Thursday, May 11, 2017

15-year-old Milen Earath strikes the right chord

National Child Award winner has been enthralling audiences with classical piano pieces

House lights dim as a yellow spotlight shifts focus towards the wood-paved stage, where a fine piano glistens. A burst of applause and a young lad walks briskly towards the instrument, and begins to play. His music rouses the audience as he plays a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven composed in 1904, followed by Gaspard de la nuit by Maurice Ravel. Meet 15-year-old Milen Earath, who began his classical music journey in 2010. Little did he know that he was set out to taste success. Unlike other children who inherit musical traits from their parents, Milen's story is unique. His parents are both doctors, and no one from his family is a musician. His father, Manoj Earath hails from Kerala, and his mother Alena Vladimirovna Earath, is Russian. Settled in Thrissur, Kerala, Milen discovered his love for music when he was studying in Class 3. “I was on a vacation when my mother and I visited my grandparents in Russia. My grandfather took me to a music school where I saw the piano for the first time in my life. Listening to it being played, I fell in love with its sounds, and from that day I just wanted to learn music,” says Milen. His father Manoj recalls how overjoyed Milen was when he returned from the trip. “We gifted him a small Casio keyboard for his birthday that year. He was nine then, and would come home from school and spend the rest of the day hitting away the keys and experimenting with it,” says Manoj. Recognising his love for music, Milen's parents sent him to study music at Chetna Music Academy back in Kerala, where he trained under the guidance of Father Thomas in 2010. Soon Milen completed all eight grades in pianoforte from Trinity College, London, and passed with a distinction. Soon after, he went on to complete three diploma courses in music, giving exams for Associate of Trinity College London (ATCL), Licentiate of Trinity College London (LTCL), and Fellowship of Trinity College London (FTCL) and was certified in 2014. In 2016, Milen received the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement in the field of music by President Pranab Mukherjee, as he was also the youngest and the fastest Indian to have completed professional music training in a span of four and a half years.

“I received immense support from my school principal at Devamadha CMI Public School. Instead of attending school from 9 am to 4 pm, he used to allow me to leave by 3 pm,” says Milen. Spending most of his time at home practicing on his keyboard, Milen feels that learning music requires great perseverance. “Learning to read music can be a complex process, but there was never a time when I wanted to give up. My parents are my mentors, and my biggest support,” says Milen. He is currently receiving guidance from Prof. Heribert Koch, President of European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA) Germany, on Skype. Milen believes that India would have far more youngsters joining the Indian music scene provided there were good teachers. “One problem is finding a good teacher. If you want to be a professional musician, no matter how well-taught, you need a teacher by your side to practically show you how to play a certain piece better,” expresses Milen. However, for now, his home is back in Kerala, where he will continue to practice and travel to places to play whenever possible, as his dream is to be a full-time concert pianist.

Source: DNA-7th May,2017