“How do you take care of your hands?” I wanted to know.

Throughout an hour-long tete-a-tete with the “greatest pianist of her time” Cecile Licad, her animated hands drew my eye until her words completely captured me.

One would not know from looking at her slim figure that trying different cuisines in our country excites her – and that she enjoys simple, wholesome food like fish kilawin, which she can make on her own in New York, though “it’s not the same as here.”

Licad has lived in our imaginations as the prodigy that enraptured the world with her wizard hands. For her homecoming this year, she will perform “the very works that cemented her place in music history — the two concertos from her acclaimed recordings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under André Previn.

Chopin’s Concerto No. 2 earned her the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque from the Chopin Society of Warsaw. “The Chopin concerto I played when I was 11 years old in the Philippines, and that’s when I first left the country. I don’t know if I should mention it, but when they had auditions for the Manila Symphony, someone asked then why the teacher was teaching me that -- it’s like putting red lipstick on a little girl,” she laughs.

“I’m glad I studied it. One should learn really difficult things if you can. Because now, it’s almost like part of my body, the pieces. Of course, when you’re young, you don’t know. So when someone says, ‘Oh that judge didn’t like you,’ and I was like, ‘Who cares?’ I still have that attitude, a little bit. Because you have to, and because not everyone is going to like you. So, I have to first like what I’m doing. If I don’t like it, then nothing is good,” Cecile says.

Cecile will also bring to life Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, alongside the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. The program will also feature Mozart’s Overture to Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620, and Rossini’s Overture to L’italiana in Algeri.

Under the baton of Maestro Grzegorz Nowak, the concert will be held at the Manila Metropolitan Theater on Wednesday, 24 September, at 6:30 p.m.

A life of music

Cecile’s life in piano began when she was seven years old, when she had her first concert in the Philippines. Because she started so young, one might wonder if being a pianist was a dream for her even then.

“Everything was so natural, I think, because my mother was a piano teacher. I was a young kid who was going…listening without really knowing, you know? And I would go, ‘I want to play like that.’ Then she found me a teacher,” Cecile recalls.

The Licad kids had front-row seats to their mom’s teaching. “She used to have a blackboard in front of our breakfast table. So after breakfast… my mother (Rosario Buencamino Licad) … my father (Jose Licad) made her…he said, you have to teach our children how to read notes! It was a blackboard especially for menu, what the food for the day was or for the notes. My mother was a theory teacher, and she would teach me and my brothers — no, not me, because I was only three years old.

“But later on, my brothers did not learn. I learned! I learned by watching. And then I used to steal the music apparently, the music of my brothers...and I learned it by myself. Since I know how to read notes just by watching,” Cecile’s face has a hint of a smile remembering her childhood.

“Then she brought me the piano teacher whom I really liked…’cause I was scared of her. ‘Cause you had to be scared of someone, I guess, so you could learn… Not really scared, but like an authority. Like, my mother I would not listen to,” she laughs. “My father, I would. Either he had the voice, but my mother, no, she’d give in, so quickly… My father was, like, no, you sit there. In fact, my father was the one who would wake me up every 4 a.m.

“Because we all slept in the same bed. He would pull me out and I barely (had my eyes open) and I was already at the piano. Before I even brushed my teeth, you know. And then he’d go to the farmer’s market and buy bangus (milkfish). He would tell me if I practiced well, he would feed me. So always a bribe: Food.”

Cecile’s touch

While the world sees her as a musical genius, Cecile finds joy in being a good mom. Her son with the late great Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses, Otavio, is now 37. “He thinks I’m the best mom,” the Pianists’ Pianist says, a smile in her voice.

Perhaps in equal measure, though one can only assume, is that another source of joy making music her own.

“I try to find something new, instead of just copying. I look at the music, and I see it. As an artist, you don’t listen to recordings to copy. I don’t. I go more for the human (approach). If I make a mistake, it might go even better. I focus more on taking a risk. It’s hard to explain. Like when a piece is played with five fingers, I imagine maybe 20 fingers. In the piano you have to think of so many things, it’s like an orchestra (in your head),” Cecile tries to explain.

This is why she continues to play for audiences everywhere, from Europe to the Philippines, and not just in Metro Manila but in various provinces, just as she had always done when she was in her early teens. “If I play, it means I am able to communicate certain things, whether people are not familiar. I call it my specialty, because I, you know, I communicate through my fingers and music,” she says.

Cecile says when she plays, she uses not just her hands, but her ear “a lot.”

“Whatever it is, whether sadness or tempestuous, stormy, cloudy, angry (emotion) – those are just human feelings. That’s why I communicate clearly; it’s because I feel these myself every single day of my life.

“Either sad or depressed, (or when) I’m extremely happy when I’m eating. Or when I like people -- when I feel like people are true to me. I feel comfortable, then I like it.

I’m interested in many different personalities of people. I respect everybody’s colorful personalities. Everybody has their special thing, you know. Which I used to not know because I was always…stuck in the can, you know,” she laughs, her deep voice melting. “Basically, I’m less stressed. And then I can focus when I’m in the piano. And then it’s like, that’s it. I can really give everything.”

These days, Cecile still practices like a fiend when she has a concert. She practices a lot, but she has learned to relax. “I feel that relaxation is also just as important. But I think I learned that from my son. ’Cause he goes, ‘Chill out, Mom. You’ve been playing a long time!’

She admits, “I work all the time. That’s what I do. I practice every day. Except yesterday…” she laughs.

“But I still am a perfectionist in many, many ways. But practicing-wise, I don’t practice just for the sake of working scales, like, you know, a good student. I practice because either I want to make this passage made clearer to listeners or to me -- first of all to me. I like to enjoy myself, and that’s why you see my face – I don’t make that up. Some people practice that first, and then the music suffers. Because the main event is the theater. If I can do both, that would be amazing, because when I feel the music, whatever comes, comes. But I don’t want to watch myself in video because I get conscious,” she reveals.

Presented by Rustan’s, The Pianist’s Pianist pays tribute to Filipino artistic excellence and continues the legacy of the late Zenaida “Nedy” Tantoco, who tirelessly championed culture and music. Carrying her vision forward, Anton T. Huang, president and CEO of Rustan’s and SSI Group, and chairman of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc. (PPOSI), spearheads the initiative as a meaningful fundraiser for the PPO’s continued pursuit of excellence.

Huang shares, “Cecile Licad is not only one of the Philippines’ greatest cultural treasures but also a symbol of how Filipino artistry can inspire and elevate audiences across the world. Through this concert and our continued support of the PPO, we honor her unparalleled contributions to music while ensuring that the next generation of Filipino musicians can thrive.”

She later made history as the first Filipina to win the coveted Leventritt Gold Medal in 1981, joining the ranks of legends such as Van Cliburn and Gary Graffman. Over the decades, she has been honored with the Presidential Medal of Merit (1991), the Gawad CCP Para Sa Sining in the field of Music in 1994, and the Pamana ng Pilipino Award (2014).

Most recently, her December 2024 recital at Carnegie Hall earned rave reviews, with the New York Classical Review praising her performance as “less about pianistic display than about ideas and meaning,” underscoring her unique gift for combining virtuosity with profound musical insight.

Following her Manila performance, she will embark on a nationwide series of performances, presented by various esteemed organizations, each supporting a unique cause.

Presented by Baguio Country Club for its 120th Anniversary, will be an invitation-only event at the Cordillera Convention Hall on 27 September. Then Cecile will perform at the Pinto Art Museum and Arboretum in Antipolo on 28 September. For tickets, interested individuals may call 09163746347.

A concert will also be held at the Miranila Heritage House and Library in Quezon City on 1 October, with tickets available through 09065478268.

The series ends with two highly anticipated performances in Iloilo City: at Sta. Ana Parish in Molo on 6 October, and at the UPV Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage on 7 October. Philippine Airlines will graciously fly her to Iloilo for these engagements. She will also perform at the ECrown Hotel Ballroom in Virac, Catanduanes on 11 October.

Tickets are available through Lulu Casas (0917 570 8301) or Nancy Sones (0994 715 6582) and at Ticketmelon https://www.ticketmelon.com/rustans/cecile-licad-concert/.

Don’t miss this extraordinary evening of world-class music! Prices are as follows: Orchestra Center at P5,000; Orchestra Sides at P3,500; and Balcony Center and Sides at P500.