Kala Academy’s DMK Auditorium will witness A Midsummer’s Night Dream “an evening of orchestral music on May 7 featuring works of composers Bartok, Arensky and Barber. The concert which features some of the best musicians from all over India is organised by Opus Gala in Collaboration with the Directorate of Art & Culture and Kala Academy. The programme will also feature solo performances by Sanya Myla Cotta(violin) and Tanisha Herbert(soprano). Sanya will be leading the orchestra as its concermaster.
The orchestra will be conducted by Belgian violinist Joris Decolvenaer who has received his orchestral conducting training at the University of Leuven (Belgium) with Ivan Meylemans (assistant conductor Royal Concert gebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam) and at the conservatory of Lille (France) in the class of Jean-Sébastien Berreau, Laurent Goossaert and Alexandre Bloch. Joris Decolvenaer is a laureate of several music competitions, for instance the Supernova -The Future Sound of Classical Music and Leos Janacek International Competition. He is also the recipient of the Vocatio scholarship of Belgium.
The concertmaster Sanya completed her formal education under Prof Ulf Klausenitzer at the University of Nürnberg, where she has completed two degrees in Performance and Pedagogy and a postgraduate degree. In 2016 she completed her Masters in music under Prof Naaman Sluchin at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, Belgium. In 2009 she gained entry to the prestigious Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (German Youth Orchestra) and in 2012 to the World Youth Orchestra. She presently freelances with several orchestras in Europe and is part of the music faculty at the International German School, Brussels.
The other soloist, Tanisha Herbert, hails from Bangalore. A winner of ‘The Neemrana Voice competition - The Godrej Talent of India Award’ 2018, Tanisha is a seasoned performer and passionate music educator who regularly gives solo, choir and opera concerts throughout India.Her accolades include having been the first ever Indian chosen to participate in the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy and winning the Theme Kawai Rolling Trophy for Best Musician for 2011 and 2012.
The initial idea to form this orchestra came from Arun Rozario, Joris Decolvenaer and Sanya Cotta. This young group and other like minded young people networked and sourced some of the best players in the country to put together this orchestra which comprises mostly of players from India, the other players being from Sri Lanka(two) and Belgium(two). Another special debut for this concert is a special acoustic shell designed and fabricated by Rui Lobo, a musician and engineer from Goa. It will be the first time in nearly 40 years, that Kala Academy will be experiencing, the benefit of an acoustic shell.
