Biography

Bombay Chamber Orchestra is a LIVE band based out of the finance capital of India, Mumbai. Since its formation in 1962, the Bombay Chamber Orchestra (BCO) has treated Mumbai audiences with regular performances of a variety of works from the vast classical collection. The orchestra is listed in several international directories of orchestras. It performs five to six concerts a year in Mumbai, often in collaboration with international guest conductors and soloists, and has also played in Sri Lanka and several other cities in India. The BCO has the distinction of being the only symphony orchestra in India that performs regularly with a performance standard. The band’s concerts have been received with acclaim from both critics and audiences, wherever it has played a show. Visiting musicians are only too happy to work with the BCO, and the society frequently receives requests from overseas conductors and musicians to come to India and perform with the orchestra. Some of the prominent musicians and musical companies who have worked with the orchestra include pianists Kendall Taylor, Piers Lane, and Walter Gieseking; violinists Nigel Kennedy, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Bijan Khadem Missagh, Christina Edinger, and Leon Spierer; the Verdehr Trio; the Viennese Light Operatic Company; the Sadlers Wells Ballet Company. Besides giving Mumbai’s music-lovers with the opportunity to enjoy music produced by their city orchestra, the BCO Society serves the dual mission of filling in, to some extent, the great void created by the lack of an academy or a school of music in the city of Mumbai. It offers free coaching to young students interested in studying orchestral instruments. It organizes workshops and seminars by visiting international musicians so that the students are taught the correct methods of playing their instruments. Musical instruments are also loaned to students as these are often too expensive for them or their parents to invest. The Bombay Chamber Orchestra Society was basically founded as an educational organization, primarily to offer free music education to the young musical talent of the city in the ways of orchestral playing and its aim is not only to provide free music education but also to create an environment and influences to encourage young talent to continue to work on the instruments of their choice.  Several young students who made their debut appearances with the orchestra have placed themselves in successful professions as expert musicians throughout the world. The BCO enjoys the assistance of various cultural organizations, including the Goethe Institute, the Alliance Française, and the British Council. These institutions have loaned or donated instruments, provided practice facilities and sponsored visiting teachers and musicians. That so much has been achieved, in spite of the lack of a school of music in the city, has drawn considerable admiration from the visiting artists who have performed with the orchestra. The Orchestra invites soloists and guest conductors for its performances. They also perform with choirs and various groups like Cantata Choir, Choirs/Ensembles, Cathedral Choir, Paranjoti Academy Chorus, Verdehr Trio, Living Voices, Hokansson Trio, and Members of Junge Philharmonic Brandenburg.