AN INDIAN TENOR
Indian tenor Amar Muchhala returns to his native Mumbai to perform with the Symphony of India chamber orchestra this month. One of the few Indian opera singers to succeed abroad, Muchhala will perform some of the genre’s most beautiful arias. “It is an exciting yet challenging programme... including rarely heard gems by Mascagni and Cilea along with opera arias by Verdi, Puccini and Tchaikovsky,” Muchhala says.
After studying Hindustani classical music in school, Muchhala turned to Western classical after joining his college choir in the United States. “The choir master instantly identified me as a tenor and the next thing I knew I was singing Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms as part of the tenor section. Opera happened to me by accident. I suppose as my voice developed over the years, it naturally lent itself to the operatic genre.”
Muchhala went on to study opera at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, making his debut with the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg in Germany. But his performance in the lead role of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in London with the British Youth Opera Company holds pride of place in his memory. “It was a dream come true to be part of a wonderful cast accompanied by a wonderful orchestra,” he says.
This year, he’s already performed at Staatsoper Hannover and will soon sing at Theatre Magdeburg. But his Mumbai appearances—July 8 at NCPA and July 10 at Prithvi Theatre—highlight his broader ambitions.
“One hears of Italian tenors, German tenors… but, an ‘Indian tenor’? I intend to change that,” he says. “In fact, the pieces that I will perform in (the Mumbai) concert are representative of the roles that I aspire to perform.”