Olga Craen
Indian pianist (1913–1986)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Olga Athaide Craen LRAM (née Athaide; 1913 – 1986) was an Indian pianist and piano educator. She began her career in 1936 while a student at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London. A finalist in the 1946 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Music Competition held in Paris, she later taught piano in Bombay, India.
1913
- Pianist
- piano educator
Olga Craen | |
|---|---|
Craen, from a 1936 issue of The Indian Listener | |
| Born | Olga Athaide 1913 |
| Died | 1986 (aged 72–73) |
| Alma mater | Royal Academy of Music (RAM) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1936–1980s |
| Spouse |
Jules Craen
(m. 1939; died 1959) |
Early life
Olga Athaide was born in Goa, the daughter of Franklin Herculano Athaide and Ana Maria Luisa da Conceicao Cordeiro.[1] Her mother was also a pianist. With a scholarship from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Athaide trained with English pianist Tobias Matthay and completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1936.[2][3][4]
Career
During her student days in London, Craen performed on radio and on British and continental concert stages, including Wigmore Hall in 1936.[5] "Miss Athaide's performance showed a warm musical nature," commented one reviewer, "allied with exceptionally brilliant technic and facility."[2] In 1938, she gave a recital at the Cowasji Jehangir Hall,[6] and made her first of many appearances with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra.[3] She returned to Cowasji Jehangir Hall in 1939, with a program of French composers, for the Alliance Française in Bombay.[7]
In 1946, Craen was one of the finalists of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Music Competition in Paris.[8] In 1948, she and her husband faced difficulties when they illegally subleased a flat in India. Both were arrested, and her husband was convicted;[9] he served a jail sentence of several years for the violation. The experience depleted their funds, and their health and reputations.[10]
Craen gave public performances until the late 1950s,[11] and taught piano in Bombay into the 1980s. One of her successful students was Marialena Fernandes.[12]
Personal life
Athaide married Belgian violinist and conductor Jules Craen in 1939. She was widowed when Jules Craen died in 1959; she died from cancer in 1986. In 2013, to mark the centennial of her birth, the Olga & Jules Craen Foundation established the Young Musician of the Year competition.[13]