Features
It was through my mother’s voice that I discovered Lata Mangeshkar’s. My mother would often sing or hum to herself as she went about her household chores. I, a toddler and then a boy, listened with pleasure. To me, these were my mother’s songs. She then told
Features
A report from Lisbon, Portugal on preparing to record a CD of recent music by Portuguese composers — and why it matters. Who is your favourite composer? Mozart? Bach? Schubert? Puccini? One of the pleasures of being a classical music lover is pondering such questions: listening, comparing, considering, and re-considering. Our
Features
1756 was a momentous year for 37-year old Leopold Mozart, fourth violinist at the court of the Prince-Bishop of Salzburg. His comprehensive Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing was published, and his son, christened Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus, was born. How momentous that birth would make the year,
Features
Some months ago, I wrote a tribute column to the great Bengali film-maker Satyajit Ray (whose birth centenary we celebrate this year) and his film music. But a more recent article in the Kolkata press (Telegraph India) reminded me of another aspect of that music that I didn’t touch
Features
Do you remember when we first met? It was an evening, end of October 2016. We had come down with The Bangalore Men to Calangute, to perform our Schubert-programme, and we were expecting you to be in the audience. We hadn’t really interacted or met, I had only heard
Features
This continues the discussion exploring the association of music and poetry, comparable to the “ekphrastic” relationship of poetry and art, and various ways music can appear in poems. How do other poets respond to classical music? I attended a few weekend poetry retreats in Chester, Connecticut led by Dr. June
Features
The nine Greek muses of the arts served to encourage creativity, enhance imagination, and inspire artists. The Greeks also named “Ekphrasis,” a process in which descriptive words can expand the meaning of a work of art. For poetry, such works are known as “ekphrastic poems,” and literary journals exist that
Features
On 9 February 2021 the world of jazz bid a tearful goodbye to iconic jazz composer, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist ‘Chick’ Corea (born Armando Anthony Corea), who died at 79 of cancer at his home in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, US. But like so many great musicians
Features
Two of Mahatma Gandhi’s most effective foreign disciples during his lifetime were great admirers of Beethoven. One of them was a Nobel laureate and a former university professor (at the Sorbonne) of music history, Romain Rolland (1866-1944). He told Gandhi, in 1931, “You are the greatest
Features
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?” – Terry Pratchett On October 5, 2020, a horrific car accident on the highway at night spirited away the lives of Immanuel Thiyakeswaran and his parents. Immanuel was a musician brimming with accomplishments, accolades, and
Features
There’s a lot to say about the peculiar lifestyle a conservatory student leads and the limitless ways it blends into their very identity. From the motivations behind pursuing a field that doesn’t always guarantee monetary returns to the reasons why so many find these few years of their
Features
In moments of social confinement, art, once again, is man’s companion, like it has been in war and peace, sickness and health. By Snigdha Hasan It is the fifth month of the year, and in a parallel, Corona-free world, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra would have been neck-deep in rehearsal