands are not insured and she treats them just like any other part of her body. For inquiries on the Nov.

Another project of Abbado and Pollini was a series of concerts at La Scala for employees and students.

Like Pollini, Licad enjoyed performing not just for Metro Manila’s elite audiences, but also for teachers, farmers and fisherfolk of the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

Over the years, I have brought the pianist to different outreach destinations in the country, wanting to give my friends their first Licad experience.

In , while preparing for Licad’s recital at St.

Paul University in Tuguegarao City, I took a quick bus ride to Ilagan City in Isabela to ask the poet-priest Paco Albano to watch the concert. Although he had a few of her CDs, he had never seen Licad in a live performance.

The good priest emailed me after the concert:

Dear Pablo,
Grace and peace!
I hope all is well with you and family.
Thank you for snatching me to experience a Cecile Licad recital.
Quite an experience, I tell you!
Surely God has consecrated her hands to play music, especially that of the classical masters.
In playing the masters, Cecile is a musician who makes one believe that the world is made of sound—sometimes as impromptu as a surprise, sometimes a waltz, sometimes nocturne, sometimes scherzo, or whatever great art rightly tells us.
Indeed, her music, like life, is about possibilities.
Who was playing that night?

Cecile the piano, or the piano Cecile. I think it was the piano that brought out Cecile the music, especially in the nature of mysticism of the two legends of St. Francis (Liszt).
The music overflowed from her mouth, her eyes, her entire body, yes, into me/us. And was I myself playing Cecile and the piano?
The encores were revealing.

Cecil licad biography I was his soloist in Variations on A Theme by Paganini. That I was one of them was a great honor I will never forget! Special Supplements. It made the performance much more fun and enjoyable.

Cecile was not only great with the big scores, but also with the ditties. She reminded me of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda’s Odes Elementales. The poet makes yellow birds, chestnuts, tomatoes, watches look extraordinarily beautiful.
Cecile is the Pablo Neruda of Music. There is nothing prosaic in this world unless we make it so.
Unlike the God-distracted nun who gave dos palabras, I didn’t think of God in my tonal center.
God was humble that night.

I imagine he followed the rules of/for concertgoers, relaxed in silence and head music outside holding centers. And it was good.

Sincerely,
Fr. Paco

Meanwhile, feminist and political activist Princess Nemenzo who raved over the March 19 Met performance said, “She should be named National Artist for Music!

She has represented Filipino artistry and excellence over decades on the world stage, until the present, and manifested as well Filipino women’s capacity for achieving their best.”

She might as well be echoing the distinguished New York-based music lecturer David Dubal in his radio show The Piano Matters.

Cecile licad biography philippines That award, with its guaranteed three years of international concert bookings and recordings, quickly brought her keyboard stardom. His own demanding concert schedule frequently keeps them apart; their month-old son Otavio lives and travels with Licad. When we get the right piano, we could present Licad with the full spectrum of her extremely rich palette of tone and color. Arts News Service.

She referred to Cecile Licad as “the great Filipina piano artist who has perhaps the largest technical equipment and musical imagination of any living pianist.”

The street where Licad used to live in Quezon City is a cross-section of the haves and have-nots. On one side are the unfenced makeshift houses and the street urchins huddled in the corner store, a scene straight from Lino Brocka’s Jaguar.

Cecile Licad will surely go down in the country’s history as the youngest pianist to enthrall Philippe Entremont, Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider and Seiji Ozawa — without trying too hard.

The street where she lived will surely be remembered, too.

Here is the official video of Cecile Licad’s March concert in Manila: