Students of the SOI Music Academy

Budding Talent

A series of Indian and Western music recitals by young musicians, who have been training with the NCPA, will be presented as part of the NCPA Add Art Festival.

As part of its mission to promote and preserve the arts in India, the NCPA takes great joy in training and supporting young artistes who have the talent and the determination to excel in the performing arts. To this end, with the help of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partners – namely, Citi, HSBC, HDFC, Kotak, Godrej and Sahachari Foundation – the NCPA has been training children in both Indian and Western music traditions.

A series of short concerts will be presented to showcase the talent of the young students. Sanghamitra Sarkar and Soham Kundu who have been training under Ajoy Chakrabarty at ‘Shrutinandan’ will present individual recitals. Vanraj Shastri and Zargam Khan who are part of the NCPA’s CSR initiative – ‘Support to Gurus’ will perform a short Hindustani music recital together. Additionally, around 30 students who are part of NCPA’s CSR initiative – ‘Music for Schools’ will present a group performance of patriotic Hindi songs.

The SOI Music Academy (formerly the NCPA Special Music Training Programme) was launched in 2012, to offer an advanced level of music training, previously not available in India, to talented young children. Under the supervision of SOI Music Director Marat Bisengaliev, the students receive a holistic music education that is inspired by the Russian Conservatoire method. This includes substantial one-to-one tuition on the student’s primary instrument, as well as second-study piano lessons, music history, music theory, group-singing teaching via the Solfeggio method, as well as training in orchestral playing and chamber music. All the tutors of the academy are professional musicians trained in Europe and are full-time members of the SOI.

The SOI Academy Orchestra, comprising of students from the SOI Music Academy, will perform on 30th November, led by Marat Bisengaliev. The children studying Western and Indian music will also come together to perform two songs.


All Images © NCPA Mumbai

The Next Generation: Students of the NCPA will be presented on 30th November at the Tata Theatre.

This piece was originally published by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, in the November 2019 issue of ON Stage – their monthly arts magazine.