Aude Priya Wacziarg was 17 when she went through a music school in France and was drawn to opera singing which she overheard. She immediately signed up for classes.

When her father, the late Francis Wacziarg, a Frenchman who came to India in 1970, a banker and businessman who also co-founded the Neemrana hotels, offered to organize an opera performance in India, Priya played the main female role in the Fakir of Benares, directed by Muzaffar Ali, in 2002.

The show then traveled to Mumbai in 2003. And this is where the Neemrana Foundation, a non-profit music organization, was born.

The foundation stone

“Opera is quite a spectacular art form when it comes to music and costumes. Kind of like Bollywood. We wanted to try to develop the genre in India,” says Priya.

At the time, Mumbai had an opera production house, but the musicians came from elsewhere. “So we thought, why not train musicians here instead?” Priya said.

Today, the Neemrana Foundation has an academy with 16 solo singers, an ensemble, a children’s choir and a teenagers’ choir. The singers are being coached by Jasmin Martorell, 61, who flew to India for the first time in October 2001, having previously been a teacher at Priya, to coach singers for the Fakir of Benares, in which he also participated .

Opera in India

The genre of opera is mostly unknown in India, but quite easily explained, says Priya.

“It’s a story, but instead of being spoken, it’s sung, accompanied by an orchestra or simply the piano. It’s like a musical, but a little more classic. Today, people think that opera is an art reserved for the elite. But, in fact, at a time without TV or cinema, everyone went to the opera. It was part of life,” says Priya.

Opera is also a good vehicle for culture, adds Priya. For example, the Neemrana Foundation involves French teachers if the opera is in French, etc.

At the same time, the audience in India for this once unknown genre is growing. The crowded concert halls of the foundation are proof of this. “When you have Indian singers, their family and friends come for the shows,” says Priya.

To increase the notoriety of the genre, the foundation makes a pre-show at a lower cost in universities and colleges.

“University life plays a big role in choral music in Delhi. And we pick up where the universities leave off! Music plays an important role in the cultural and emotional aspect of a child’s upbringing. It has a big impact,” says Priya.

Awareness Alert

Even though parents in India are still not very supportive of their children pursuing a career in music, Priya hopes the foundation will acquire many more singers.

“Opera singers in the West are called ‘divas’ and get a lot of respect. We organize events and allow parents to see their children shine on stage. If they feel the emotion when their child sings, it’s definitely worth it,” she says.

“Besides,” she adds. “We all listen to music to soothe our pain. And the voice is a very immediate instrument. Imagine watching a movie without music. The public will not be so moved.

Jasmin, who has also written a book on the history of opera, five years ago led a vocal workshop for nurses working at the Clinique de Laborde, a psychiatric hospital in France.

“A week after the patients also started singing under the direction of the nurses, the doctors had to reduce their medication,” smiles Jasmin, who led the workshop for three years.

International music genres are also gaining traction in India due to the improving music scene.

“Ten years ago we didn’t have the Piano Man Jazz Club in Delhi. Today, there’s a venue in town that puts on not one, but two shows a day, every day. Arjun Sagar Gupta, owner of Piano Man Jazz Club and an accomplished pianist himself, has created a bridge between pop music and western classical music,” adds Priya.

Now in her 40s, Priya retired as a singer when she became head of the foundation after her father’s death.

“I really enjoy seeing academy musicians perform on stage,” she says.

Jasmin adds, “Today my best singers represent me and also become good teachers. I am happy to have discovered India.

The Neemrana Foundation has a show on September 15, followed by another in October, before a big production in March 2023.

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From HT Brunch, September 3, 2022

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