Date/Time
Date(s) - 22/Feb/2024
Genre - Piano recitals
Maharookh Forbes Memorial Concert
This concert is dedicated to the memory of late Maharookh Forbes, who tirelessly championed the cause of promoting Western Classical music in the city of Pune and served for many years as the President of The Poona Music Society. The legacy of Maharookh Forbes, and the generosity of the Forbes family, is largely responsible for making possible, the many concerts which we all enjoy at Mazda hall.
In a programme of Beethoven: 6 Bagatelles op. 126; Schubert: 3 Piano Pieces D 946; Rachmaninoff: 4 Preludes from Op. 23; Brahms: 4 Piano Pieces Op. 119
Supported by Forbes Marshall
Born in Mumbai, Marialena Fernandes has been since several years a recognized artist on the international scene. After acquiring her Licentiate Diploma of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM), Fernandes completed her education from the Mumbai University in Psychology. She then went on to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where she received her Diploma in Piano and Chamber Music Performance with unanimous distinctions. She has taken Solo, Chamber Music and Orchestra concerts in most European capitals followed, but also in USA, Australia, Africa and Asia. Annual TV and Radio broadcasts.
From 1988-2006, she was the professor of piano and chamber music at the Joseph Haydn Conservatory Eisenstadt, Austria. Since 1991, she is the Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She has taken workshops, masterclasses around the globe, and has been a jury member at International Competitions. Since 2007, she has done Series Cycle ‘Uno, Due, Tre’ in Musikverein Vienna. Fernandes has initiated several Projects with Women Composers and Gender hemes. Fernandes has initiated several Projects including women composers and gender themes. She has taken annual lecture demonstrations presenting topical themes around the globe. In 2008, Marialena received the MIA Award for Woman with international background in the field of Art and Culture. In 2010, she was in Research Sabbatical as Faculty member and Scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign USA. In 2013, Fernandes attained the PhD degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Music and performing Arts Vienna. Her Title ‘The Konkani Song – Roots – Development – Documentation’. In 2014, she got an invitation to ‘Beethoven Improvisation Symposium’ in MIT Massachusetts, USA.
Since 2015 – 2020, Fernandes has conceived a project called ‘The Quest for Passion’ in which she incorporates musicians from Europe and Indian music lovers in the cities of Goa, Bangalore, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune in dialogue with each other involving the talented youth discussing diverse artistic themes. Her partners have been ‘Hotel Palindrone’ a reputed Austrian Folk music quartet, The Three X, an international prize winning Polish trio playing 2 violins and piano. In 2017, she brings MF with a Woodwind Ensemble called ‘Trio Viennair’ back to Bangalore, Goa and this time to Pune. From 2015 – 2020, she has been in an Annual Project ‘Quest for Passion’ which aims to spread music through dialogue and interaction between European and Indian music lovers in the cities of Goa, Bangalore, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune.
She is the Artistic Director and International Programme Curator in Crossover projects, in which Fernandes incorporates classical, jazz and world music fusions with an emphasis on Improvisation. Intercultural exchange between Students, Teachers and Audiences.
Maharookh Forbes: 1934 – 2018
Maharookh inherited her love for Western classical music from her mother. She attended Queen Mary School in Bombay and formally studied the piano under well known piano and music teacher Norma Gasper. She completed Grade VIII of the Associated Board of the Royal College of Music. She practiced on a Bechstein piano which her grandfather had imported from Germany for her mother, and was later gifted a Steinway Boudoir Grand Piano by family friends from England. Both pianos are still with the Forbes family in Pune.
Music was an important part of Maharookh’s life, where she not only played the piano herself which gave her hours of pleasure, but also listened to music extensively. As a consequence, classical music was played in the home almost daily, and was also played in the car during her daily drives to and from her place of work at Forbes Marshall. Living in the Forbes home one could not but develop an appreciation for good music and her family too owe their interest in western classical music to her.
Maharookh was a great supporter of the Arts in Pune and Mumbai and contributed generously to the Poona Music Society, the National Center for the Performing Arts, the Symphony Orchestra of India, the Mehli Mehta Foundation, the Bombay Chamber Orchestra among others. She also supported the Sangat concerts which were designed to promote the careers of artistes of Indian origin who were studying abroad, some of whom have become famous as both performers and teachers.
She was also actively involved with The Poona Music Society where she served as President from 1997 to 2008. During the early years of the Poona Music Society when funds were in short supply she would host many of the artistes that came to Pune to perform at the family home. She kept in touch with many of these artistes, and became close personal friends with some. She also supported The Poona Music Society through financial contributions made each year by her both personally and from Forbes Marshall, which played a role in bringing high quality artistes to Pune for the benefit of its small but discerning music audience. She also contributed personally and reached out to many in her circle of friends to contribute for the purchase of the Society’s Blüthner piano and more recently towards the restoration of the Poona Music Society’s 130 year old heritage Steinway piano.
Maharookh was an elegant lady, much admired, and leaves behind a rich legacy. She is deeply missed by her family, numerous friends and associates and it is with the intention of preserving her legacy of bringing good music to the city of Pune that we have instituted this series of concerts in her memory. We hope you will enjoy them.
– The Forbes Family
