A very young Ms. Chelsea De Souza gave a brilliant piano recital at the Sandre Hall of the Calcutta School of Music on the 3rd of July. Her varied repertoire, style and brilliance mesmerised the audience and when requested for an encore she played jazz and performed as wonderfully as she had the classical.

17 year old Chelsea de Souza started playing the piano at the age of 5 and began performing on stage soon after. Her first major success was at the 1st All-India Piano Competition organized by the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, where at the age of 10 she won the first prize in an age group of up to 13 years. She was subsequently invited by jury member Sheila Arnold, Professor of Piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Köln, Germany, on three consecutive summer scholarships. She has had a series of successful participations in several important music competitions all over the world. Chelsea has been declared a ‘Steinway Young Artist’. She has given concerts in Belgium, Germany and USA and has performed as a soloist with the Bombay Chamber Orchestra. This July her engagements include solo recitals in Bangalore and Goa, and performances at the 2011 Con Brio Music Festival in Mumbai. Chelsea is also a trained classical singer and is adept at Jazz and Popular music.

The 30th World Music Day was celebrated at the Sandre Hall of Calcutta School of Music on the 21st of June 2011. The evening programme was a wonderful medley of Western and Indian music which saw a full auditorium with a very appreciative audience. The highlight of the programme was an Indo French Band called A+ who gave the most fascinating performance with vocals and instruments from across the world.

The Yamaha Grand piano gifted by the Consulate General of Japan was inaugurated by the Spanish pianist Ms. Victoria Aja with a brilliant concert on the 19th of April. The Consul General of Japan Mr Mitsuo Kawaguchi inaugurated the piano. Professor Bharati Ray was the chief guest for the evening. We had a full house for the event at our Sandre Hall.

Please view photographs of the evening and a special thank you note from the Prime Minister of Japan.

The India Youth Orchestra, under the guidance of Mr. Vijay Upadhyay of the Vienna Orchestra, conducted a very successful workshop at the school in April. He brought the orchestra together, with musicians, from all over the country and successfully formed the orchestra in just eight days! They gave a brilliant performance at the Kala Mandir on the 26th of April 2011 with the inclusion of six double bass players, the first of its kind in India. Some of our CCO boys are part of the orchestra.

Photographs of the workshop and concert are available to view.

We ring in the New Year with exciting offers from the Calcutta School of Music. First a concert on 6th January at the Hyatt Regency Kolkata - Fantasy in Flute - where we present our Calcutta Chamber Orchestra with internationally renowned flautist Uberto Orlando. On Friday January 11th a special tribute on DVD will be presented by Mr. Ashis Ghosh for the Late Pandit Ravi Shankar who had inaugurated out Indian Music Section in 1976.