The Poona Music Society, since its inception over half a century ago, has actively promoted the musical arts in Pune, India. International musicians of repute, such as Wilhelm Kempff, Janos Starker, Igor Oistrakh, Lili Kraus, Josef Suk, Gaspar Casado, Paul Badura-Skoda and recently Alberto Lysy, Boris Berman, Eugene Fodor, Marat Bisengaliev and John Lenehan have performed under its auspices and it is among the most active concert presenters in India.
The Society which started in 1946 by a handful of music lovers from Poona, has grown to a strength of over 400 members today and has earned the place of being one of the most renowned in the country today.
The Poona Music Society is engaged in the promotion of western classical music, by organising concerts, video-screenings, workshops and masterclasses by visiting artistes and teachers. It also provides a stage for budding national and local talent by organising regular student concerts. The two immensely successful All-India Piano Festival / Competitions held in 1987 and 1990 drew overwhelming responses from young pianists across the country. In 2005 and 2007 the Society presented very successful All India Voice Festivals/Competitions with international juries.
The Poona Music Society was the only Music Society in India, to which the Indian Council for Cultural Relations had offered a host of international artistes, during the countrywide fortnight- long, India International Music Festival in March 1993.
In January 1995 the Society acquired a new Blüthner concert Grand Piano, at a high cost, money for which was collected through munificent donations of various music lovers and industrial houses in and around Pune. The piano was dedicated to the memory of the late Mr. S. L. Kirloskar, who was a great music lover, a staunch supporter and the President of the Society for decades. This piano was inaugurated at a special inaugural Concert in March 1995. It was necessary for the Society to procure this new piano, as the 1891 Steinway concert grand that the Society still posesses was wearing with age and use.
The Society is faced with ever increasing costs of inviting, hosting and presenting musicians in Pune. Yet, it is its endeavour to expand the range of concert performances and the audience base in Pune and India and bring western classical music to as many as possible.
The Poona Music Society is a non-profit cultural organisation and registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, to whom donations are exempt under Section 80-G of the Income Tax Act.
