Young notes

“When I am on the piano,I think about these great composers and how passionately they wrote their music. I tell myself that I have to do justice to their pieces when I perform them,” says de Souza,who is currently pursuing a Double Degree at the Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences and Conservatory of Music,in the USA,majoring in academics,piano performance and vocals accompanying with a minor in voice. She started her recital with Beethoven and Chopin in the first half,and melodiously transcended into the works by Schumann,Rachmaninoff and Ravel in the second.

De Souza bagged a summer scholarship to at the International Institute for Young Musicians,Kansas,USA,after she won the Musiquest All-India Piano Competition organised by the Academy of Music,Pune in 2009. “When I went to Kansas,I saw so many youngsters like me taking music so seriously. They were all studying music as a subject and some even graduating in it. That’s when I decided that I will apply to colleges there and pursue my graduation in music,” she further adds. She is also the first Indian to have been declared a Steinway Young Artist,which is a group of young pianists affiliated to the Steinway Artist family,and access to the worldwide resources of Steinway & Sons and its exclusive network of dealers.

Music,for de Souza,is a medium of expression. “Some people find it difficult to use words to describe their feelings and emotions,I am one of those people who find it easier to describe my feeling and emotions through my music,” says de Souza,adding,“I feel that my performance is a success when I have made my audience feel some kind of emotion through my music. I get a sense of satisfaction when I know I have emoted something and the audience has recognised and connected with it.”