Olga Craen | |
|---|---|
 Craen, from a 1936 issue of The Indian Listener | |
| Born | Olga Athaide 1913 |
| Died | 1986 (aged 72–73) |
| Alma mater | Royal Academy of Music (RAM) |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 1936–1980s |
| Spouse(s) | Jules Craen
( m. 1939; died 1959) |
Olga Athaide Craen LRAM (née Athaide; 1913 – 1986) was an Indian pianist and piano educator. She began her career in 1936 while a student at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London. A finalist in the 1946 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Music Competition held in Paris, she later taught piano in Bombay, India.
Early life[edit | edit source]
Olga Athaide was born in Goa, the daughter of Franklin Herculano Athaide and Ana Maria Luisa da Conceicao Cordeiro.[1] Her mother was also a pianist. With a scholarship from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Athaide trained with English pianist Tobias Matthay and completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1936.[2][3][4]
Career[edit | edit source]
During her student days in London, Craen performed on radio and on British and continental concert stages, including Wigmore Hall in 1936.[5] "Miss Athaide's performance showed a warm musical nature," commented one reviewer, "allied with exceptionally brilliant technic and facility."[2] In 1938, she gave a recital at the Cowasji Jehangir Hall,[6] and made her first of many appearances with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra.[3] She returned to Cowasji Jehangir Hall in 1939, with a program of French composers, for the Alliance Française in Bombay.[7]
In 1946, Craen was one of the finalists of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Music Competition in Paris.[8] In 1948, she and her husband faced difficulties when they illegally subleased a flat in India. Both were arrested, and her husband was convicted;[9] he served a jail sentence of several years for the violation. The experience depleted their funds, and their health and reputations.[10]
Craen gave public performances until the late 1950s,[11] and taught piano in Bombay into the 1980s. One of her successful students was Marialena Fernandes.[12]
Personal life[edit | edit source]
Athaide married Belgian violinist and conductor Jules Craen in 1939. She was widowed when Jules Craen died in 1959; she died from cancer in 1986. In 2013, to mark the centennial of her birth, the Olga & Jules Craen Foundation established the Young Musician of the Year competition.[13]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Vaz, J. Clement (1997). Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present. Concept Publishing Company. p. 75. ISBN 978-81-7022-619-2.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "A Bombay Success in London". The Bombay Chronicle. 5 July 1936. p. 14. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Surveyor, Suna (October 4, 1948). "Laureate of International Musical Competition" (PDF). India: 8.
- ↑ Royal Academy of Music (1936). List of licentiates. Part VI. 1934 - 1936 (inclusive). p. 13 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Untitled brief item". Evening Standard. 1936-06-19. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-11-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Pianoforte Recital; Miss Olga Athaide's Impressive Performance". The Bombay Chronicle. 24 March 1938. p. 8. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Pianoforte Recital of French Composers". The Bombay Chronicle. 23 March 1939. p. 5. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Women of India. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. 1958. ISBN 978-81-230-2284-0.
- ↑ "Bombay Symphony Conductor Convicted". The Bombay Chronicle. 27 April 1949. p. 2. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Johari, Aarefa (2016-08-13). "Remembering India's stellar pianist Olga Craen". Serenade. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ↑ "Olga Craen's Pianoforte Recital". The Bombay Chronicle. 9 November 1948. p. 6. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Gomes, Iris C. F. "Banishing Musical Boundaries". Prutha Goa. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ↑ Johari, Aarefa (February 1, 2014). "Fame, love and tragedy: Remembering India's stellar pianist Olga Craen". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2021-11-19.