A family that plays together, stays together

A Boston baby grand of the Steinway family occupies prime position in the de Souza's living room. It is here that siblings, Chelsea and Chloe's graceful fingers do justice to music written by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Maurice Ravel and other Western classical composers, when the sisters visit Mumbai from the US, where they both study music. The love for Western classical music runs in their family. Encouraged from a young age by their parents Colin and Christine – who also took piano lessons – the de Souza girls grew up listening to Chopin among other composers, while they got ready for school.

At 4, Chelsea and her father would play around at the piano. She started taking formal lessons at 5 and won her first competition (at St. Andrew's Church zonal talent contest) only a few months later. "It always felt natural, and I took to the piano immediately," says the 23-year-old, who gave a concert at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), in Mumbai this August. She was 13 when, after her first round at an All India Piano Competition, a German judge and professor at the Cologne Hochschule invited her to spend the summer with her in Germany, on a scholarship. Having spent three successive summers there, Chelsea realised she wanted to pursue music. But "she couldn't believe that she would stop studying, although there's tons to study in music," says Colin. So, after Class 12, the young prodigy moved to the US, where she completed a double graduate degree in Arts (Politics) and in Music (Piano Performance and Vocal Accompanying). She is currently halfway through her Master's in Piano Performance from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Fascinated by the beautiful sounds that would emerge from the piano, 22-year-old Chloe remembers how excited she was at the age of six, when her mother told her that she would begin piano lessons. Being a qualified pianist herself, Christine supervised Chelsea in the initial years, and taught Chloe for the first year. "My parents took us frequently to classical music concerts at the NCPA, which inspired me. By 16, I couldn't imagine not pursuing music seriously," says Chloe, who is finishing her undergraduate degree in Piano and Vocal Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Both have won several competitions and are blessed with perfect pitch, the rare ability to recognize the pitch of a note or produce any note.

Much like a piano's ebony and ivory keys, the sisters work harmoniously together. "We both sing and play the piano, so we've done every combination possible – from singing duets to performing on two pianos simultaneously, and accompanying each other, across different cities in India" says Chelsea. Growing up, "we had many musical evenings together at home, singing and playing popular songs. It has remained a tradition whenever we are all together for Christmas," adds Chelsea, who been recognised as a Young Steinway Artist on the global top pianists' roster, and gets free access to Steinway pianos worldwide.

Being part of a family of pianists can sometimes be overwhelming. Her parents recall, Chelsea practising before the school bus picked her up at 7am, and then the girls would take turns when they returned. "When they're home during their summer holidays, it's chaos with both of them having to share one piano," laughs Colin.

"My neighbours always know when we are home for the summer because they can hear the piano for several hours a day!" quips Chelsea.