“And what he created for the occasion was sheer magic. When the Indian President arrived at the event, everyone rose as the Indian national anthem was played by the maestro’s completely foreign western classical orchestra”.
Mrs. Amb Narinder Chauhan had arrived in Prague, July 2018 as the new Indian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, shortly before a state visit to the country by the President of India., a report in the Financial Express by the former Indian Ambassador says.
Apart from the usual government to government engagements, an address to the Indian community figured prominently on the President’s itinerary. Immediately, the first question that came to her mind how to make the event memorable and unique?
She recalls: “Someone had suggested the name of Indian-Czech maestro and symphony orchestra conductor Debashish Chaudhuri and forthwith I decided to meet the gentleman. And as they say, the rest is history”.
“Within five minutes of my meeting with the maestro, years younger than me, it became all too evident that this was no ordinary person: Indeed, Debashish Chaudhuri turned out to be a highly intelligent, dynamic, suave, sensitive, and a very promising artist, who wore his fame lightly”.
Born in 1975 in Calcutta India, Chaudhuri is the first Indian to study at the Prague Conservatory and the Chigiana Academy of Music in Siena, Italy with Gianluigi Gelmetti whose mentors included Sergiu Celibidache, Franco Ferrara and Hans Swarovsky.
He won the Conducting Competition of Lausanne, Switzerland in 2004 and a year later was the first Indian ever among the finalists of the prestigious Besancon Conducting Competition, remaining professionally active in Central Europe since then.
He has worked with several leading European orchestras such as BBC Wales, the Prague Philharmonia PKF, Brno Philharmonic, Czech Chamber Orchestra Pardubice, Plzen Radio Symphony, South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, Karlovy Vary Symphony, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, Zlin Philharmonic, Moravian Philharmonic, State Philharmonic Zilina and others.
According to Mrs C hauhanDespite an over busy schedule, Chaudhuri very graciously put his heart and soul and time into the planning, and execution of the performance for the Indian President.
“He would make it a point to update me at every stage of the preparations, even though I had complete trust and confidence in his better judgment; I had put the matter entirely in his hands.
After her (Ambassador Chauhan’s) welcome address and the President’s speech, everyone was in for a surprise. Four smart Czech nationals, two women and two men, came and stood right in front of the President and sang old Bollywood songs set to Chaudhuri’s music.
As they finished, everyone was up on their feet to give the performers a standing. Even before the event ended, the performance had gone viral on social media and across continents!
Mrs Chauhan says “This and other meticulously held meetings and visits made a deep impression on the Presidential delegation during the State visit. After returning to India, Sanjay Kothari, the Secretary to the President called up to say “the President wishes to congratulate you on a flawless visit”.
“Prior to the State visit, at the Indian Independence Day flag-hoisting ceremony, Chaudhuri heard me speak of the planned Bapu@150 events.
He immediately came up with the idea of doing a series of concerts to spread the teachings of the Mahatma”, she added.
After her (Ambassador Chauhan’s) welcome address and the President’s speech, everyone was in for a surprise. Four smart Czech nationals, two women and two men, came and stood right in front of the President and sang old Bollywood songs set to Chaudhuri’s music.
Over the next one year, four special concerts were held in four cities including Prague, and Karlovy Vary, to packed audiences. Bapu’s message went out loud and clear.
Rabindranath Tagore is another Indian known to the Czechs. He had visited the country and held lectures there. His bust has been installed at a square in Prague, Thakurova square, where the Bengali community from India and Bangladesh gather every year in May, Gurudev’s birth month.
Tagore’s teachings also became the leitmotif of the maestro’s concerts. Once again, “I had no hesitation in supporting the maestro’s noble efforts for the first Asian who won the Nobel Prize for literature!
Clearly, maestro Chaudhuri is a conductor with a very original blend, depth and temperament and an enormous range of repertoire that makes his presence on the podium distinctive”.
Chaudhuri passionately explores music that is either inspired by India and Asia or written by Asian composers. This has enabled him to premiere several original programmes and recordings to critical acclaim such as the Colours of Asia concerts, the highly acclaimed commemorative concerts on Rabindranath Tagore as well as Mahatma Gandhi.
Chaudhuri serves on the governing body of the Antonin Dvorak Music Festival as well as The International Talentinum Festival. He took the Martinu Czech Philharmonic on tours of India as the first Czech orchestra in India after 57 years! These tours were held in 2016 and 2018.
In 2021 his newly released CD contained among others, the world premiere of a lost and forgotten work, Liebeslieder von Rabindranath Thakur, composed by Czech composer J. B. Foerster in 1915.
It was noticed by the BBC London’s prestigious record reviews and hailed as a real discovery. In 2021 another CD was also released by maestro Chaudhuri recorded at the BBC containing another series of premieres of the now nearly forgotten works of John Mayer, the legendary composer from Calcutta who in the early 1950s became the first ever non-European violinist at a major professional English Symphony Orchestra.
Mayer was a student of Mehli Mehta as well, Zubin Mehta’s father.
With a note of pride Mrs Chauhan says “Indians abroad are an asset. They can open doors. Within days of my arrival, a full-page interview of mine, along full length photo,was published in a local Czech newspaper, facilitated by the Bharat Sangh, Indian community organization”.
“The Organization also helped me put together a list of eminent Indians across all sectors and regions in the country. It was at this event that the maestro would weave his magic”.
Nearing completion of my tenure, the former Ambassador received a message from India seeking suggestions for the Indian Diaspora Award for 2021; “I had no hesitation in nominating maestro Chaudhuri for the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, in the field of art and culture”.
Shortly after he was awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman from the President of India for his contribution and achievements in music, maestro Debashish Chaudhuri was also awarded the Czech National Medal of Merit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic for his contribution to diplomacy.
The maestro puts his talent and outreach to use in philanthropy. In 2006, he started a series of charity concerts for the International Day of the Visually Impaired under the Lions Club, which is now in its 15th year. I had occasion to attend the charity concert that he did for Sri Lanka, on the request of the Czech Foreign Ministry.
Maestro Chaudhuri also supports a variety of other charitable organisations and personally sponsors an Indian student each year to study higher music in the Czech Republic.
He is married to Czech pianist Jana and his parents still live in Calcutta, India while his brother is an acclaimed Fine arts painter in Denver, Colorado.
Maestro Chaudhuri is a rare Indian gem abroad and an invaluable asset of India overseas. What better way to bring nations closer than through the medium of music that they understand the most
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