Arts Periscope

PIANIST CECILE LICAD SOLO RECITAL AT  ST. BENEDICT’S CHAPEL IN SILANG, CAVITE  JULY 15, 7 P.M.

by Pablo A. Tariman



          That was a very revealing edition of Executive Talks spearheaded by the First Pacific Leadership Academy under Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan who observed his birthday last July 11 by sharing a musical event with youth leaders and senior management career persons.

          The artists – among them pianist Cecile Licad  and soprano Rachelle Gerodias – were two of the panelists and they revealed what they have to go through to excel in their fields. They shared their triumphs as well as their career pains and how they coped with them. One question proved to be most interesting: how do artists and career executives cope with failure?

          The answers were varied and Licad on her part gave a down-to-earth, if, funny and very human reply: “How do I cope with failure? I cry of course, I pull my hair but I don’t dwell on it too long. But surely we learn a lot from our failures than from our so-called triumphs.”

          The youth leaders and business executives had the thrill of their lives watching Licad and Gerodias in another setting – as performing artists.

          Gerodias thrilled with Juliet’s aria (from Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet) and San Pedro’s “Mutya ng Pasig while Licad as soloist of the PPO under Olivier Ochanine got a hair-raising standing ovation after a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

          This was Licad and Ochanine’s first team-up and the result was astounding. The PPO was at its best and the conductor had formidable rapport with soloist.

          Said Roy Agustin K. Evalle, general manager and executive director of the First Pacific Leadership Academy on why they are exposing youth leaders and business executives alike to arts exposure: “We believe that through the artists’ life and work, we advocate the holistic formation of a leader. In this light, we would like each and every one to witness how the diversity of experiences, talents, skills and personal giftedness moves towards a united end – to leave us with footsteps to follow.”
 
          The event is supported by the Microtel-South Forbes, the homeowners of Ayala Westgrove, South Forbes Construction Supply, Park Ads, Inc., Microprint, and the many friends of St. Benedict Church-Westgrove.

          Among those who have performed at the St. Benedict Chapel was Russian pianist Sofia Gulyak, a winner of the William Kapell International Piano Competition where Licad regularly sat as one of the members of the distinguished jury.

                   The recital program includes the Sonata No. 4 by  Leo Ornstein, William Mason’s Silver Spring, a handful of works by the 19th-century crossover pioneer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and the Woodland Sketches of Edward MacDowel and the Piano Sonata (in C minor, Op. 21) of the French woman composer Cecile Chaminade.

         In a statement Licad said it is  with sadness that she received the news that Prof. Oscar C. Yatco has moved on last July 1.

          Said Licad: “Maestro Yatco was part of my growth as a young musician and indeed I learned a lot from the man by just making music with him. He saw me evolve as an artist and being one of our distinguished conductors, he left something  that Filipino musicians can learn from.  I last worked with Maestro Yatco in 2009 when I was soloist in Prokofiev’s Concerto in C Major along with German cellist Alban Gerhardt who was soloist in a Shostakovich cello concerto --  all in one evening. he huge success of that last concert is what I will remember  of Maestro Yatco.  My family and I mourn the loss of a distinguished figure in Philippine music.”