Renowned pianist Cecile Licad to perform at Tarleton
By Tarleton State University
STEPHENVILLE, Texas—Internationally acclaimed classical pianist Cecile Licad will perform a guest recital at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3, in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center theatre as part of the Department of Fine Arts' annual piano festival.
A native of the Philippines, Licad has been hailed as the “pianist’s pianist” by The New Yorker. She will perform Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor and 12Etudes, Opus 25 by Frederic Chopin.
The concert will be presented through funding by the ULTRA Club and the President’s Circle.
“As far as I know, this music has never been performed in Texas in a live concert by a woman, so it will be an historic event,” said Dr. Leslie Spotz, associate professor of piano at Tarleton. “Ms. Licad’s repertoire for this concert is as fiendishly difficult as it gets.”
A virtuoso classical pianist, Licad’s natural talent was honed at the Curtis Institute of Music by performers such as Rudolf Serkin, Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. She has appeared with major symphonies in the United States, Europe and Asia, and has performed under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, and Pinchas Zukerman, among others.
Recent highlights include performances with Seattle Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Tucson Symphony and at the La Jolla Chamber Music and Eastern Music Festivals. In 2010-11, she joined the Wynton Marsalis Septet performing the music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk for the feature film Louis, a silent film homage to Louis Armstrong.
Licad’s large repertoire as an orchestral soloist ranges from acclaimed interpretations of the classical works of Mozart and Beethoven to the Romantic literature of Brahms and Tchaikovsky to 20th century compositions.
Licad began playing piano at age 3, and debuted as a soloist at age 7 with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. She achieved international recognition as one of the youngest musicians to be awarded the prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal for pianists and violinists in 1981.
The Tarleton Piano Festival will continue on Saturday, Feb. 4 with piano classes for Tarleton and area high school piano students.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for Tarleton students who present a valid ID, and may be purchased one hour prior to the performance at the Fine Arts Center box office. For more information, call (254) 968-9291.
Tarleton State University
A member of The Texas A&M University System
Contact: Kurt Mogonye
254-968-9460
mogonye@tarleton.edu
Texan News Service | Posted on: Thursday, January 26, 2012 2:56 p.m.
