A “very special” concert

A full house. A full bodied sound. Fulsome applause at the Tata Theatre on January 21, 2018. That was for a performance of The Bombay Chamber Orchestra (BCO) with Bombay born siblings — violinist Farhad Billimoria and younger sister Dilshad Posnock at the flute. Based in Austria, Billimoria has founded the Magdeburger Piano Trio and performs extensively. Posnock performs, publishes and teaches in the USA.
For the siblings, it is very special to play in Bombay, especially with their father Bomi at the drums and their erstwhile teacher Jini Dinshaw who taught them violin and the Orff method, currently playing the viola. Posnock’s husband Jason graciously played the first violin at second desk, though he leads his section in his local orchestra in North Carolina in USA.
Dilshad had played with the BCO for six years until the age of 18 when she was accepted to the Royal College of Music, London. She was a self-taught flautist as there were no teachers of this reedless wind in those days in the city! For Billimoria, performing in Bombay is "very special. (It) brings back very special memories too. It’s more moving as you know people on stage and in the audience. You know there are people who you grew up with, hearing you.”

The musicians lament not playing together often because of professional commitments, but were thrilled to do so with this Orchestra, never having done so before. In fact they point out there is not much music for flute, violin and orchestra. For the January 21 program, under the baton of US based conductor Karen Gorden, the curtain opener was overture from the Wolfgang Mozart opera Idomeneo. It was followed by Mozart’s concertone (a larger version of the concerto) for two violins and orchestra which was transcripted for flute and violin. Domenico Cimarosa’s concerto for two flutes and orchestra was also transcripted for violin and flute. The Bombay audience heard the 20th century composer Cécile Chaminade’s concertino for flute and orchestra, a first, played solo by Posnock. To keep the sibling equilibrium of solo performance, Billimoria played Sérénade Mélancolique for violin and orchestra by Piotr Tchaikovsky. Post intermission, the jam-packed house returned to the first movement of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, popularly termed the "Unfinished.”
The BCO was founded in 1962 by Dinshaw. Today in her late 80s, Dinshaw got the most cat calls and applause as the octogenarian was acknowledged both by the soloists, who started their careers under her tutelage, and the conductor. At one stage of her career, she charged to Berne in Switzerland for a crash course of a month to learn the cello. Her reason — it was the need of the BCO at the time. Bomi has been playing timpani for BCO from the ’90s, filling a void and cementing musical fractures. Currently, Freddy Dinshaw (no relative of Jini), is the leader of the BCO. Freddy has been with the city orchestra from the ’80s.
The idea to make the Billimoria siblings play with the BCO for The Burjor D. Shroff Memorial Concert germinated from Cyrus and Cumi Shroff. Late Burjor played the cello in the BCO for decades and gave unstinting support, both moral and financial, continued by his children.
In fact, the BCO is a repository of old and lasting connections. Besides the Billimorias, siblings Alaric and Arkin Diniz and Shalom and Shihan Palkhivala have also been with the BCO for several years. This amateur group has survived 56 years with help coming from all sources — nationally and internationally. Gone are the days when BCO had to hire musicians from pop and jazz bands or the Army and Navy musicians were pursued during each performance. Managing to rustle up support to import talent despite the Goods and Service Tax levied at the highest 28% for western classical music, BCO continues as a non-profit institution and is bailed out by well-wishers. Jini believes the right help comes at the right time.