The Indo German Educational and Cultural
Society of Goa and Opus Gala is organising
its fourth Indo German Confluence, a western
classical music festival that began in December
and will end today, January 7, 2016. “The
concert will see host of European and Indian
music artistes performing on the last day of
music festival. It’s one of the unique concerts
being held at St Augustine’s Tower, because
for last ten years there was no such major
musical concert happening at this site,” tells
Schubert Cotta, Secretary of the Indo German
Educational and cultural society.
The Orchestra Project is the formation of
an orchestra with musicians from different
parts of India and Germany playing together.
The orchestra members from India include
members of the Goa String Orchestra and
past finalists of the David Menezes National
Violin Competition. Its German members have
been sent by the Deutscher Musikrat/German
Music Council and are the winners of the
German National Music Competition (Jungend
Musiziert). As wind instrument musicians, they
have been especially invited to Goa to revive
Goa’s rich history of wind instrument playing.
The orchestra has the opportunity of
working under two conductors: the young
and upcoming Joris Decolvenaer and the
dynamic Prof. Ulf Klausenitzer. This is the first
time the Orchestra rehearsals are open to
the public, where people could interact with
the musicians and watch how the conductor
moulds the orchestra into one vibrant
instrument.
“Our team had been working on this project
for years. It was my dream to have such festival
at this heritage site. Our main objective is to
play good music for listeners. Today we get to
hear EDM and all sorts of music. I have nothing
against this music, but music that reminds us
about our roots is rare and one such kind is
Indo-German music. We need to nurture this
classical and traditional music,” says Schubert.
What makes the concert different
from others is that it will see rare musical
instruments being played, such as wood winds
oboe and bassoon, apart from French horns.
“Overall we believe that it would be one of the
historic events. There was a choir held at this
place earlier. However an event like the Indo-
German Confluence is a major thing, as it will
consist of proper seating arrangements, stage
and lighting,” informs Schubert.
The confluence included a series of master
classes, an orchestra project and culminated
in one concert in Pune, Panjim and Old Goa,
each. The master classes included individual
lessons and sessions on ensemble playing,
warm-up techniques and violin maintenance.
The students who benefited from these classes
then performed at a recital that was held at
the International Centre Goa on December 30,
2015. The Indo-German Confluence has been
organised in collaboration with the directorate
of art and culture, German Music Council, the
Institute Menezes Braganca and the ASI.
