Neecia Majolly is an Indian concert pianist, conductor, singer, teacher and composer.

Education

Majolly holds an Associate of La Salle (ALS) from the SIA College of the Arts,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in both

performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

and principles of teaching, an Associate of the

London College of Music London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London. History LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at ...

(ALCM) in

music theatre Music theatre is a performance genre that emerged over the course of the 20th century, in opposition to more conventional genres like opera and musical theatre. The term came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to describe an avant-garde approach ...

, a Licentiate of the

Trinity College, London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity College ...

(LTCL) in

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, voice and principles of teaching, a Licentiate of the

Royal School of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first ...

, London in piano, and the Fellowship of the Trinity College, London (FTCL) in piano.

Music career

Majolly had several solo performances in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and accompanied Russian-American violinist Galina Heifetz through India. As a piano teacher and

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often al ...

, Majolly has taught at the

Delhi School of Music The Delhi School of Music, established by the Delhi Music Society, teaches Western classical music. It is the only institution of its kind in northern India. It has around 1300 students annually, and provides musical tuitions in instrumental (p ...

and the Bangalore School of Music. She mainly teaches privately in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

(including vocal training and interpretative workshops), where she has been living since 1995. Majolly was the President of the Bangalore Society of Performing Arts (BSPA), which she founded in 2000, but had to be shut down because of bankruptcy, and was an artistic adviser to the National Philharmonic of India. She also worked as radio presenter of Western Classical Music in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

from 1993 till 1994, as well as critiquing for

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

and

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

, from 1995 till 1996. She was an All-

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

representative of the

London College of Music Examinations London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thame ...

(LCME). Majolly is the Founder-Trustee of the ''Majolly Music Trust.'' The Trust was founded in 2011, to teach young people classical music, fund scholarships for students, open a stage for new artists and provide a pension for retired artists. Under her baton, two choirs, ''Madrigals, Etc'' which specializes in music from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period and the ''Camerata'', have "earned a firm reputation in India for being unique in their choice of repertoire and quality of presentation". In 2001 the Camerata-choir staged Handels' "Messiah" in a "mammoth performance" in Bangalore, a comparable event didn't happen in India since then. In October 2009 the choir launched the first ever western classical music album in India, called ''The Renaissance Begins''. Neecia Majolly's piano album titled "Pure Spa Gold Coast" was published with

Universal Audio Universal Audio may refer to: *Universal Audio (company), an audio product company founded in 1958 by Bill Putnam Sr., and refounded by Jim Putnam and Bill Putnam Jr. in 1999. * ''Universal Audio'' (album), a 2004 album by the Delgados *Universal A ...

, USA in 2012, followed by her

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

indie-album "Please" in 2017, which was released by her band ''The Majolly Project''. Her third choir, ''Femusica'', which was formed in 2019, is an all-women choir exclusively performing music by women composers. They made their debut in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

in September 2019, their performance included the world premiere of Majolly's song "Haiku 1" for

mezzo soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octa ...

and piano. In 2021 she founded the ''Neecia Majolly Centre for Performing Arts'' (NMCPA) in Bangalore.

Awards

In 1992, Majolly was awarded the ''Stephanie Coleman Prize'' for Best Graduating Pianist from the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. In 1991 she won the ''Rex Hobcroft Award'' for Best Pianist at the ''Inaugural Chamber Music Competition'' (Western Australian Conservatorium of Music, Perth), and in 2001, the ''Edgar Fewkes Memorial Award'' for outstanding musician (voice) in the southern Indian region. Her band ''The Majolly Project'' won two Global Music Awards for their debut single "Dark Room" in the categories 'Emerging Global Artist' and 'Best Song'. The song has also been nominated for the IMEA Awards in the 'Rock Song of the Year' category. She also won the World Classical Music Awards in the 'Composition' category.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majolly, Neecia Year of birth missing (living people) Bruneian musicians 21st-century Bruneian people Living people 21st-century pianists 21st-century women pianists