Still I Reach - Yearning for Stardom - Mini Orchestral Stage Production
Still I Reach – Memories of my Father.
My Dad — a virtuoso, once hailed among India’s finest — was one of three English gentlemen credited with bringing Western classical music to India, helping to lay the foundation for a tradition that would echo for generations.
His artistry shaped the sound of a nation, and his influence touched the lives of his students who would one day stand on the world’s grandest stages – L Subramanian (US) Zubin Mehta (Pavarotti’s conductor)and Jerry Fernandez who finished his LTCL (Licentiate of Trinity College, London) with honours.
At 58, he came to Australia, carrying with him not only a large family but the resonance of those concert halls, the applause of audiences, and a burning ambition to let his music speak here as it had across the seas.
But the stages he sought here remained closed. After countless auditions and unreturned calls, the verdict came cold: retire from music. As if the brilliance he carried, the decades of mastery in his hands, no longer belonged.
For a moment, the weight of those words threatened to silence his song.
And yet, as the lyrics say, “Still I reach… still I dream… still I ache for what might be,” he held fast to the stage in his heart – This has been captured in the song.
One year later, the story turned. The same man who had once closed the door called again — this time with an invitation to perform with the renowned Sydney Symphony Orchestra. That moment lit the fuse of a second act.
From there, his music would rise again — with the Russian Bolshoi Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, and in celebrated musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar.
This song is for him… and for anyone who has ever been told their time has passed, only to rise and prove that true artistry is timeless.
Copyright ©
Maria Williams
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