A night of scintillating music at Napa

Karachi
It was, by all accounts, a scintillating musical evening at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) Sunday evening. Most of all, it was an expose of the musical talent Karachi is teeming with.
The evening began with a transverse flute and tabla duet by flutist Ustad Salamat Hussain with Sagar Vailjee at the tabla. It was a masterly rendition with perfect coordination between the two, holding the audience spellbound, even though some members were a bit too generous with their applause and applauded at the most delicate junctures.
Next came a vocal classical performance with a group of Napa vocalists and Ustad Nafees Khan on the sitar and Sagar Vailjee at the tabla. The youngsters were highly talented, indeed, and did a splendid job with their vocal cords.
Again, the same group presented a complex piece but with spotless perfection. The ‘Raag Gorakh Kalyan’ is a highly complicated (and convoluted) bit of classical music, but the young folk left no stone unturned and rendered it real well.
Next came the duo from Italy, clarinetist Claudio Cavalloro and pianist Massio Spada. Their presentation must have come as a real treat for lovers of classical music as they presented a large number of compositions by, first of all, the maestro whose very name is synonymous with opera, Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.
They presented a divertimento from his opera, Il Trovatore: Rossini’s Fantasia, for clarinet and pianoforte; a movement from Donizetti’s Clarinet concerto; and a piece by Paganini.
Even though Paganini composed pieces for the violin, the piece they presented was executed with such dexterity that it sounded absolutely melodious.
The final piece was again a display of the talent that has been groomed by Napa. Aneel Taher and Areeba Niazi presented a vocal piece as a duet, the piece being the theme tune from the Hollywood epic, Godfather.
Clarinetist Cavallero gave the clarinet accompaniment. It was a masterly rendition even though Areeba did not exude the confidence that a vocalist is supposed to, yet, it was very acceptable.
What was really praiseworthy was the performance of the pianist Asher Wilson who is visually impaired and did a wonderful job with a precise accompaniment.
Another highly commendable performance was that of Daniyal Riaz and his saxophone accompaniment.
However, what slightly marred the performance was the excessively enthusiastic appreciation by the audience. They applauded in between each movement performed by the Italian duo and, in other cases, began clapping heartily while a performance was in full swing, something that really upsets the performers.