Piano prodigy

He started piano lessons at the age of five and, being blessed with perfect pitch, was soon composing his own original short pieces. This child prodigy in Western classical music, now 17 years old, is Bangalore based Neville Bharucha, son of Zarir and Sanobar. Bharucha was runner-up in a field of 153 contestants at the MUSIQUEST All India Piano competition held in Poona in September 2009, judged by experts from Canada and the US. In December 2009 he was selected to attend a master class in Bangalore with Susumu Aoyagi, the renowned virtuoso pianist and professor at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, reveals a write-up received by Parsiana.

Bharucha has the rare gift of spontaneously improvising on any theme and has composed many pieces. When he was just nine years old he played his original compositions for Austrian composer and clarinetist Hodl Helmut who was appreciative of the boy’s talent. That same year Bharucha gave his first public piano recital, organized by The Bangalore School of Music at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, during which he played 10 of his own compositions. The response was overwhelming, the write-up states. In December 2004, when he was 11, he performed before a packed audience of over 1,000 at the Art of Living Centre of Sri Sri Ravi Sankar. He has given a number of public recitals since then.

Pianist and composer Neville Bharucha: "blessed with a perfect pitch”

The lad’s outstanding performance in the Trinity College 8th grade piano exam held in October 2006 won him the Capt Alvares Trophy for Excellence at the age of 14. Two years later he passed his ATCL (Associate of Trinity College London) diploma awarded by the Trinity College-Guildhall School of Music, securing a distinction. Bharucha, who is currently studying in the 12th standard at Bangalore’s Bishops Cotton Boys’ School, has won several prizes for musicianship, including the prestigious Peter Coelho Memorial Award for Music in 2002, 2004 and 2008, along with first prizes in numerous interschool competitions, the write-up notes. He has also won the Fewkes Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Musician 2009. Bharucha spent the summer holidays of that year taking intensive coaching at the Royal Academy of Music in London, as well as receiving private tutoring by Krystian Belliere, one of UK’s leading young pianists.

The youngster’s other interests include astronomy, swimming, vintage cars and listening to his collection of over 2,000 music CDs and DVDs, when he is not practising.