Associated with Commonwealth Music Partnership
First Trustees
Neecia Majolly
Neecia Majolly is the Founder-President of The Majolly Music Trust and has been acclaimed as one of India’s finest pianists.
A Global Music Awards Gold and Silver Medalist winner, IMEA (International Music and Entertainment Association) Awards Winner and Akademia Music Awards Winner for ‘The Majolly Project’ (progressive rock group),Neecia has had her musical education in Brunei and Singapore and went on to do her degree in Music from the Western Australian Conservatorium, Perth. A concert pianist, conductor, singer, teacher and composer, who has emerged as one of the most dynamic musical forces in India, she has performed at venues across India, Nepal, South East Asia, Sweden and Australia.
The Camerata (now known as The Majolly Music Trust Choir), a choir she founded and directed, has earned a firm reputation in India for being unique in their choice of repertoire and quality of presentation. The year 2001 saw the historic performance of Handel’s “Messiah” for choir, soloists and full – fledged orchestra, the likes of which had never been experienced in India before.
Another choir she co-founded, Madrigals, Etc., is the only choir in India specializing in music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance eras, and has the distinction of releasing the first ever Western Music Classical album in the country in 2009 ‘the renaissance begins’.
The Majolly Music Trust itself has one of the finest faculties in the country imparting music education in piano, violin, guitar and voice studies besides having created a unique pension fund for aged and infirm musicians.
Besides being former representative of the London College of Music Examinations in Karnataka, Neecia is believed to be the first Indian Western Classical Pianist to have a piano album, ‘Gold Coast Pure Spa’, released by Universal Audio, USA.
In May 2017, the debut indie album ‘Please’ from The Majolly Project was released.
Neecia has recently been empanelled in the Indian Council of Cultural Relations ' Reference Panel of Artistes, and is also on the Advisory Council of the Karnataka Artistes Association.
Neecia is also a Gold Prize Winner in the Composition category at the World Classical Music Awards.
https://www.facebook.com/majollybrunei
Twitter: @themajolly
https://www.youtube.com/user/neeciamajolly
https://www.majollyproject.com
Rajendra Chaturvedi
Rajendra Chaturvedi has been a leading music composer and arranger in the Indian commercial music industry for a major part of the 80's and 90's.
Having studied to great depth both Indian and Western Classical Music, he has been always fascinated by the rich music traditions both forms have to offer, and his compositions have always been influenced by the melodic soul of Indian Classical Music against the complex harmonization of Western Classical Music.
In 1989, Mr Chaturvedi established an audio studio which had the most advanced facilities then available in the industry. These were the first roots of the THEME MUSIC Group of companies that went on to do many other ground breaking work in times to come.
In 1996, THEME started importing and distributing musical instruments and studio equipment, along with the designing and setup of project studios.
In 1998, THEME started the import of KAWAI Pianos from Japan which are among the world's leading piano manufacturers loved for their rich, warm, singing sound. THEME is the sole national distributor for KAWAI pianos in India and at present has 3 exclusive KAWAI Piano showrooms located at New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. These showrooms go by the name of THEME PIANO WORLD and are the only exclusive piano showrooms in the country!
In an effort to give back to the music that made him, Mr Rajendra Chaturvedi founded THEME MUSIC INSTITUTE in Greater Kailash (New Delhi) after having realized that Western Classical music needed to be an organized industry should it grow and receive mainstream acceptance. In all, THEME has launched 6 Music Institutes in 3 major cities across India including the first one in Greater Kailash; Gurgaon- DLF (2002); Juhu, Mumbai (2006); Punjabi Bagh, Delhi (2009); Bandra, Mumbai (2009); Koramangala, Bangalore (2010)
The THEME Music Institute prides itself on being the pioneer for group method teaching for piano learning in India which facilitates ensemble piano playing.
THEME is also one of the largest distributors of music books and sheet music from various international publishers such as Alfred Publishing Co., Faber Music, Music Exchange, Oxford University Publishing, Hal Leonard, Music Sales and many others.
Mr Chaturvedi shares Neecia's vision in building very high standards of Western Classical Music Education in India through The Majolly Music Trust!!
Board of Trustees
Ravi Kashyap
Ravi Kashyap is a qualified and professional Piano teacher with over twenty years of teaching experience in giving western classical piano lessons and acoustic guitar lessons across all grades up to Diploma in teaching. Having a
Diploma in Piano Teaching (Dip.Teaching, LCME), and a Grade 8 in piano, music has always been a passion and profession and he has prepared students for various grades of music examinations conducted by London College of Music Examination (LCME) Board.
He has done his music studies under the able guidance of well-known musician Ms Neecia Majolly, and has worked as a piano tutor at The Majolly Music Trust for more than ten years. He now has his own music school (Kashyap School of Piano) that has been active for the past 15 years, training multiple students to become Piano teachers with continuous guidance and coaching.
Praveen Francis
Praveen Francis is an audio engineer, music producer, composer and Studio designer with more than 15 years of industry experience. He has been an active Grammy voting member since 2016. His songs ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ and ‘Song of Hope’ had been shortlisted for Grammy nominations (2017 & 2022 respectively). He has worked predominantly in the Kannada film industry in more than a hundred movies, beginning as an assistant DTS mixing engineer to Dolby mixing engineer. He has been a part of a few award winning international projects as a mixing engineer which includes artistes like The Majolly Project. Currently, he runs Angeltone Studios which is primarily focused on music recording and mixing.
Advisory Board
Dhruva Seshadri
Dhruva Seshadri started learning Carnatic music on the violin at age 8 and western music on the piano at age 10.
He has performed in cities all over India, including solo recitals in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai. He was placed third at the inaugural Con Brio All India Piano Competition in 2010, held at Mumbai.
He holds FTCL, LTCL, LRSM and DipABRSM diplomas in piano performance, and has attended masterclasses and workshops with pianists Paul Stewart, Sheila Arnold and Delia Varga. He has also adjudicated at several junior piano competitions at Chennai and Bangalore, including the Kawai Junior Piano Competition in 2016.
Dhruva has collaborated with artists such as Neecia Majolly (soprano), Sunil Chandy (bass guitar), Arun Rozario (violin), Francis Rozario (cello) and Vineet Panikkar (piano). He has also accompanied choirs including the Madras Musical Association Choir, the Handel Manuel Chorus, the Camerata (in Bangalore, under the baton of Neecia Majolly), and the Coimbatore Chamber Chorale.
He has composed and produced original scores for several short films including a docu-drama, 'The Walking Mind' (2014) which depicts the lives of patients with Osteogenesis imperfecta ('Brittle bone' disease). He has also arranged music for stage productions of musicals such as 'West Sid Story', 'Oliver!', 'Chess', and 'Fiddler on the Roof'. Apart from music, Dhruva is fond of travelling, reading, and all things tech. He is an engineer by training, and presently works with the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes) at Pune.
