The Department of Western Music brought honour to Kala Academy through their programme of classical music that was a treat to the audience. The Annual Day Concert was a breath of fresh air which pulled a full house audience eager to listen to the young musicians make their mark. With years of training, the musicians enthralled the audience, some who even didn’t mind standing to show their love for orchestral and choral Western Classical Music. This highlights the need for more regular western classical concerts in Goa, rather than limiting audiences to an annual treat.
The Department of Western Music was founded in 1952 on the lines of European conservatories of music. The vast majority of its students are school or college going youth. The Department of Western Music has 22 teachers, under the able leadership of their maestro, Fr Romeo Monteiro, who is also the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. This school offers a strong pedagogical study of western classical instruments including the violin, Violoncello, Pianoforte, Classical Guitar and Voice Training (solo). Recently, Electronic Keyboard has also been introduced. The forte of this school of Kala Academy is the insistence in Solfeggio, taught in the traditional manner, along with Musicology. This year, the Department has 385 students pursuing various disciplines for this academic year in 2025.
The programme had solos, duos, trios and ensembles, performed by the outstanding students of the last academic year. The performance of the Choir was something unique, with their soaring harmonies of an English song arranged in the madrigal style and a popular folk melody Kunbi Jaki set to a unique arrangement by Fr Romeo. The audience highly appreciated the melodious voices in harmony, conducted by the Voice Lecturer, Preethi Coutinho. The delight of the evening was the Symphony Orchestra which played ‘Concerto no. 3 for Violin’ by Mozart, with Rhea Dias as soloist. The harmony created by flutes, oboes, clarinets, French Horns, etc. was something that Goans do not get to hear played live so easily. The orchestra consisted of 47 musicians.
The performance concluded with a host of students on the stage, about 135 of them, together lending their voices to the popular English hymn ‘Abide with me’, with the melody by William Henry Monk. The tune of this hymn was played from 1950 till 2017, by the military bands for the Beating the Retreat ceremony during India’s Republic Day celebrations. This song was specially arranged for children, choir and orchestra, by the Director, Fr Romeo Monteiro, and served as a fitting finale to the evening.
