Mohit Dodwani ,23, and Chaitanya Marneni ,22, are promoting Western Classical music in the city through their initiative Piano Forum. “Piano Forum is an initiative to make a determined change to the music scene in Hyderabad by arranging music concerts, workshops, inviting musicians and music educators etc. from all around the country and around the world. Regarding Western Classical music, Hyderabad is not at par with cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru Chennai and Delhi. The reason being, the audience here are not aware of it. People here don’t get to listen to Western classical music a lot.
“The feedback we got from our first concert (with pianist Apurva Devarajan) was amazing,” says Mohit, while Chaitanya adds, “My students were trying to copy Apurva’s posture. After watching her live, they have become more serious about music.”
“We never had the same opportunities when we were growing up. So we are making sure that anyone who is learning music now has the right exposure through concerts as these,” says Mohit, adding, “There is a big change in the current music scene and the standard is increasing tremendously”. Talking about how it all started, Chaitanya says, “It was around 11 in the night and we had decided to attend a concert in Mumbai. Meanwhile, we kept discussing about the way music is given importance in other cities. When compared, we don’t even come close. We thought we shouldn’t blame others and instead thought ‘what are we doing to change it’. That’s when the idea came about and we started working on it from January this year.”
Mohit, who has been learning piano since he was seven, adds, “The reason we collaborated was because our ideologies or the way we think match. Our passion for music and to do something for Hyderabad is the same. So we took the risk, invested everything from our pockets and expecting nothing in return. Because Hyderabad hasn’t paid for Western musical concerts before. But our concert with a 250-people capacity was houseful.”
He continues, “If we hadn’t stepped out of Hyderabad and attended the concert in Mumbai, we wouldn’t have known the scale at which these are held in other cities. I learnt that there are about 2,500 music teachers in the city. There is a lot that we can do together. It’s not going to be possible only with Piano Forum, others should come forward, including students. And parents should be encouraging. We have to create more opportunities. We can assure that down the lane, Hyderabad will be a musically endured city.”
Talking about their future plans, Mohit says, “For our second concert, we want to give our students in Hyderabad a chance. It’s not going to be exclusive to piano and will be open to all other instruments.”
