Bravo, Cecile Licad!
MANILA, Philippines - In salute to Filipino ingenuity and artistry, the Ayala Malls together with the Filipinas Heritage Library, Ayala Museum, Globe, and BPI, once again presents “Bravo Filipino” with this year’s theme “Bravo! Celebrating the Filipino.” Featuring budding and world-renowned artists in literature, film, photography, fashion, music, and dance, the four month-long series of world-class performances and exhibits enliven our history, culture and heritage, and Filipino pride.
One of the facets of the “Bravo! Celebrating the Filipino” series showcased classical pianist Cecile Licad, dubbed as “a pianist’s pianist” by The New Yorker and one of the youngest musicians who received the Leventritt Gold Medal in 1981. She began her piano studies at the age of three with her mother, Rosario Licad, and later studied with the highly regarded Rosario Picazo. At seven, she made her debut as soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Philippines. Her natural talent was honed at the Curtis Institute of Music by three of the greatest pedagogues of our time: Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski.
Licad’s large repertoire as an orchestral soloist spans a range of pieces from Classical era, Romantic era, to the 20th century compositions. She has performed alongside some of the world’s best orchestras in the US with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and National Symphony, Europe with London Symphony, Bayerisches Rundfunk Orchestra, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Asia with Hong Kong Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo’s NHK Symphony aside from our very own orchestras.
Showcasing her devoted passion for music and ingenious talent, Cecile Licad rendered some of the most masterful pieces at Greenbelt along with the Manila Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Arturo Molina. Taking the guests to a musical journey, Cecile Licad played her version of Scherzo No. 3 in C Sharp Minor, a shadowy and energetic piece, and Etude No. 3 Opus 3 which combines technical mastery and poetic notes, both from Frederic Chopin. Bringing forth the ideas of our cultural landscape, she rendered Francisco Buencamino Sr.’s Kumintang, Mayon, Harana, and Larawan.
The Manila Symphony Orchestra under the Baton of Maestro Arturo Molina then performed Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov’s Cappricio Espagnol Op 34 which depicted images of Russians in their cold northern homes and the exotic vibrancy of sun-drenched Spain. For her last piece, Cecile Licad showcased Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, a transparent, intimate, and elegant piece from Chopin and a fitting ending song to the beautiful concert.
ArtPark, another facet of this year’s “Bravo! Celebrating the Filipino” is a series of public art exhibitions that will commence on May and aims to make art more accessible to the public and to generate greater awareness of the works world-class Filipino artists. This will feature the artworks of artists including Juan Alcazaren, Leeroy New, Felix Bacolor, Bogie Ruiz, Ronald Ventura, Junyee, Nestor Vinluan and Diokno Pasilan.
Lastly, Bravo Filipino will also screen films that tackle relevant issues that are reflection of the Filipino culture. To highlight this event is a movie premiere with a director’s annotation, an in-depth discussion about the director’s insights on the characters, a particular scene, the storyline, and other important elements of the film. Regular movie screenings are set in May at the following Ayala Malls: Glorietta, Market! Market!, Alabang Town Center, Ayala Center, Cebu, and Marquee Mall.
