
Nedy Tantoco (left) with Cecile Licad who felt devastated upon hearing the news of her passing: ‘Absolutely no words to describe her’
The last time we communicated, Nedy Tantoco expressed great interest in having Cecile Licad and the sensational 23-year-old Filipino-Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski partner in a big concert. But as the young conductor was fully booked until 2027, we couldn’t make it happen this year.
We frantically emailed the conductor’s German agent, but there was nothing she could do to make a Manila concert happen in 2024. We settled for a possible 2025 date.
I even had to “scheme” with the conductor’s mother (a Filipino from Davao) to closely monitor the hectic sked for a sudden open slot. “Tell him, Pablo, I can send a helicopter if he can make it to Manila,” Nedy added, not really in jest.
I updated Nedy about the conductor’s schedule, his availability not possible in the near future. Then I told her, “You know what? The new PPO (Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra) music director, Grzegorz Nowak, is just as good. Never saw such an excellent conductor of the PPO since Oscar Yatco’s time.”
Then I got in touch with Cecile (Licad), giving the guarantee that the PPO already has a damn good conductor. The pianist said yes. Nedy also said yes to a March Women’s Month PPO concert with Licad and another one in May.

Nedy Tantoco with CCP artistic director Dennis Marasigan, then CCP president Margie Moran-Floirendo, and Italian Ambassador Marco Clemente
Nedy was in the thick of preparations for these coming concerts when she underwent heart surgery on Monday February 5. Thursday night, February 8, she breathed her last. The next day, Friday, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) dedicated the 6th PPO season concert to Nedy, the head of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc.
She raised funds for the purchase of musical instruments and the repair of old ones. Nedy was instrumental in bringing the PPO to the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York
In the dedication CCP president Michelle Nikki Junia described Nedy’s fruitful 19 years as a CCP trustee and her unwavering love for the arts and culture. She planned several fundraising projects to help the CCP resident companies. On top of that, she raised funds for the purchase of musical instruments and the repair of old ones. Nedy was instrumental in bringing the PPO to the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York.

Poster of 2020 CCP production of ‘Lucia di Lammermoor.’ The Donizetti opera was Nedy Tantoco’s biggest hit.

Triumphant curtain call for ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’
Foremost of all, she was an opera impresario. The productions she helped mount were Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love) in 2017, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in 2020, and Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot in 2022, among others.
Concluded the CCP president: “The CCP and the arts community grieve the loss of a strong ally of cultural endeavors and promoting artistic excellence. May her soul rest in peace and rise in glory.”
The family announced the passing of Zenaida “Nedy” R. Tantoco—retailer, philanthropist, patroness of the arts, loving mother, and grandmother—on the night of Feb. 8, 2024, at 11:42 pm. She was 77.
I can only recall Nedy’s presence in press conferences before the opening of various opera productions. During the presscon for Lucia di Lammermoor, I asked Nedy and the lead singers of the Donizetti opera what their real-life mad scenes were (the opera is famous for the mad scenes of the heroine).
Nedy replied: “It’s true that preparing to mount an opera involves some kind of madness. The opera is full of entertaining arias, but it also involves a lot of hard work. For another, it is very expensive to mount one. The madness begins while raising funds through the help of various sponsors and looking after the needs of the artists and production team. It involves a whole lot of preparations that can induce madness. But when your audience enjoys it, you realize later your act of ‘madness’ actually paid off.”
In one presscon for L’Elisir d’Amore, I asked both singers and producers if opera might just die a natural death due to dwindling audiences, on top of expensive production expenses.
The cast and producer of L’Elisir d’Amore said they’d prefer to be positive and optimistic. “For as long as singers are around and producers believe in its good effect in society, opera will thrive,” said the lead tenor.
Nedy the producer replied how opera had remained a source of first-rate entertainment. “Let’s face it, music gives us pure joy. I get pure delight just listening to Elena Ponti and David Astorga. I think Filipinos will remain opera lovers at heart.”
Nedy’s biggest opera hit was, of course, Lucia di Lammermoor, which was staged just a few weeks before the pandemic lockdown.
The feedback to the opera was staggering. “Thanks to Lucia di Lammermoor, I forgot my endless anxiety over coronavirus at least for three hours,” said opera watcher Margie Logarta, who witnessed a huge audience turnout on a Sunday afternoon.
In both performances, tenor Arthur Espiritu as Edgardo was the star of the night after delivering an immensely moving tomb scene in the last act.
In the second performance, Espiritu’s cabaletta for the finale aria, Fra poco a me ricovero, was interrupted by long applause. When the audience uproar died down, he finished the aria as a volley of “bravos” shook the theater.
Opera lover Joseph Uy said, “I am so fortunate to have witnessed some of the greatest Edgardos live, from Carlo Bergonzi to Placido Domingo, Luis Lima, Jose Carreras, and Pavarotti (in concert version only with Sutherland). On both nights, Arthur (Espiritu) proved he had nothing to fear from all of them. His was the most heartfelt portrayal of Edgardo I have seen in my long opera-going life.”
Writer Cielo Lutz added, “What made the performance on Sunday extra memorable for me was the audience reaction. I’ve seen many excellent opera productions in New York and Philadelphia, but none of them received the rock-concert treatment of Sunday’s Lucia di Lamermoor. These kids, many of whom were experiencing opera for the first time, reacted loudly: laughing, gasping, snickering during a number of kissing scenes between Lucia and Edgardo, making loud comments, and clapping any time they wished, usually after a long-held high note.”

The ‘Turandot’ collaborators with Nedy Tantoco: Director Vincenzo Travaglini (far left) with Cambodia Prince Ravivaddhana Monipong Sisowath
It turned out the 2020 CCP production of Lucia di Lammermoor was several notches superior to past CCP productions, such as Rigoletto, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, L’elisir d’amore, and the last one, Turandot, in 2022.
Arthur Espiritu can still remember Nedy the opera producer at the end of the Lucia production at CCP. “After the opening night, she gave me a wonderful barong as a gift with a personal note. She told me, ‘I hope you will enjoy this little token of my appreciation for your great performance. It’s good quality barong and will last you for a while.’ I felt that she really put her heart into what she was doing. Yes, she was the undisputed supporter of our great art, but I will not say what everyone is obviously asking: Who else will mount operas in the Philippines with great care, vision, and respect for the traditions of the art form? I will say instead, ‘She is a great loss to her family first and foremost, to all the people whom she worked with, and has earned great respect, a great loss to the people who love her. She set the bar at a very high level with her leadership, her personal touch in what she did. I can tell that she brought her great passion to whatever she did and with people who have worked with her, worked for her. It took great courage and conviction to do what she did.”

Nedy Tantoco (second from right) in one welcome dinner for Cecile Licad in the Tantoco residence: from left, Pablo Tariman, Ping Valencia, Grace Glory Go, Patrick Jacinto, Licad, Irene Marcos-Araneta, Peter Jentes, and Nes Jardin
One anecdote he remembers happened after one of the performances of Lucia, where I invited him and his family to dinner with other music fans. “After that, we came back and tita Nedy (Tantoco) was there, grabbed me and said, ‘Where were you? We were waiting for you.’” The tenor and wife said they bought alcohol, and then Nedy just laughed so loud. “It was so great to see her in that motherly role. I could tell that she really cared not just about the people around her wining and dining, but for people like myself. I realized that she really cared. I could never forget that moment.”
To Nedy, the tenor said, “Thank you for being the mother to most of us musicians.”
To Nedy Tantoco, doing two concerts in one night was quite a challenge. She asked Cecile Licad what made her decide to accept the challenge, playing Chopin No. 1 and 2 in one night. The pianist replied: “Well, tita Nedy, I was challenged by Olivier (Ochanine, the principal conductor of the PPO), and I thought it was time I took the challenge.”

After an interview, Nedy Tantoco (seated, far right), with Cecile Licad and son Otavio; standing, from left, Pablo Tariman, Thelma Sioson San Juan and Diana Jean Lopez.
In one gathering in Nedy’s house, a lifestyle editor asked why the pianist was all smiles. The pianist confided to Nedy in 2017, “My son Otavio (Meneses) has a very good effect on me. I’m happy when he is present because he has such a positive vibe.” The day after the concert, mother and son went to Amanpulo for four days of bonding.
It turned out art and culture are no strange territory for Nedy. She confided to a lifestyle editor: “As a romantic teenager, I remember really enjoying the ballet Romeo and Juliet at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. My father (Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco) would buy season tickets so we would be assured of chances to see the best shows.”
‘As a romantic teenager, I remember really enjoying the ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Metropolitan Opera in New York,” recalled Nedy
At the height of the pandemic, Nedy spearheaded an online recital of Cecile Licad for the benefit of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc. The setting was the historic Lotos Club of New York, one of the oldest literary clubs in the US, founded on March 15, 1870 by young writers, among them Mark Twain, who was an early member in 1873.
“I’ve never figured in an online recital,” said Licad. “But when it is Nedy Tantoco suggesting, I know that it will produce good results, and the feedback from online audiences confirmed that.”
The last time Nedy talked to Cecile, it was to tell her that Maestro Grzegorz Nowak had said yes to a Women’s Month PPO concert at the Met in March. “Nedy worked fast every time she had a music project. I saw that the many years I worked with her,” said Cecile.
Our world-famous pianist was devastated upon hearing the news of the passing of Nedy Tantoco. Her message to us: “Rest in peace to this great lady I fondly call tita Nedy. She moves fast until things get done. This action lady will be missed by so many who she had touched so deeply. Absolutely no words to describe her! I will think only of happy times with my very dear friend who inspired me in so many ways.”
The concert in March will bring a strange feeling since the woman who thought about it has gone to the great beyond.
Zeneida “Nedy” Tantoco is survived by partner Patrick Jacinto; her three children, Anton with wife Nina and daughters Nikki and Isabelle; Michael with wife Kathy and children Kenzie and Kameron; and Catherine with husband David Endriga, and her family of dogs Sabrina, Tricia, Tessa, Katlinka, Skippy, Bocelli, and Tequila.
Her wake will be held at 25-B Tamarind Avenue, Forbes Park Makati City, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. until Monday, Feb. 12, then at Heritage Park, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 13–14. The funeral mass will be held on Feb. 16, Friday, at Santuario de San Antonio Church, Forbes Park, Makati.