Neeta Helms talks about the growing interest among Indians for the Western classical genre and says, ‘India holds a dear place in my heart.’ By Jigyasu Joshi
Music moves people. But then how do you take music to the people who love itIJ You count on Neeta Helms. Her aptly named company, Classical Movements, has been transporting orchestras and choral groups on international tours for 25 years with the precision of a Steinway piano tuner. “We do numerous tour projects in a year. Each tour is unique and requires a minimum of six months of planning, more often a year to 18 months,” Neeta said.
Classical Movements is not just a travel company for musicians, but an organisation that is helping to keep classical music vibrant worldwide. “We feel this is an excellent way to give back; it’s a living gift,” she said. “These composers are very talented and their music lives on. But it’s also a way of giving back to people because it’s important to have new music written for choruses and orchestras.” She is troubleshooter in chief, catering to every client’s whim, extravagance and superstition, whether it’s making sure a musician sits in the last row on every jet or stocking someone’s favorite cherry soda backstage.
“There are a few difficult clients, but they are all lovely. When they’re practicing their craft and giving concerts, they need to be taken care of. Happy musicians play better, and that’s what our business is,” she smiles.
In addition to her talented staff in Alexandria, Neeta has “exceptional people” in countries around the world who have been “tried and tested.”
Initially called Blue Heart Travel, in 1995 Neeta renamed the company to Classical Movements to better identify the company’s mission. “I needed a name that sounded like an artistic name, so I could say, ‘I am here representing this chorus and I’d like you to engage them in your festival.’”
Neeta was born into a musical family in India. Her father was a “natural” musician who taught himself piano. He also passed along to Neeta his love for classical music and she has named her company’s initiative to commission music after him.
She began taking piano lessons when she was four, but said that when she was growing up in India in the 1960s and 1970s, access to Western music—sheet music and recordings—was limited. “It was very challenging because you couldn’t make it a career,” she explained.
She left India at 25 to work in New York City. “I started a career in the concert touring business, a career where I was fortunate enough to help the world’s greatest musicians perform their art all over the world. Yet, while working all over the world, India remained a rare musical destination,” she said.
More recently, though, perhaps due to increased globalisation or the larger number of Indians studying abroad, she came to realise that India’s interest in Western classical music was growing. Steadily. “Then I visited India once in 2014, I was surprised to see that apart from the choral groups in the music schools, there were singing groups in the slums, in the red-light areas and in the parts of the country we could not even think of,” she added.
On her next trip to India in December 2015, Neeta met with numerous key figures in the western classical music community, many of whom again expressed a great need for choral conductors. Deeply inspired and motivated by all of this, Neeta put out an announcement the following month to the Classical Movements mailing list, asking for volunteers to travel to India and teach the art of choral music. “The response which I received was heart warming. There was an enthusiastic response from many esteemed conductors around the world. But then the question aroused about how would we cater to such a large audience in IndiaIJ,” she said. And thus, the Indian Choral Fellowship was born.
“ICF’s goal is to stimulate the growth and development of a distinctively Indian choral music tradition. It will work to promote the technical training of choral conductors in India,” Neeta explained.
Under the fellowship program, the guest conductors will teach choral singing in schools, in underpriviledged communities, teach conducting to music conservatory students and will lead workshops and master classes for choral conductors and music educators.
“India holds a dear place in my heart. It is my hope that we can inspire a new cohort of musicians here and far from abandoning old ways, blend with ancient tradition that make India so unique to forge a new horizon for classical music in the country,” she signed off.