Report by Viju Mangalore
Pics by Dayanand Kukkaje
Mangalore, Feb 8: A music family is what every one calls them. The Mangalorean family residing in Houston, Texas has four child prodigies who can steal any show with their natural talent for music.
If you think that playing a violin is a difficult job, three-year-old Marie Therese Abreo proves it wrong. For her it’s a ‘child’s play.’ Her two brothers and a sister Michael (8), Daniel (6) and Christine (5) join her in unison.
A violin recital at Gitanjali, Lower Bendoor, introduced the Abreo family to Mangaloreans.
The youngest one in the family is Marie Therese Abreo followed by two brothers and a sister Michael, Daniel, and Christine forming the quartet. Children of Dr Gerard, a cardiologist and Nicole who themselves are musicians, the children have taken up keep interest in music and thus perform annually in the Houston open-air theatre at the Houston Young Artistes’ Concert and at the Houston Children’s Museum, and St John’s Hospital, Houston.
Gerard was part of the Abreo Quartet in the early ‘70s in Bangalore. They performed at various clubs, including the Catholic Club, till the quartet broke up in 1985; when the brothers went on to pursue their careers.
Groomed in the home school where Nicole is their teacher, the children took to music under the guidance of their mother. Nicole who plays the piano has nurtured their talents and this was evident during the show on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the family gave a soul-rending performance wherein Gerald accompanied the children on the drums and Nicole on the keyboard.
Begun with a violin solo by the younger most Marie who played the ‘A string song’, Christine played the ‘Hunters Chorus’, Daniel, ‘the Puppet’ and Michael – ‘Humour.’
The Waltz medley played in unison was joined by the crowd with their voices. There was a duet by Gerard’s uncle Frank Lobo and Nicole’s father Gerald.
Melita Pinto of Miss Daijiworld fame compering the show
Gitanjali, which completed 17 years of service to society through the Mangalore Musical and Cultural Association and Academy of Musical Sciences.