World-class pianist Cecile Licad is as Pinoy as paksiw
Hailed as the “Pianist’s pianist,” and having entranced audiences with the tip of her fingers from Moscow to Manila, Cecile Licad was once asked if she had Viennese blood — because she was a virtuoso in playing Viennese waltzes, “for four hands, and I have an instinct for all kinds of music.”
Mozart, Strauss and Beethoven were Viennese, after all.
She would say it’s because she’s Filipino.
“I am Filipino so that’s how I interpret the music. It’s how I transmit it. Maybe that’s what makes it different — because of where I’m from,” she said in an intimate group interview with journalists in the exquisite home of the late Nedy Tantoco, who was a relentless supporter and inspiration. We were joined by Nedy’s son Anton T. Huang, president and CEO of Rustan’s and SSI Group, and chairman of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc. (PPOSI). PPOSI spearheads the initiative as a meaningful fundraiser for the PPO’s continued pursuit of excellence.
“I never forgot Tagalog. I’ve been in America for a long time. And I know some people would travel, they’d speak English, and say, ‘Oh I don’t understand you.’ Ano?” she would answer back. “Siyempre hindi mo nakakalimutan (ang Tagalog). When I was 11 years old, I remember there were Filipinos who didn’t think I was Filipino and they would make fun me.”
“Anong problema mo?” she would surprise them by saying.
She’s actually as Pinoy as paksiw.
“The only food I can eat every day is paksiw. I can cook paksiw.” In fact, she just had paksiw na salay-salay in the home of her hosts.
Her desire to bring her music to the provinces reflects her mission. Why does she make time for her outreach concerts?
“Because I’m like a missionary, you know. And some of them have never heard it. And it will bring something new to their ears, to their beings. If I play, it means I’m able to communicate certain things, whether people are not familiar with them or not. That’s my, I call it, my specialty because that’s how I’m trained. And I communicate through my fingers to my music.”
Following her Manila performance, she will embark on a nationwide series of performances, all with a cause. She will have a by-invitation-only event at the Cordillera Convention Hall on Sept. 27. Following this, she will perform at the Pinto Art Museum and Arboretum in Antipolo on Sept. 28. A concert will also be held at the Miranila Heritage House and Library in Quezon City on Oct. 1,
She will perform at Sta. Ana Parish in Molo on Oct. 6, and at the UPV Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage on Oct. 7. Philippine Airlines will fly her to Iloilo for these engagements. She will also perform at the ECrown Hotel Ballroom in Virac, Catanduanes on Oct. 11.
Asked what piece she enjoys doing most, she says she has no favorites.
“I’m always asked that but every piece that I present to the public I have to enjoy even if I don’t enjoy it. But when I’m working on it, even if I don’t like a piece, I pretend that it’s the most incredible piece and then I actually can transform it.”
The piano is not easy to play.
“It is a hard instrument. It’s like an orchestra. You have to think of your fingers being independent of one another. This is a bass, the middle part, the top. Everything is like...it’s like a whole crowd. Instead of just one. It’s like a chorus.”
Have her hands ever failed her?
“Even if my hands fail me, I go on,” she says.
Though she has performed all over the world, even as a child, she is most nervous when she is performing in the Philippines.
She finds Filipinos “always enthusiastic and warm, but it depends how I play, too. And it’s the country where I’m most nervous.”
Why so?
“I think that’s natural for every musician when they go back to their own country. I’ve been always nervous, especially when my parents used to watch. I didn’t like that. Because it’s like I feel like they’re judging you. And I had a bad experience when I was a kid. Because if I made a mistake or something, they would kind of punish me,” she revealed.
Really?
“They would promise me to go to Selecta and then if I played badly, they would say, you get just tuyo. I mean, I don’t mind tuyo. I love it. But it was like a punishment. Or, you won’t get those shoes,” she laughed.
She can concentrate on any piece even with distractions — like an errant cellphone ringing just when the concert hall is deathly quiet in anticipation of her next note.
“I was trained when I was seven years old. My mother used to make my brothers so noisy while I was practicing. She said, bother her. You know, the more you bother her, the better she’ll be.”
Once an overweight pre-teener, Cecile lost weight when she started noticing the boys, she said. She is even more svelte now, thanks to intermittent fasting. Thus, she was quite the looker in her figure-hugging dress by Sandro, from Rustan’s. She practices all day, and the menu at the end of the day is her reward.
A child prodigy, she has been performing to acclaim for 50 years now. What is the secret to her longevity?
“It’s called the fighting spirit. So when I go down, I always know how to go up. That’s my longevity. I’m not a loser.”
She’s also learned to chill and relax, upon the advice of her 37-year-old son Otavio.
And those are the keys to her success, and the beautiful music that emanates from it.
You may e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez
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