Mumbai’s very own orchestra hits the high notes

As an eight-year-old, Averell De Souza had to skulk around at parties to escape being spotted by the hosts.

If cornered, he would be asked to play the violin and the impromptu concert would be filmed. “My father would look on adoringly. But for me it was embarrassing because I was a terribly shy kid..” says De Souza, 35.

In 2006, the same nervousness was at work as he auditioned before Marat Bisengaliev, the Kazakh music director who would decide whether he deserved to be a part of the Symphony Orchestra of India.

The SOI is the country’s first professional orchestra founded by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). 

“Bisengaliev asked me to relax and play just like I did at home,” remembers De Souza.

The tip will come in handy when the 35-year-old violinist will, with 85 others, plays at the Fifth Festival of the World’s Symphony Orchestras in Moscow on June 11. At their first international performance, the SOI will play on Russia Day as a part of the grand finale on the concluding night of the festival that began June 1. SOI will play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the legendary Hall of Columns.

The choice, believe the artistes and NCPA chairman, Kushroo Suntook, was obvious. “The piece requires technical skill and choral quality like few other do. It is an honour well-earned — the Moscow organisers picked the SOI after listening to the same rendition in their seventh season performance last year,” says Suntook.

As I sit across the 16 Indian members of the SOI after their rehearsals, they seem awed and humbled by this opportunity to take this prestigious stage. Bisengaliev is visibly proud. “Imagine this — these 16 artistes didn’t start off with training at par with international standards. And in just four years, they’ll perform in a country known for its musical excellence. Isn’t this a mark of true genius?” says Bisengaliev.

India has surprisingly little going on when it comes to western classical music. “China, Japan, Korea, Veitnam, Sri Lanka — even Iraq and Iran — have a buzzing classical scene. China alone has more than 200 orchestras. India hasn’t given much thought to western classical music. Many countries have state orchestras thanks to their governments’ encouragement,” he explains.

So small is the western classical music niche that when Elvina Fernandes decided on making a career of her art the first question her parents asked her was: how will this art sustain you? The 23-year-old Goa resident who entered the SOI as a violinist, but now plays the viola, was a full-time member of the SOI until last year and now teaches music at Goa’s Kala Academy. Teaching, she says, is a satisfying experience but her first love, perhaps like every artiste, is the concert stage. The Moscow stage for her is like a dream come true.

When Suntook had approached Bisengaliev to join the SOI as its music director, the latter was intrigued. “Many ask me why I chose to conduct in a country where western classical music isn’t even most popular. But I chose to work on a blank slate. India has the ingredients — talent, eagerness and ambition — yes, it does lack the backing. I think it is an honour to lay the foundation of professionalism,” he says.

And that was why, in 2006, Bisengaliev wasn’t scouting for talent at the SOI auditions. He was only looking for people with potential and their basics well in place. “I knew I could do the rest,” he says, looking around at his students. “It’s heartening that India has a strong musical culture, but western classical music has its own place — it helps a nation and its artistes explore another technically excellent art. I believe every civilised nation must have an accomplished orchestra in place.”

Over the last four years, Bisengaliev and Suntook have invited several international conductors to teach the SOI. It has not been an easy task. It is difficult to persuade an international conductor to teach in India for more than a month. Besides Bisengaliev was particular about whom he invited. “I don’t only go for big names — in the initial days, I only chose teachers who could be patient with the level of skill our artistes then had. We were in a peculiar position because our artistes had started learning in their late teens. I started learning at the age of six, and in Russia, that was believed to be awfully late!” he says.

Fifty five year old Francis Mendes, who’s the oldest artiste who plays the violin and the viola at the SOI, says the lack of technical finesse becomes obvious when the Indian musicians join their foreign peers during rehearsals. “It is very important to start early. I did and yet found it difficult to reach the level I am at today. I earn much better than I did before SOI, but most of my expenses are taken care by my savings. I hope this achievement makes Indians take western classical seriously. It’ll help the artistes financially and technically,” he says.

Classical music is not really meant for the masses but Bisengaliev believes that they should be given the chance to appreciate it. “Last year, when the SOI performed at the Kala Ghoda Festival, perhaps only one out of 5,000 people developed an interest in classical music, but it’s worth the exercise,” he says.
The NCPA’s initiative to teach 3,000 children, as young as four, the Suzuki method of playing the violin, might help draw in more untapped talent. “We plan to attract international labels who would like the SOI to record for them,” says Bisengaliev. “But that’s for later. The SOI is yet to live its Russian dream…”