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.
Know Your Composer
This is the 150th birth anniversary of English composer, arranger and teacher Gustav Theodore Holst (1874 – 1934). Although best known for his orchestral suite ‘The Planets’ (1918), this year presents an appropriate opportunity to revisit the rest of his vast oeuvre. This is precisely what is happening at the ongoing
Opinion
Did you stay up to watch the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday 26 July? I preferred to watch it at leisure a couple of days later. I thought the weather played spoilsport to what would otherwise have been a truly magnificent spectacle. But I am rather surprise
Features
I remember Saturdays in Don Bosco being somewhat festive, because at 11 o’clock the school intercom would play music from the Radio Ceylon station. I’m not sure if this was for the whole school, but this was certainly true for the primary section which I was in, during
Opinion
I was eight when W. Timothy Gallwey’s ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ (1974) became a bestseller. Over the years, it became so successful that Gallwey followed it up with the ‘Inner Game’ of everything from golf and skiing to music, work and stress. ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ is
Features
Four years ago, I wrote a column, ‘Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow’, celebrating the life and times of a then little-known French-Caribbean composer, the first classical composer of African descent to attain widespread acclaim in European music: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799). At the time I had
Opinion
I was honoured and privileged to be invited to present a paper at the National Conference on ‘The contributions of the Goan Christian musicians to the musical heritage of Goa’ earlier this month at the Thomas Stephens Konkani Kendra (TSKK) Porvorim, organised jointly by TSKK and the Goa Government Department
News
I’ve written many times about my “summer of ’89.” 1989 was a golden year for me. I became a doctor, which meant that as an intern I was a member of the salaried workforce. I had money to buy every classical music cassette faster than Sinari’s, Magnasound or
Features
I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the recently-concluded ‘In/Of Goa: Souza at 100’ an exhibition of the artworks of the celebrated Goan artist Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002) on the occasion of his birth centenary at Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts. The exhibition aimed “to shed light on the profound influence
Features
I set aside some time this Good Friday to listen to the complete St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Besides being fitting music for that day of the Holy Week, this year marks the 300th anniversary of the work. In Christian music, a Passion is a setting of
Opinion
“American Youth Symphony Announces Permanent Closure” screamed the ‘breaking news’ headline on the Violin Channel newsletter I subscribe. Rubbing my eyes in disbelief, I read further: “Citing financial challenges, the orchestra is ceasing all operations as of March 15, 2024, after almost 60 years.” Due to my interest in music
Features
Suzuki is a household name worldwide for any western music student or teacher. As someone invested in music education, the life of Shinichi Suzuki is endlessly fascinating to me. So I found ‘Suzuki: The Man and his Dream to Teach the Children of the World’ (2022) by Eri Hotta a
Know Your Composer
I usually listen to BBC Radio 3 while I work. Its primary focus is classical music and opera. So the sung music reflects the languages from that world: Italian, German, French, Latin, English, less frequently Spanish or even Russian; but Portuguese is a rare occurrence. So when I heard Portuguese