Dr. Luis Dias is a physician, musician, writer, history enthusiast and founder of Child's Play India Foundation www.childsplayindia.org. He blogs at www.luisdias.wordpress.com.
News
Goa’s concert calendar opens with a landmark appearance by the SOI Chamber Orchestra, led by Marat Bisengaliev. With a rich touring legacy and a strong education mission, the ensemble promises an unforgettable evening.
Features
A postponed anniversary trip becomes a reflective journey through Vienna, tracing Beethoven’s restless life, his many homes, and the music written there, while walking the paths that inspired one of history’s greatest composers.
Know Your Composer
Travelling through Austria and Germany, I encountered three of Verdi’s middle-period operas—Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata—works that reveal why his focus on individual passion, not grand politics, still grips audiences today worldwide across generations.
Features
Jini Dinshaw, founder of the Bombay Chamber Orchestra, shaped generations of Indian string players with her vision, energy, and devotion. Her passing marks the end of an era in India’s Western classical music history.
Travel Diaries
In Vienna’s historic Hofburgkapelle, I attended a stirring Latin Mass featuring Bruckner’s First Mass in D minor, performed by the Vienna Boys’ Choir and elite musicians—a transcendent blend of faith, history, and music.
Features
Freddie Mercury’s iconic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was performed at the 2025 BBC Proms, celebrating its 50th anniversary in an orchestral-choral arrangement that showcased the song’s operatic roots and genre-defying brilliance.
Reviews
The Piano in the Forest is a compelling anime series that blends classical music with a touching story of a disadvantaged child’s rise to greatness. Through a Chopin competition, it explores themes of talent, rivalry, and passion.
Features
Billy Joel’s “Vienna” blends classical inspiration with life lessons. This feature explores the song’s roots, Vienna’s rich musical history, and how the city helped Joel—and the author—find deeper meaning in slowing down.
Features
Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, written for one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein, continues to inspire. Nicholas McCarthy’s journey from rejection to triumph proves that creativity, resilience, and determination can transcend even the greatest challenges.
Features
A tribute to pianist Alfred Brendel (1931–2025), celebrating not only his legendary musical legacy but also his incisive, absurdist poetry that skewered concert etiquette, musical dogma, and the human condition with equal flair.
Features
Dr. Luis Dias reflects on the magic of moonlight, Debussy’s haunting Clair de lune, and its poetic roots in Verlaine, urging us to pause, look up, and listen under the night sky.
Features
Angelina Jolie channels the legendary soprano Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s Maria. From operatic training to emotional nuance, the film explores Callas’s final days and legacy with depth, drama, and reverence.