Politically incorrect!” said a protective friend who heard that I was attempting an article on former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos’ contribution to arts and culture. “Where angels fear to tread!” cautioned another. “Basta bahala ka dyan,” she continued. “Di ka naman anghel, Darna ka.” Thank you.
Filipino pianist Cecile Licad continued her phenomenal mastery of the Chopin and Liszt repertoire with another electrifying recital in California and Boston.
Pianist Cecile Licad closed her Calderwood Hall’s inaugural recital season at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Sunday late last month. She played Chopin’s Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22, on the first half, and in the last number of the concluding half; and Liszt’s Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata in [...]
Cecile Licad came to Cebu to perform in a piano recital at the ballroom of the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel. It was a well-attended event sponsored by the Ateneo and Sacred Heart School alumni which raised funds for the victims of typhoon “Sendong” in northern Mindanao, and the earthquake in Negros Oriental.
Cebu is my comfort island once removed from Manila. The one-night-only show of Cecile Licad made it a double treat. Joy Onglatco produced the show, mixing the Old Guard society with 100 students from Sacred Heart School Alumni, Ateneo de Manila Alumni and Ateneo de Cebu Fund-Raiser for Sendong Survivors.
Four pianos from different manufacturers figured in the recent engagements of Cecile Licad in Manila and the provinces.
Cecile Licad’s solo outreach concerts at Holy Angel University in Angeles City, Pampanga (March 22); Island Cove in Kawit, Cavite (March 24); and Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Cebu City (March 27), all ended up with standing ovations, a clear sign of how well she moved her audiences.
Conjure a diva, Lea Salonga; a prima ballerina, Lisa Macuja; and a piano virtuoso, Cecile Licad, and make them share the stage together. Rather than outdoing one another, they sincerely express their individual artistic prowess, underscoring the sterling artistry of the Filipino before the world, and what do you have?
Kawit in Cavite is most historic. It is the birthplace of the president of the First Philippine Republic, Emilio Aguinaldo. What is now the Aguinaldo Shrine was where independence from Spain was declared on June 12, 1898.
Last weekend, Filipino music-lovers were cheering Filipino tenor Arthur Espiritu who sang the role of Alfredo in the latest CCP revival of “La Traviata” in association with the Opera Guild of the Philippines and Dae-Jeon Opera Company of South Korea.
Three world class muses—ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, pianist Cecile Licad and singer Lea Salonga—will be sharing the stage for the first time at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
-01-FA.jpg)