{"id":2068345,"date":"2025-10-04T07:22:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T07:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2068345"},"modified":"2025-10-04T07:22:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T07:22:04","slug":"new-york-based-cecile-licad-brings-her-music-home-to-the-philippines-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-york-based-cecile-licad-brings-her-music-home-to-the-philippines-features\/","title":{"rendered":"New York\u2013based Cecile Licad brings her music home to the Philippines \u2014 Features"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

From her New York home to her ongoing Manila tour, pianist Cecile Licad continues to captivate audiences while honoring the memory of her patron Nedy Tantoco and reaffirming her Filipino roots.<\/i><\/p>\n

NEW YORK \/ MANILA \u2014\u00a0Cecile Buencamino Licad, the Manila-born pianist acclaimed on the world\u2019s greatest stages, continues to remind audiences of her brilliance as she embarks on an ongoing nationwide tour of the Philippines. Hailed by\u00a0The New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0as a\u00a0\u201cpianist\u2019s pianist,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Licad lives in New York City, but her music and heart remain deeply tied to her homeland.<\/p>\n

This season she is back home, performing for Filipino audiences in a tour that began in Manila and continues through Baguio, Antipolo, Quezon City, Iloilo, and Catanduanes.<\/p>\n

Artistry and discipline<\/h4>\n

Licad was born in 1961 to Jes\u00fas Licad and Rosario Buencamino Licad. She began piano lessons at age three with her mother, who was her first teacher, and later trained with Rosario Picazo. By seven she had made her orchestral debut in Manila, already recognized as a prodigy.<\/p>\n

At 12 she entered the\u00a0Curtis Institute of Music\u00a0in Philadelphia, where she studied under Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin, and Mieczys\u0142aw Horszowski. Her rise was swift. In 1981 she won the\u00a0Leventritt Gold Medal, a rare and prestigious award given to only a select number of musicians, among them Van Cliburn and Itzhak Perlman.<\/p>\n

That victory propelled her into an international career that included performances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, London Philharmonic, and many other major orchestras. Critics praised her virtuosity and intensity, noting how she combined technical brilliance with expressive depth.<\/p>\n

Her discography reflects her range. Her recording of Chopin\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019 Piano Concerto No. 2 with Andr\u00e9 Previn and the London Philharmonic earned the\u00a0Grand Prix du Disque Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin\u00a0in 1985. She also recorded Rachmaninoff\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Claudio Abbado and the Chicago Symphony, regarded as one of her landmark achievements.<\/p>\n

A life between New York and Manila<\/h4>\n

Now based in New York City, Licad has lived much of her adult life abroad, often describing her daily existence as solitary and disciplined, with practice forming the core of her routine. Yet her heart remains firmly connected to the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cecile Licad in New York City, the place she has long called home. For the world-renowned pianist, the city offers both a cultural hub for her global career and a personal refuge where she balances the intensity of international touring with the rhythm of everyday life. (Photo from @licadc Instagram page)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her current tour opened on\u00a0September 24, 2025\u00a0at the\u00a0Metropolitan Theater in Manila, where she performed with the\u00a0Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra\u00a0under Maestro\u00a0Grzegorz Nowak. The program featured\u00a0Chopin\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 2\u00a0and\u00a0Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019 Piano Concerto No. 2, alongside\u00a0Mozart\u2019s Overture to\u00a0The Magic Flute<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Rossini\u2019s Overture to\u00a0L\u2019italiana in Algeri<\/em>. The concert, presented by Rustan\u2019s, also served as a fundraiser for the PPO.<\/p>\n

The tour continues with scheduled performances in\u00a0Baguio, Antipolo, Quezon City, Iloilo City, and Catanduanes, including an intimate recital at\u00a0Gallery MiraNila\u00a0on\u00a0October 1. Outreach performances include a\u00a0free concert at Sta. Ana Parish in Molo, Iloilo\u00a0on October 6. A second Iloilo concert follows at the\u00a0UPV Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage\u00a0on October 7, before the tour concludes on October 11 in\u00a0Virac, Catanduanes.<\/p>\n

The concerts have drawn standing ovations, echoing the success of her\u00a0Carnegie Hall recital in December 2024, which sold out and received critical acclaim from New York reviewers for its blend of virtuosity and storytelling.<\/p>\n

Family and personal journey<\/h4>\n

Beyond her public life, Licad\u2019s personal journey is marked by family and balance. She married Brazilian cellist\u00a0Ant\u00f4nio Meneses, whom she met at a music festival in Austria, and together they have a son, Otavio, born in 1987. The marriage lasted nine years, but Licad has spoken openly about the importance of motherhood in her life, even as she navigated the demands of an international career.<\/p>\n

Today, she continues to make her home in New York, where she juggles family, practice, and performance, often reflecting that music remains a lifelong process of learning.<\/p>\n

The role of patronage<\/h4>\n

Licad\u2019s journey was shaped not only by her own discipline but also by the support of patrons who opened doors at crucial moments. Her early studies in the United States were made possible by the\u00a0Young Artists\u2019 Foundation, established under then\u2013First Lady\u00a0Imelda Marcos, which named her its first piano scholar. Licad has said that this support made it possible for her to study in America, adding that she and Imelda Marcos\u00a0\u201cnever talked about politics\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and that their connection was one of artistic sponsorship. She has freely acknowledged that her flourishing career can be attributed in part to this assistance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
From her early years under the patronage of Imelda Marcos (left) to her enduring friendship with the late Nedy Tantoco (right), Cecile Licad\u2019s journey as an internationally acclaimed pianist has long been intertwined with patrons who supported and celebrated her artistry. (Photos from @licadc Instagram page)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Equally vital was the presence of the late\u00a0Zenaida \u201cNedy\u201d Tantoco, longtime chair of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society and one of the country\u2019s great arts patrons. To Licad, she was more than an organizer. She was \u201cTita Nedy,\u201d a confidante who shared her artistic vision and encouraged her to keep performing for Filipino audiences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source asianjournal.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From her New York home to her ongoing Manila tour, pianist Cecile Licad continues to captivate audiences while honoring the memory of her patron Nedy Tantoco and reaffirming her Filipino roots. NEW YORK \/ MANILA \u2014\u00a0Cecile Buencamino Licad, the Manila-born pianist acclaimed on the world\u2019s greatest stages, continues to remind audiences of her brilliance as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2068346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[386959,386960,386961,386962,386963,386964,386965,386966,386967,386968,386969,386970,386971],"class_list":["post-2068345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-asian-journal","tag-cecile-licad-homecoming-tour","tag-cecile-licad-manila-tour","tag-chopin-piano-concerto","tag-curtis-institute-of-music","tag-filipino-pianist-new-york","tag-imelda-marcos-young-artists-foundation","tag-mozart-magic-flute","tag-nedy-tantoco","tag-new-york-based-cecile-licad","tag-philippine-philharmonic-orchestra","tag-rossini-litaliana-in-algeri","tag-saint-saens-piano-concerto"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/New-York\u2013based-Cecile-Licad-brings-her-music-home-to-the.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2068345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2068347,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068345\/revisions\/2068347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2068346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2068345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2068345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2068345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}