Bengaluru’s all-women Western classical choir is all set to entertain

A powerful all women choir made up of 2 sopranos and 2 altos that feature only women composers,singers and accompanists. Never heard of something like that? Interestingly, Bengaluru is home to, probably, the only such choir in the country. Aptly called Femusica, the team has been put together by Bengaluru based pianist, singer, composer, producer and music teacher Neecia Majolly. Also featuring Archisha Wadhwa (soprano), Nilima Joseph and Jerusha Lawrence (altos), the fairly new choir group made their debut recently in Bengaluru. Excerpts from our chat with Neecia…

How has the response to Femusica been so far?
For a new and niche choir group like ours (formed in February this year actually), the response has been surprisingly quite positive so far. Our attempt to spread awareness about talented but lesser known Western Classical women composers was truly welcomed including exploring present day composers as well. There is so much more to the genre rather than the usual famous composers like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. A lot of people associate Western Classical Music with Church Music, and that is not so. Western Classical Music has both sacred and secular compositions, and I like to do good music from both, which is what we presented this evening.

What was the idea behind having a choir featuring only women?
There were no women- based choirs in Bengaluru. The idea of involving only women was to showcase women singing compositions only by women composers like Carol Barnett and

Barbara Strozzi

, among others. While doing research for this, I was amazed at how much music there was by women composers that have not been heard or performed much. So, our listeners also get to hear of some of the female pioneers in this genre. We also performed two of my original compositions- one for mezzo soprano and piano, based on Haiku by Basho, a Japanese poet, and a choir piece for

SATB

(that included members from the other choir) in collaboration with another lyricist.

As a music teacher and performer, yourself, do you feel Bengalureans lap up learning and listening to Western classic music?
As far as I can see, there has certainly been an increase in the demand for music lessons, mainly piano and voice. So many more music schools have come up because of this. Of course, there are many who do rock, pop, jazz, etc, as well, and other instruments like the violin. This is a good thing, as the audience for concerts will be made up of more of an appreciative audience, and this in turn will raise the overall standard of music in the city, no matter what genre it is. But certainly, there are many more students learning Western Classical Music nowadays, and we see them coming for concerts too. It’s very important that music students listen to music as well, and music education is not just about coming for lessons and going back home. It helps them to imbibe styles, which in turn, will show in their performances, and attending live performances will serve to inspire them.

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