Updated On: 22 September, 2024 07:15 AM IST | Mumbai | Meher Marfatia
An upcoming concert celebrates the lasting legacy of Olga Craen, pianist extraordinaire. Her students now mentor new talents with the Young Musician of the Year award, instituted by the Olga and Jules Craen Foundation

At the first Young Musician of the Year function in 2013, (standing, from left) Cyrus Guzder, Bridget Carvalho, Zarir Baliwalla, Anthony Gomes, Zinnia Khajotia, Michelle Athaide, Roshun Birdy, Ernavaz Bharucha, Shireen Isal, Blossom Mendonca and (seated) Roshan Chowna, Marialena Fernandes, awardee Tanay Joshi and Sangeetha Swamy. Pics Courtesy/Olga and Jules Craen Foundation
I was so very struck by your very beautiful sonority, that I would like to hear you again in my favourite works, Faure, Ravel and, of course, Debussy.”
–Madame de Tinan, step-daughter of Claude Debussy, in a letter to Olga Craen
“Madame Olga Craen, laureate of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Contest, possesses a disciplined technique, suppleness and infinite ease. She is a virtuoso full of assurance, an intelligent and sensitive artist.”
–Le Soir, Brussels, November 1951
She was, quite simply, a phenomenon. That Madame Olga Craen stunned the international music world with her prowess on the piano is indisputable. She and her Belgian husband Jules Craen were the country’s best known music teachers, dominating the Bombay music scene for 50 years.