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.
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
Music Education
“He’s extremely talented.” “She doesn’t have the talent for singing.” We’ve all heard variants of these comments, even if we haven’t necessarily said them ourselves. The dictionary definition of ‘talent’ is “a natural aptitude or skill.” It implies that one is either born with it or
Know Your Composer
Canadian singer Celine Dion was in the news on account of her recent diagnosis with the crippling rare neurologic condition stiff-person disorder, causing her to cancel future concert tours. I was listening to one of her signature songs, ‘All by Myself’, which was actually written nearly fifty years ago, in
Features
The acclaimed British contemporary cellist Steven Isserlis is also passionate about music education for children. During my England years, much before I became a father myself or was even contemplating beginning a music education charity for children (incidentally, both my son and Child’s Play India Foundation were born the
Features
The 2023 edition of the eight-week long BBC Proms festival finally ended with a crash, boom and wallop on 9 September. It had me glued for all that time to internet radio, so the abrupt absence of the daily ritual is a little disorienting. It has been a remarkable season
Music of India
The BBC Proms music festival 2023 had many interesting highlights. Prom 69a featured the BBC Singers, who will be a century old next year. But earlier this year, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) controversially decided to disband the choir steeped in music history as part of its “new strategy” for
Features
One of the many things I love about listening to internet radio podcasts, especially when listening to music is that the focus is solely on the aural sense, as opposed to watching a concert. I am able to listen more attentively without the distraction of the visual element. But occasionally
Opinion
Somewhere in the 1980s the audio-cassette boom happened. And thanks to Magnasound, Times Music and HMV Classics, I suddenly had access to more and more classical music. My collection began to shoot up exponentially after I became an intern and had a salary (a princely Rs 1000 a month then)
Features
Almost four decades ago, I experienced live in action India’s greatest living legend, Maestro Zubin Mehta. 17 September 1984, Shanmukhananda Hall Sion in then Bombay. It was the maiden and so far only visit of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to India. Until then I had only been exposed
Opinion
I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Knives Out’, the 2019 American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson, and I wrote a column about it shortly after. I wasn’t expecting a sequel, and although it was released on Netflix at Christmas last year, I’ve only recently seen ‘Glass Onion: A
