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Oberlin Portrait: Amitabh Rao
Story and photo by
Michael
Chipman
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the Conservatory |
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faculty, staff & students |
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"Sometimes we forget why we make music in the first place: the impulse to create and the desire to sing," says Amitabh Rao, a senior conducting major from New Dehli, India.
"I often think about what it was like when I was very young and first wanted to sing and make music. If we can capture that impulse and keep going back to it, the music we make will have a lot more influence."
Rao's love of making music keeps finding new forms at Oberlin. Here are a few of his activities and projects at the Conservatory:
- For two years he has organized and conducted an ad-hoc, all-freshman fall term orchestra with performance (see related story)
- Conducted the Oberlin Orchestra
- Conducted Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble
- Has conducted two winter term projects
- Will conduct an upcoming children's concert produced by the Oberlin Music Coalition.
What is your first memory of
music?
Singing songs from Indian movies and in my elementary
school choir. The earliest song I ever sang was when I was
two years old. It was called Julie, from the Indian film
Julie.
How old were you when you started
playing?
I began playing violin when I was nine.
What inspired you to be a musician?
What keeps you inspired on discouraging days?
Perhaps I was inspired by the wrong reasons: the
perceived adventure and glamour of being an artist, as
opposed to the mundane life of a someone tied to a desk. I
think I truly fell in love with music only recently, in my
early 20s. Now, the thought that I could do this all the
time, and be immersed in music 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, keeps me driven and directed.
What keeps me inspired? It helps to know that it takes time to develop musicianship -- that the process of development is an adventure that should be enjoyed, and the hard times are the most exciting.
What is the most memorable
performance you have ever seen and why?
Claudio Abbado conducting Mahler's 7th Symphony at
Tanglewood this summer. I had wanted to see this man for so
long, and I was 10 feet from him. I could see all his
movements, even the most minute. It was electrifying. I had
seen countless videos of him in performance but this was my
first opportunity to see him in a live performance. I
couldn't breathe for the first five minutes. It was so
obvious that this man was completely humble and loving in
his embrace of the music and the orchestra.
If you could perform with one
musician living or dead, who would it be and what would you
perform?
I would like to have been able to accompany David
Oistrakh on a violin concerto, because I consider him to be
the greatest violinist and a great musical
personality.
If you could master another
instrument, what would it be?
I would love to master the piano because it is
indispensable to the work of the composer and conductor.
If you couldn't be a musician what
profession would you choose? Which profession would you
definitely not choose?
I would like to study and teach yoga and meditation full
time. I can't ever see myself as a lawyer.
What do you listen to after a long
day?
Hindu Devotional Music (Bhajans)
What do you like to read?
The Bhagavad Gita and other spiritual books.
The three words that best describe
you:
Aspiring to love.
