Throwback Thursday
ON Stage brings you excerpts from the NCPA Quarterly Journal, an unsurpassed literary archive that ran from 1972 to 1988 and featured authoritative and wide-ranging articles. In this piece, Jamshed Bhabha, founder of the NCPA, discusses the reflection, hard work and scientific thought that went into building the magnificent Tata
Features
“Ladies and gentlemen, today I will be playing The Flight of the Bumblebee.” With these words, uttered with a charm that made the audience smile and give a round of applause before a single note had been played, Lydian Nadhaswaram launched into his rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s intricate composition.
Interviews
The 23rd edition of the Artie’s festival promises to be a delightful mix of smaller, classic pieces and two great works by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The Artie’s festival presented by the NCPA always manages to present an interesting combination of great pieces of music. In this edition,
Reviews
Three star singers appeared on stage together in a unique and intelligently devised programme. The three singers were English soprano Sophie Bevan, Welsh mezzo soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers and Welsh bass-baritone Neal Davies. And the raison d’etre? These three singers happened to be in Mumbai to sing in Beethoven’s
Reviews
The Symphony Orchestras of India’s tour of the UK concluded on Monday evening at London’s Cadogan Hall with an exuberant program of Weber, Bruch and Rachmaninov, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. The SOI’s Associate Music Director Zane Dalal made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the evening.
Reviews
Symphony Orchestra of India Cadogan Hall, London, 20 February 2019 Zane Dalal, conductor Zakir Hussain, tabla. Hector Berlioz, Roman Carnival Overture Zakir Hussain, Concerto for Tabla and Orchestra ‘Peshkar’ Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 24 February 2019 Martyn Brabbins, conductor Marat Bisengaliev, violin Carl Maria von Weber, Oberon Overture
Music Education
When it comes to singing coloratura, it’s easy to imagine that there are those who can, and those who cannot. “She’s always been able to move her voice,” we say, as if it’s a skill one is born with. That may be true, but it doesn’t
Reviews
The Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) began their inaugural tour of the UK at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on 19th February 2019. The programme included a UK-premiere of Zakir Hussain’s tabla concerto, Peshkar (2015), sandwiched between two ever-popular works for symphony orchestra – Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture (1844) and
Features
RP Jain – scholar, teacher, music lover, bon vivant – was one of the most civilised people I have ever known. I use “civilised” in the sense that Anton Chekhov described civilised people, as those who “respect human beings as individuals and are therefore always tolerant, gentle, courteous and amenable. …They have
Music Education
One of our most important goals as piano teachers is to develop flexibility in our students’ wrists. Pianists who land on chords with supple wrists coax the most beautiful sounds out of the instrument, and using rotational movements of the wrist can lead to the clearest Alberti Basses as well
Music Education
For music and nature, birds are the natural – they sing! Or, rather, we hear their communication as singing. A friend in Hong Kong trains birds to sing, playing them beautiful songs from model birds to learn. The ones with good voices he keeps and the ones who aren’t trainable
Interviews
We take a closer look at some of the people who have been an integral part of the Symphony Orchestra of India. GULZARA SHAKIR, VIOLIN ON Stage: How did your collaboration with the SOI begin? Gulzara Shakir: I was a violinist in Marat Bisengaliev’s West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra and