The Department of Western Music of Kala Academy Goa will be celebrating Founder's Day to pay tribute to Maestro Antonio Fortunato de Figueiredo, the founder director of the Department of Western Music, who was born on August 20, 1908, in Loutulim. The school that Maestro Figueiredo founded in 1952 was called Academia de Música da Índia Portuguesa. It began during the Portuguese regime and was established by the then government through an official decree. This school was one of the first schools that taught western classical music in a systematic and scientific method in India, modelled on the musical education given at the Conservatories in Europe.
“Maestro Figueiredo began his musical education in his parochial school, in Loutulim. He went to Portugal and studied at the Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa, graduating with a Higher Education Degree in Violin in 1932. He also went to Paris, where he took classes in Musique et Musicologie in France. Returning to Goa, in 1936, he was engaged in establishing choirs and instrumental ensembles in Portuguese Goa. He thus convinced the Portuguese regime to begin the Academia de Música. In 1971, the Academia de Música was absorbed into the Kala Academy Goa and became the Department of Western Music. It is, since then, supported by the Government of Goa, under the aegis of the Directorate of Art and Culture,” informs Fr Romeo Monteiro, the current director of the Department of Western Music.
After Maestro Figueiredo retired in the year 1977, Maestro Fr Lourdino Barreto took over the helms of this institution. He raised the standard of teaching and during his tenure, the Symphony Orchestra and Choir reached great heights of performance. During his time, the Goa Symphony Orchestra performed many important works, in Goa and also in Mumbai and Pune. Suddenly, somewhere in the 1990s the Govt. removed Fr Lourdino from the leadership of the Goa Symphony Orchestra. Some other individuals were appointed as conductors, but the Orchestra's life was short-lived. Gradually, the Orchestra declined and became non-existent. With the sudden demise of Fr Lourdino in 1997, there was a void created in the leadership of classical music in Goa. Margarida Miranda, a classical pianist, was called to run the affairs of the Department of Western Music. The school went on, but the Orchestra was not revived.
In 2018, the Government requested Maestro Fr Romeo Monteiro to guide the Department of Western Music as its director. Fr Romeo was a former student of the Kala Academy Goa, and studied under the then Director, Maestro Fr Lourdino. He obtained degrees in composition and in church music at the Pontificio Istituto di Sacra Musica and at the Pontificio Ataneo di Sant Anselmo. Fr Romeo had experience as professor of Music and conductor of the Santa Cecilia Choir and Orchestra of the Rachol Seminary, with which he had given several performances all over Goa and other parts of India, from the year 2007 till 2013.
“There is a lot of talent and desire to learn music in Goa. In Kala Academy, we use the method taught in the great musical conservatories of western music. Those students who really study with interest and perseverance, definitely make great strides in their musical career. Secondly, we need to give students in the southern parts of Goa too an opportunity to study western classical music by opening a centre of Kala Academy in South Goa, for their benefit. I am aware that the Government is taking measures in this regard,” says Fr Romeo.
Fr Romeo revived the Symphony Orchestra with the help of students, teachers and other music lovers. A full-fledged Symphony Orchestra comprising of all Goan musicians was heard after many years, in 2022 after a gap of more than 20 years at Menezes Braganza Hall, at the Founder's Day programme, wherein Mozart's Konzert in G, for Pianoforte and Orchestra, was performed.
The Kala Academy Symphony Orchestra, comprising of staff and students under the baton their Director, Fr Romeo, is an all-Goan group. It consists of students, staff members and music lovers who make up the 52 members, including the conductor. The orchestra has strings with 9 first violins, 9 second violins, 8 violas, 8 cellos, 3 double basses, reeds with flute, 2 clarinets, tenor saxophone, brass with 2 trumpets, 2 French horns, trombone and percussion with timpani
After a gap of 3-4 years, the audience will hear a performance of western classical music in the newly furbished Kala Academy auditorium. “It's going to be a unique experience to perform after a long gap in this famous space,” says Fr Romeo. The orchestra will be presenting three works, the First Movement of Concerto for Cello, no. 1, in C major, by Haydn, with Reanne Mendes as soloist, a traditional Goan tune ‘Mestri rebek vazita’ for Orchestra, by Fr Romeo Monteiro and the First Movement of Symphony in C, by Anton Zimmerman.
The programme that will be held in the auditorium of the Kala Academy on August 24 at 5.30 pm will consists of solos, duos and ensembles by the students studying in the various disciplines offered by the Department: strings, pianoforte, classical guitar, electronic keyboard and voice. The Junior and Senior Choirs of Kala Academy Goa will also be in attendance. Young violinists will also perform in the Junior String Orchestra. “The Junior choir is made up of young students (studying in Grade 4 and below). They sing light and easy music, in one or two voices. The senior choir is made up of voice students, other students studying Grade 5 and above and some ex-students. They sing polyphonic music,” elaborates Fr Romeo. Though the concert is at Kala Academy, the students are still learning and practicing at Adil Shah Palace, (Old Secretariat building) in Panjim.
The highlight of the evening's programme will be the Kala Academy Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Romeo Monteiro, and comprising of 52 musicians. A symphonic orchestra, with all the sections – strings, reeds, brass and percussion – is something that is rare in Goa and in India.
On August 24, besides the concert, prizes will be distributed to meritorious students who studied in the previous academic year (January – December 2023). “Those who have excelled in the various disciplines and those who have completed the various levels, viz. the Intermediate level (grade 5), the Advanced level (grade 8), the Higher-advanced level (grade 10) will be awarded. Reanne Mendes who has completed the entire course in Violoncello (grade 12) will be awarded too. She is also the soloist for the Cello Concerto, by Haydn,” says Fr Romeo.