Olga Athaide Craen

LRAM
A young South Asian woman with wavy dark hair side-parted and dressed to the nape
Olga Athaide (later Craen), from a 1936 issue of The Indian Listener
Born1913
Died1986
Alma materRoyal Academy of Music
Occupation(s)Pianist, piano educator
Known forThe Olga & Jules Craen Foundation

Olga Athaide Craen LRAM (1913 – 1986) was an Indian pianist and piano educator, based in Mumbai.

Early life and education

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 Tobias Matthay and completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1936.[2][3][4]

Career

During her student days in London, Athaide 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 Mumbai into the 1980s. One of her successful students was Marialena Fernandes.[12]

Personal life

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

  1. ↑ Vaz, J. Clement (1997). Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present. Concept Publishing Company. p. 75. ISBN 978-81-7022-619-2.
  2. 1 2 "A Bombay Success in London". The Bombay Chronicle. 5 July 1936. p. 14. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  3. 1 2 Surveyor, Suna (October 4, 1948). "Laureate of International Musical Competition" (PDF). India: 8.
  4. ↑ Royal Academy of Music (1936). List of licentiates. Part VI. 1934 - 1936 (inclusive). p. 13 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ "Untitled brief item". Evening Standard. 1936-06-19. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-11-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Pianoforte Recital; Miss Olga Athaide's Impressive Performance". The Bombay Chronicle. 24 March 1938. p. 8. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ "Pianoforte Recital of French Composers". The Bombay Chronicle. 23 March 1939. p. 5. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ↑ Women of India. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. 1958. ISBN 978-81-230-2284-0.
  9. ↑ "Bombay Symphony Conductor Convicted". The Bombay Chronicle. 27 April 1949. p. 2. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ Johari, Aarefa (2016-08-13). "Remembering India's stellar pianist Olga Craen". Serenade. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
  11. ↑ "Olga Craen's Pianoforte Recital". The Bombay Chronicle. 9 November 1948. p. 6. Retrieved November 19, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ↑ Gomes, Iris C. F. "Banishing Musical Boundaries". Prutha Goa. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
  13. ↑ Johari, Aarefa (February 1, 2014). "Fame, love and tragedy: Remembering India's stellar pianist Olga Craen". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
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