CHENNAI: Deep in the heart of Colonial Chennai, a riptide of Bach washed over the crowd. No, this was not the set of a movie, this was world renown cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca playing recently, to a very crowded St Mary’s Church.
Playing Bach’s three suites on a gorgeous Vaslin, this international cellist showed us all how it’s done. He displayed an appreciation for India with the pieces that he was playing, saying of the last of Bach’s suites played that night, “It is a very light and joyful piece, something that reflects India.”
No stranger to travelling abroad to perform, Christian has played in Australia, USA and Europe. India must be a different audience, culturally and otherwise from the ones that he is used to playing for. “I was surprised to see the turnout here today,” the musician commented during the show, before adding, “It’s nice to see people appreciate classical music.”
It is not any surprise that they do, though. “There is a strong connection between Baroque and Indian Music,” he notes, having listened to Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin from a young age. His influences don’t stop there. “I was five when the Berlin Wall came down and I saw Rostropovich playing. It really changed my mind about sound and what you can do with it,” says Christian who has performed in the London Philharmonic among an extensive, impressive list of venues.
With a wealth of experience in this field that Christian has established himself in, what will he do next? “I am working on a project that involves Russian romantic and sacred music,” he says. Clearly, there are no stops on the La Marca train.