Aubrey and Lorraine Aloysius are the promoters of Lorraine Music Academy (LMA, estb. 2005) and the Lamp Trust (estb. 2010), Gurgaon, established to promote the learning of western, Indian, vocal, choral and instrumental (piano, keyboard, guitar, violin, drums, sitar, tabla and harmonium) music.

Newspeg. In collaboration with the Gurgaon-based iCongo (Indian Confederation of NGOs, estb. 2004), the Lamp Trust announced the  Lamp-iCongo Karma-veer Chakra Awards for music on September 12. Vocalists in four categories, viz, nationalist/patriotic, folk, gospel, and rock music will be felicitated with the Karmaveer Chakra awards on November 26. Entries divided into school-going children, college students and adults, which under the rules of the awards require contestants to film their renditions and upload them on Youtube, will be adjudicated by a jury constituted by the Lorraine Music Academy, close on November 15. According to Aubrey Aloysius, at the time of writing this profile, the contest has received several hundred entries from across the country.

History. Established after the couple relocated from Mumbai to Delhi/Gurgaon in 2004, the Lorraine Music Academy has a current enrolment of 300 students instructed by a full-time faculty of ten and 15 visiting teachers. Committed music missionaries, the duo has invested a wealth of organisation management and experience in the music school and the trust for which they have ambitious future plans. Lorraine who began playing the piano at age eight is an awardee of the full licentiate diploma of the Trinity College of Music, London, and former banking and finance lecturer at Mumbai’s Narsee Monjee, Raheja and Hinduja colleges. Aloysius was an international business manager at Canara Bank and is currently a business advisor to the Delhi-based law firm Titus & Co.

Direct talk. “The purpose of instituting the annual Lamp-iCongo Karmaveer Chakra Awards is to encourage a cultural renaissance from the grassroots. The institutional objective of the Lorraine Music Academy is to provide opportunities to children and adults of all ages to acquire high-quality music education,” says Lorraine.

Future plans. Encouraged by the enthusiastic public response to the music school, the Lamp Trust was constituted in 2010 to expand and amplify the objectives and mission of LMA. “The objectives of the Lamp Trust are ancillary. It is to raise a corpus of Rs.30 crore to establish a Lamp World Cultural Centre with a world-class auditorium in which India’s — and the world’s —  most accomplished musicians will be pleased to perform and spread the message of peace through cultural exchanges and music. The trust will also promote satellite cultural centres-cum-Lorraine Music Academies countrywide,” says  Aloysius.

Wind beneath your wings!

Dilip Thakore (Bangalore)

Also read: Beneficial outcomes of music education