Flute and friendship

"A Musical Tribute to Kamala Harris,” Vice President elect of the United States of America, featured US based flautist Dilshad Billimoria Posnock. The tribute, as a virtual event, was organized by Classical Movements, a concert tour company that promotes cultural diplomacy through music. Posted on YouTube on November 11, 2020, the "small but meaningful musical offering” by American African opera singer Alexandria Crichlow and Posnock was meant to symbolize "the many boundaries (Harris) has broken as the first woman, first Black and first South Asian Vice President,” as noted Classical Movements founder Neeta Helms. The tribute included Posnock’s performance of Ashakiran (Ray of Hope) composed by Indo-American flute player Meera Gudipati at the South Asian Symphony Orchestra (SASO)’s inaugural event in the US last December. Crichlow sang the traditional Negro spiritual Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?

Dilshad Billimoria Posnock: cultural diplomacy

Receiving positive feedback from several quarters, most rewarding for Posnock were the words of Jeanne Baxtresser, former principal flute of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under whom Posnock had studied when pursuing her Master’s at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music: "I listened to the entire video...wonderful, uplifting, beautiful… Your playing was so lovely and loving...of another world, in a way. I so appreciated the gorgeous sounds that were familiar to me from knowing your playing — but also the new sounds of another place. Your performance was enchanting and I loved watching you, too.”
Dilshad and her brother Farhad Billimoria, concertmaster of an orchestra in Germany, were invited to join the newly formed SASO in 2019 by Nirupama Rao, former Ambassador for India to the USA and other countries, according to a write-up from their mother Anita. Comprising musicians of South Asian origin, the Orchestra was formed to promote friendship between the countries of the region through music. While Farhad officiates as SASO’s concertmaster, Dilshad is principal flute. The siblings who are familiar faces to audiences in India, having performed solo as also as members of the Bombay Chamber Orchestra in their younger days, continue to perform at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and other venues when they visit the country.
While Dilshad is currently a freelance performer who teaches flute and world music at the Brevard College, North Carolina, her husband Jason is concertmaster of the Ashville Symphony Orchestra. Her parents Anita and Bomi being accomplished pianists, Dilshad had begun her music studies on the piano at the age of five and took to the flute when she was 10. In the absence of flute teachers in Bombay, she taught herself the instrument by reading manuals. After securing a high distinction at the Grade 8 examination of The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Dilshad earned a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London, a rare accomplishment for a self-taught student. During her second year, she was invited to perform at the Commonwealth Observance Service in Westminster Abbey in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and the heads of Commonwealth nations. On graduating from the Royal College she was awarded the prestigious Tagore Gold Medal for the most deserving student of the year. She then earned a scholarship to study at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music.