Music Education
If we put the last century’s notions of “old” and “new” in a broader historic perspective, it becomes clear how short-sighted these notions were and how wrong it was to give them an aura of absoluteness, since these notions are, by their very nature, relative and flexible, and dependent
Features
This year, as the NCPA turns 50, we take a look at how a dream became a thriving reality. By Anil Dharker “One day, perhaps, the NCPA’s work may be more important for the country than the work of the steel company.” These were JRD Tata’s words to
Music Education
Singers, how much do you love auditions? I know you’re all troopers, experts at the art of wowing someone in two arias or less. It’s really all about making your way through the huge list of Things You Can’t Control. Often, one of those things is the
News
I’m very excited about delivering Sing for Pleasure’s first ever training event in India; the beneficial effects of what we teach are likely to have an impact on possibly thousands of children and the knock-on effects of that will speak for themselves. Personally, to be able to contribute
Interviews
“Come sit in my lieder class. Just sit and listen to the senior students,” an opportunity thrown and grabbed by Patricia Rozario at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, by her German lieder tutor. This was a golden chance for the soprano from Bombay who wanted to
Features
Everyone assumed I was meant to do extraordinary things. But it seemed like I was the only one who could see the human inside of me. I faced my own mortality recently and it made me draw up a deadline and what I needed to achieve. As I had said
Features
The current state of classical concerts would be unrecognizable, even enraging, to the performers and audiences of the past centuries. The stifling rules and rituals, the religious adherence to scores, soaring ticket prices, coupled with several awkward ‘can I clap now?’ moments are relatively new to the heritage of Western
Music Education
Singers, how closely do you pay attention to the key signature of the arias you sing? You know how to read music, of course – but that’s not why I ask. Turns out, there can be a fascinating dramatic significance to the key in which an aria is written. The
Music Education
A brief history of the master’s most spectacular work: Symphony No 9. By Manohar Parnerkar Beethoven’s most celebrated work, Symphony No 9 in D minor, Opus 125, also known as Beethoven’s Ninth, or simply as the Ninth, was revolutionary. In terms of sheer power, scale, complexity and
Music Education
Sometimes one hears the critique that classical music is no longer compatible with modernity. What “modernity” is supposed to mean always remains in darkness, as if the very word “modernity” were so obvious in its meaning that any further explanation would be superfluous. If “modern” means “of this time, of
Know Your Composer
How an African-American composer’s works were saved from destruction. In 2009, Vicki and Darrell Gatwood, of St. Anne, Illinois, were preparing to renovate an abandoned house on the outskirts of town. The structure was in poor condition: vandals had ransacked it, and a fallen tree had torn a hole
News
Somerville College, University of Oxford, was founded in 1879 to include the excluded, and named in honour of the Scottish mathematician and scientist MarySomerville. It welcomed women when they were barred from the University and was the first non-denominational College in Oxford. Now as a College for women and men