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Violin protege does city proud, performs at Indo-European youth orchestra
NOIDA: Ask 16-year-old Parth Sarthi whether he would prefer picking up the violin and playing a mellifluous tune, or a pencil and solving a math problem, he would
NOIDA: Ask 16-year-old Parth Sarthi whether he would prefer picking up the violin and playing a mellifluous tune, or a pencil and solving a math problem, he would be hard pressed for an answer. For this city teenager loves wrestling with a good math problem as much as he like awing international audiences with his string skills.
Sarthi was recently part of the Indo-European Youth Orchestra that comprised 15 young musicians from India, the United States and the United Kingdom. A class 11 student at Delhi’s Sanskriti School, Sarth took part in a concert organised at Danube Palace in Budapest, Hungary.
“I enjoyed western classical music even as a child. When I was nine, I started playing the violin. Soon after, I started learning it seriously and now I am in the eighth grade practical violin music, a course conducted by Trinity College of Music, Delhi School of Music. I love violin as much as solving mathematic sums,” said Sarthi, who is busy with his class 11 exams.
He said after giving his exams, he plans to teach music and maths to underprivileged children in schools run by non-profit organisations in Delhi-NCR.
In April 2019, he also performed with eight orphan children at a Greater Noida carnival, an event organised as part of the city’s Foundation Day celebrations.
Music for Sarthi, is a way to reach out to the less privileged. “Since January, I have been giving music lessons to slum children whenever I get the time. After my class 11 exams are over, I was to devote more time to teaching these children,” he said.
“I volunteered to teach children at an open-to-sky school run by an NGO. I taught children math and music in two spells this year. And now, after my exams are over, I will take it up again. I love teaching them because these children are extremely talented and enjoy learning music and math — both my passions,” Sarthi, who has just returned from his success stint with the Indo-European youth orchestra, said.
Speaking on the event, Sarthi said the event, ‘Voyage to Europe’, was held from August 13-18 at the Danube Palace under the baton of internationally known Indian composer and conductor Michael Makhal.
“I was quite nervous before the performance. But when the conductor and the baton took over, I just focussed on my track,” Sarthi recalled.
“I have performed at several events in India but that was my first performance abroad. Keeping calm is important during a performance. If one is not calm, then one can mess up. So the wise thing to do is to stay on track. Fortunately, I managed to stay the track for the whole of the performance,” Sarthi said.
In his studies, Sarthi favours computer science and maths. “Music is a stress buster, so I play the violin every day when I am not studying,” he said.
So what does he want to be— a musician or a mathematician? Sarthi replies, “ I have not thought about it. But I want to study computer science, and I love doing math and playing the violin.”
