As a 19-year-old, Jehangir Batiwala was a member of the audience at a concert in Pune by Dutch violinist Christian Bor, who was on stage with the leading piano accompanist from Mumbai, Tehmie Gazdar. This was in the early 1980s, but Batiwala remembers it as one of the most memorable performances he has attended.

“They did a fabulous rendition. I could meet them afterwards because they realised I was a young lad. Somebody invited us for dinner with them, and that was a great moment to interact with the musician,” he says.

Concerts such as this are the enduring contribution of the Poona Music Society (PMS), which has a simple mission statement: to foster the love and study of good music. Born a year before India’s independence, the Society turns 80 on July 23.

“I was probably one of the youngest in the audience at 19. There were hardly any children who came to concerts then, unless they were music students. Many children from the JN Petit Technical High School, formerly known as the JN Petit Parsi Orphanage, were brought to listen to the music and act as ushers,” he says. Today, young people are coming to concerts as they have developed a liking for classical music. “This is a good sign because they are the audience of the future,” says Batiwala, adding that the Society has had concerts attended by a couple of 100-year-olds as well as five-year-old children.

Almost 200 years after one of the world’s most-loved composers, Beethoven, died, his timeless music was the highlight at Mazda Hall on May 22 and 23. This concert at the Society is a part of Artie’s festival, which marks its 30th anniversary. The Artie’s festival, founded in 2008 by French cellist Gauthier Herrmann and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, platforms selected musicians from the top European conservatories who showcase classical masterpieces and special symphonic arrangements.

St Vincent’s High School, once the headquarters

Memories and archival documents show that the Poona Music Society, a non-profit, began with St Vincent’s High School as its headquarters. Ardent music lovers and visionaries were the force behind the initiative – Arnold Bell, the first president of the committee; Rev Father John Rudolph, the honorary secretary; and Adi Framjee, the honorary treasurer, among others.

Beginning with bi-weekly programmes of recorded music, known as the musical appreciation hour with introductory talks on the musical composition, the composer, and the artist, the Society graduated to its first concert on August 22, 1946, which was devoted to Beethoven. Live performances by the Society’s Poona String Ensemble, followed by the Society, grew to presenting concerts by visiting foreign artistes. Renowned Russian violinist Leo Cherniavsky, with Rita Gloria at the piano, played at the first such concert on February 11, 1951.

“The committee worked hard to bring the leading musicians of the world to Pune. Poona Music Society would collaborate with presenters in Bombay, such as the Bombay Madrigal Singers Organisation, which was also run by hardcore volunteer musicians. The artistes from the West would come to Mumbai and then board a train to come to Pune, perform at a concert, and return by train the next day to Bombay before flying out,” says Batiwala, who is currently the honorary secretary of the Society, before revealing a little-known part of aviation – and music– history.

‘Bombay airport was a refuelling stop in 1950s’

“One reason this network was effective is that musicians from Europe would travel to Southeast Asia or Japan. Bombay airport was a refuelling stop for aircraft in the 1950s and 1960s. Bombay was an international city that Western musicians wanted to explore because of the refuelling stop. As part of their plane ticket, they would stay two or three days in Bombay, at places such as the Taj Mahal Hotel, which used to host concerts by visiting foreign musicians. The organisers would then bring these musicians to the Poona Music Society,” says Batiwala.

Though the world had long-haul flights by the 1980s, meaning anyone going to Japan did not have to stop in Mumbai, the Society continued to bring the who’s who of Western Classical Music to Pune. The audience in the 1980s, when Batiwala went to the concert by Bor and Gazdar, was all older people. Today, the hall is packed with people from all walks of life as the works of the legends live on at the concerts of the Poona Music Society.