Kala Academy Goa, Panaji, will echo with the notes of Western classical music on August 22 at 5 p.m., when its Department of Western Music presents a concert to celebrate Founder’s Day.
The event is held annually to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder director Maestro Antonio Fortunato de Figueiredo, who was born on August 20, 1908.
The programme will feature solo, chamber, choral and orchestral music performed by the institution’s staff, students, and former students.
The highlight will be an overture by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, performed by the Kala Academy Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will also perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 under the baton of Fr Romeo Monteiro, the director of the Department of Western Music, Kala Academy Goa.
The Kala Academy Choir will perform several pieces, including a rendition of the Konkani song ‘Sobit Amchem Goyem’.
“The musical pieces were chosen according to the capacity of the students, orchestra and choir to execute them properly,” says Fr Monteiro. He adds that the concert gives students an opportunity to use their talents and skills under the guidance of the staff, while introducing audiences to Western classical music.
The Department of Western Music at Kala Academy Goa began in 1952 as Academia de Musica, through an official decree of the then Portuguese regime. It is possibly the first school in the subcontinent to systematically teach Western classical music, based on the programmes of study followed by European conservatoires.
Today, nearly 400 students study disciplines including violin, cello, pianoforte, classical guitar, voice training and electronic keyboard, besides solfeggio and musicology.
“The department has grown over the years, from its modest beginnings in 1952. Fr. Lourdino Barreto was one great personality who worked to give life to this institution,” says Fr. Monteiro.
He notes that the government recruited additional teachers on a lecture basis a few years ago, increasing student intake and hopes these posts will be made permanent. He also welcomes the support of new chairman Chandrakant Kavlekar and his team for the department’s expansion. “At present, students from South Goa and the far north find it difficult to travel to Panaji for classes. We have hence petitioned the government authorities so that we can start centres in other parts of the state,” he says.
Fr. Monteiro also calls for funding for Western classical music in Goa. “Students, and people in general, hardly get to listen to Western classical music in Goa. Perhaps, the government could invite world-renowned performers to come and perform at Kala Academy Goa, as it used to happen in the past. Such concerts have now decreased or nearly disappeared,” he says. Kavlekar will be the chief guest at Saturday’s concert, along with other dignitaries from Kala Academy Goa. Certificates will also be distributed to meritorious students.
