Nedy Tantoco hosts such unforgettable lunches. But the one lunch that still lingers in my ears — and my heart — is the one she hosted for Cecile Licad in her beautiful home three months ago. The main dish was delicious quinoa with vegetables and lamb, and after dessert, we were treated to a few piano pieces by Cecile performing on the nine-foot Hamburg Steinway piano in the house of Ambassador Benny Tantoco, located on the same street. It was like a rehearsal for her APEC performance in Manila. To watch an internationally acclaimed pianist perform in a concert hall is fabulous. But to see Cecile play up-close in a home, before five people, is priceless.
Even more priceless is seeing this musical superstar reveal her powerful but very real and honest human side.
“I am not very sociable,” Cecile told Igan D’Bayan as he held his recorder. “That’s why I spend days at home in my pajamas... When playing music, I want to get lost in the moment. I’m alone most of the time, so I am in touch with this something that nobody can take away... Playing the piano gave me a way in which I could hide from the world.”
Fast-forward to last Jan. 28, at the reception hosted by Nedy at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) after the “Cecile Licad Encore!” concert. Cecile walked with Nedy towards the guests, smiling and shaking hands with each one, and obliging them with selfies and group photos. She was not at all in her antisocial pajama mood. Even if she was surely tired.
Nedy asked Cecile, “Why did you accept such a challenging program — a two-piano concerto of 45 minutes each, with only a 15-minute interval between each?”
“Well, Tita Nedy, I was challenged by Olivier (Ochanine, the principal conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra) and I thought it was time I took the challenge.”
And the reason why Cecile was all-smiles? “My son (Ottavio Meneses) has a very good effect on me. I’m happy when he is present because he has such a positive vibe,” Cecile said to Nedy. The day after the concert, mother and son went to Amanpulo for four days of bonding.
The CCP concert started with Cecile playing Rossini (Overture to Italian in Algiers) and Tchaikovsky (Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor, Op. 23). So electrifying we could feel Cecile’s energy passing through her veins, her emotions leaping with her fingers. But my favorite was her doing Rachmaninoff' (Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op. 18) because of the melody used for two romantic popular songs: Full Moon and Empty Arms, popularized by Frank Sinatra, and All By Myself, a power ballad by American singer Eric Carmen in 1975 (which was subsequently recorded by Celine Dion in 1996).
For her encore numbers, I was hoping Cecile could do Chopin’s popular pieces (the ones with melodies rearranged for pop songs such as Till the End of Time or To Love Again), but instead she did three very soothing pieces: Buencamino’s Lullaby, Gershwin’s Embraceable You and, lastly, Gottschalk’s Souvenirs d’ Andalousie which had previously enchanted us at the Tantoco residence.
So mesmerizing was Cecile’s performance that one famous actor in the audience — John Lloyd Cruz who watched the concert with Virgie Ramos — was gushing: “I was blown away. It was like watching an actor perform. I don’t know much about music, but my take is on how Cecile affects me emotionally. She took me along on her journey as she performed.” After the concert, writer Pablo Tariman brought John Lloyd backstage to meet Cecile and her son Ottavio, where John asked Cecile to sign his souvenir program. “I watch your movies,” the pianist told the actor, “especially your kissing scenes.” Now isn’t Cecile so very real?
So real and sincere. That when her Tita Nedy asked Cecile the favor of playing for the 94-year-old Benny Tantoco patriarch before the piano was to be moved to the CCP, Cecile replied, “It is my privilege — not a favor — to do a private concert for Ambassador Tito Benny!” Nedy likewise invited the wheelchair-bound First Lady-turned-Congresswoman Imelda Marcos to watch with the Tantoco patriarch.
It was under the patronage of Mrs. Marcos that the then child prodigy studied under the best masters and eventually performed in top international concert halls. The late Rustan’s matriarch Glecy Tantoco likewise continued such nurturing, and the baton has been passed to Nedy who, as president of the Philippine-Italian Association and trustee of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, is a dedicated art patron and stalwart of Philippine culture.
“Encore!” was Nedy’s third concert project for Licad. I asked her when a fourth concert could possibly be.
“Yes, the demand for Cecile is endless, people keep asking for her,” Nedy said. “What I know is that Cecile will be back this May because MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) has invited her and the PPO to perform in Hong Kong for the anniversary of his company.”
I am so aching for a quinoa lunch again. And this time, for dessert, I will request for Chopin.
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“Cecile Licad Encore” was presented by Philippine-Italian Association and Cultural Center of the Philippines, with San Miguel Corporation, Calata Corporation, Rustan’s, Starbucks, The Peninsula Manila and Royal Duty Free Shops Inc. in cooperation with Imelda O. Cojuangco, SSI Group Inc., Bulgari, Philippine Tatler, Megaworld, Mercedes-Benz, Amanpulo, Credit Suisse, and Anflocor. The Philippine STAR is a media partner.
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Follow the author on Instagram and Facebook@milletmartinezmananquil. Email her at mananquilmillet@gmail.com.