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The Silk Road
A Tale of Musical Trade between East and West
Lecture recital by pianist Chelsea de Souza
Performers
The Silk Road was a network of Eurasian trade routes that facilitated economic and cultural interactions between the East and West for over a millennium. Although it no longer exists, cultural exchange between the East and West has only intensified as the boundaries between cultures and nations become increasingly blurred. This program presents the music of composers who have been significantly influenced by their Western or Eastern contemporaries, beginning with Debussy’s encounter with Javanese gamelans at the 1889 World Fair in Paris and his consequent fascination with Eastern philosophy. The second half focuses on two composers of Indian origin, UK-born and Parsi-identifying Sorabji and US-born Reena Esmail, each of whom expresses their dual ties to India and the West in diametrically opposing ways. In this lecture recital, pianist Chelsea de Souza asks the question – how does identity, whether it is constructed by the self or perceived by others, take shape in music?
The recital will conclude with a virtuosic piano duet where Chelsea will be joined by her sister, Chloe de Souza.
In collaboration with JSW and Furtados
Performers
Chelsea de Souza
Known for her dynamic artistry and thought-provoking recital programming, Indian pianist Chelsea de Souza is a Steinway Young Artist equally at home in the worlds of traditional and new music. Described as “fierce and focused” (rediff), with “an alluring stage presence” (The Hindu), she has appeared in concert as a soloist and chamber musician across the US, Belgium, France, Germany and India, and performed live on NBC TV and Kansas Public Radio. Her 2022-23 season highlights include recitals for Minnesota Orchestra’s summer season, Houston Methodist’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Rothko Chapel, Menil Collection and Cypress Creek FACE; performances with New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck for Artists at the Center; presentations at the 2023 National Opera Association Conference; and a commissioning Project Grant from New Music USA and the world premiere of a new work by composer Nicky Sohn.
A consummate chamber musician as well, Chelsea has performed at La Jolla Summerfest and as a Young Artist Fellow with the DACAMERA Chamber Music and Jazz Series in Houston. She has collaborated with award-winning groups “Alarm Will Sound” and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and the contemporary ensembles at Oberlin Conservatory, the Peabody Institute and the Shepherd School. A committed performer of music by living composers, she has commissioned and premiered numerous works for solo piano and small ensemble at museums, colleges and festivals across the US. Together with her sister, soprano and pianist Chloe de Souza, she has given recital and masterclass tours across several cities in India.
Growing up in Mumbai, Chelsea’s musical roots were grounded in a blend of western classical and popular styles. Now she strives to explore issues of identity and culture in her performances through her versatile, genre-defying artistry. She was part of Oberlin’s Performance and Improvisation Series exploring jazz and world music for two years, including a Young Artist Residency with the Detroit String and Wind Society and performances at Cleveland Orchestra’s Severance Hall. She tours regularly with soprano Jolie Rocke with their one singer-one pianist production of “Singing Herstory”, which pays homage to fourteen pioneering female African-American performers.
Chelsea draws inspiration from the diverse artists she has worked with, including classical greats such as Leon Fleisher, András Schiff and Richard Goode, Grammy award-winning popular groups like the Punch Brothers and Snarky Puppy, and international musicians like Israeli jazz pianist-composer Alon Yavnai and Palestinian-American oud player Simon Shaheen. Her recent grant from New Music USA for her project “Blurred Origins: Redefining Culture through Music” funds the commission of a new work for cello and piano that refocuses discussions of culture around the individual, with particular emphasis on Asian-American voices. A singer as well, Chelsea was co-director of Oberlin’s longest-running all-female a cappella group ‘Nothing But Treble’.
A finalist of the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Emerging Artist Competition, Chelsea has won four All-India piano competitions, the IIYM International Piano Competition, the Oberlin Concerto Competition, the Global Scholar-Education World Young Achievers Award in Music and Arts, and second prizes at the 2020 Young Texas Artists and the 2019 Cranbrook Music Guild Emerging Artist competitions. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Politics and in Piano Performance and Vocal Accompanying from Oberlin College and Conservatory, where she studied with Peter Takàcs, and a Master’s degree from the Peabody Institute of Music with Boris Slutsky. She is now pursuing her doctorate at the Shepherd School of Rice University with Jon Kimura Parker, where she also teaches classes in music theory and hybrid music of the Indian diaspora. In her spare time, Chelsea loves exploring cultures through experimenting in the kitchen, just as she does at the piano.
Chloe de Souza
Lauded for her emotional expressivity and her ability to “sing at the piano”, Indian pianist Chloe de Souza is creating a name for herself as a soloist and chamber musician. Winner of two All-India piano competitions, she has performed internationally across India, France and the United States. Recent appearances include solo recitals for the Roland Park Place Retirement Community in Baltimore and the Chapel Hill Piano Salon Concert Series in North Carolina, as well as solo and chamber performances at the Con Brio Music Festival in Mumbai, and the “M.U.S.i.C – Stars in the Classics” concert series in Cleveland.
An accomplished chamber musician, Chloe has accompanied recitals in voice, strings, and winds, and continues to coach singers and chamber music groups during her doctoral degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins. As an avid performer of contemporary classical music as well, she has appeared in concert with Eastman’s renowned contemporary group Musica Nova and as a featured soloist with Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has a keen interest in educating young musicians, currently serving on the music faculty at the Gilman School in Baltimore and having taught for Oberlin Conservatory’s Autistic Scholarship Program.
Chloe was elected in 2020 to the American Honor Society, Pi Kappa Lambda. She holds an LTCL diploma, a Bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory in Piano and Vocal Performance, and a Master’s in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music. She is currently working towards her doctorate in piano performance at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she teaches classes in the keyboard studies department.
