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Rishan Bhatnagar is the first child from India to be in the over 500 year old Vienna Boys’ Choir. After spending four years with the group, he is set to graduate in a few months and looks back at his extraordinary journey. “This last year has been different from the
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The story of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra is the story of survival during terrible wars and times of strife. However, its message is simple: peace and unity through the universal language of music is fully possible. By Akshaya Pillai Dr. Ahmad Sarmast was seated in the first row. Months
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On March 13, 2019, a 13-year-old pianist from India faced Kukkiwon, a 27-member adult Olympic-level crack taekwondo team from South Korea in a clash for the title of “The World’s Best.” The Koreans dazzled with a stunning display of martial arts. But the little kid on the piano won.
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Zane Dalal traces the origin of the NCPA in a familiar story that finds its voice again, in our fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Half a century is a milestone by any reckoning. 50 years ago – in 1969 – Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon in that ’giant
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Lydian Nadhaswaram’s sterling performance in the audition round of The World’s Best (a talent show on the American television station, CBS) not only advanced him to the next round, but its video recording went viral on the Internet. He had played Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Flight of the Bumblebee
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“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.
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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
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After a concert, or a season ends, I always experience a kind of sadness, or emptiness. You leave something behind you, that you have worked so hard for, that have brought struggles and joy, and in the end also brought lovely music to an eager audience. Maybe it is therefore,
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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
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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
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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
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One of the biggest inflection points in my life happened at age 22 when I moved to Paris. I had just completed my Masters Degree at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and my piano teacher there suggested I continue my studies in France with a colleague who had just served