CECILE LICAD, described by Argentine piano icon Martha Argerich as the greatest pianist of her generation, said she felt let down when her request for provincial concerts before her September 15-16 engagements in Manila was turned down by the CCP management.

The CCP decision rendered by newly appointed CCP artistic director Raul Sunico was concurred in by outgoing CCP president Nestor Jardin and CCP board of trustees chair Emily Abrera in an official letter dated August 4.

In an earlier letter sent to Licad, Sunico said CCP could not allow Licad?s provincial concerts because CCP as major presentor should be given priority for the first performance of an artist, considering its sizable investments in the gala production.

Sunico added that her performance outside the CCP would preempt the impact of the PPO concert.

Licad said the decision was well-taken, though she noted the CCP management ignored the artistic reasons for her desire to do outreach concerts.

?While we are, of course, concerned, too, about your artistic needs,? said Sunico and Abrera in a letter to Licad, ?there are some safeguards [for CCP] as presentors that we have to protect.?

Licad noted the letter sounded like it came from a New York company sizing up an applicant and not from the temple of the arts which was supposed to protect Filipino artists.

Revised contract

The pianist said her first CCP engagement contract sent to her on May 15 did not prohibit her from performing anywhere in the country before her CCP concert. ?In all my engagements, my contract usually carries clauses about concerts I cannot do during specific engagements.?

The CCP sent a revised contract a mere six weeks before the September concerts, with new clauses purportedly reflecting the new CCP policy. It now asked Licad to get permission for subsequent performances after CCP.

Licad, on the brink of tears, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer: ?It?s disappointing to get this kind of treatment from your own country. This is the first time I was asked to cancel provincial engagements in my 40 years of music-making in the Philippines and abroad and I got it ? from, of all institutions ? the Cultural Center of the Philippines. I am sorry to say that I cannot see the logic of this CCP policy, which wasn?t applied to me last year when I did a performance in Zambales and two performances in Metro Manila before my CCP concert. Every time my schedule allows it, I always perform in the provinces before or after my CCP engagements. I have a special heart for provincial audiences because they are living proof classical music is not just for the elite.?

Licad, described by the Chicago Sun-Times as ?one of the great flaming talents that comes only once or twice in every generation,? was supposed to play with the Manila Symphony Orchestra in Angeles City and Science City of Muñoz before her CCP engagements.

Live audiences

The world-acclaimed Filipino pianist said she wanted provincial concerts before the CCP event for purely artistic reasons, as she would be playing the Prokofief C Major Concerto for the first time in public. She told the CCP that rehearsals alone could not make a new piece work.

?You can?t get the best from a piece of music with just one or two rehearsals. I need to know the piece inside and out, not just with musicians but with live audiences where I get much of my artistic input. Music is not just about perfecting notes. You have to put a human face to music before you can get the best from it. I have to know audience reactions whether I am getting to the heart of the music or not. This is the way I work, and this is the reason why I still have a career going for the past 40 years.?

The CCP management also said in the letter that CCP?s provincial concerts might affect the audience turnout in Metro Manila.

To which Licad replied: ?In my CCP concert last year, two performances were scheduled in Miriam College and Alabang and it did not affect sales in Metro Manila. In fact, it resulted in a sold-out CCP concert as seen from those hundreds of people who were not able to watch me because tickets ran out on the day of the concert.?

Licad told CCP her Pampanga performance was special to her because her father, the late Dr. Jesus Licad, was from Pampanga. ?It?s ironic my father was from Pampanga and I was never heard in that province.?

?Can?t the CCP share my performances with these young musicians and music-lovers in the provinces as part of its 40th anniversary festivities? After all, I am hardly heard in the provinces,? she added.

?Since the CCP is financed by taxpayers? money not just from Metro Manila, I thought music-lovers in the provinces need not be excluded from the CCP festivities on its 40th anniversary.?

Licad is scheduled to perform at the Cultural Center of the Philippines September 15 and 16 with German cellist Alban Gerhardt.