"Nuit D’Amour (Night of love),” a concert in memory of Dr Khursheed Wadia, organized by her son Firdause, was a "celebration of her everlasting spirit,” he wrote in a note to Parsiana. Held at the Somaiya Centre for Lifelong Learning on May 18, 2019, the selection of the music varied from classical to contemporary and popular pieces, "some of which were very dear to (Khursheed) and some which she even sang,” stated Firdause. Khursheed sang alto with the Paranjoti Academy Choir for 12 years and the Don Bosco Choir for 14 years. She succumbed to cancer in December 2018.
(Top, from far l) Harin Amirthanathan on the piano, Farah Ghadiali, Firdause Wadia;
(above, from l) Wadia, Ghadiali, Johann Peiris, Amirthanathan; Kersi Gazdar: remembering
Dr Khursheed Wadia (below l) with music
On stage at the memorial concert witnessed by an audience of about 100 were Firdause (baritone), Farah Ghadiali (soprano), Johann Peiris (piano), Harin Amirthanathan and Kersi Gazdar (both tenor and piano).The first half of the program comprised classical music in Italian, German, French, Spanish and Latin, including Ave Maria, O Sole Mio and Papageno Papagena, "ending with her most favorite classical song, Barcarolle,” noted Firdause. The second half comprised popular songs from Broadway classics. The artistes paid tribute to the Sri Lanka terror attacks in April this year with Heal the World. (Peiris and Amirthanathan are Sri Lankans.)
"It was an honor to perform at the concert,” noted Ghadiali, in conversation with Parsiana on June 5. "The song selection was mainly done by Firdause with inputs from Khursheed’s sister Behroze Shroff and the artistes.” Ghadiali recalled the first time she met Khursheed when she was helping the B. P. Salon Orchestra and the soprano was invited to perform as a soloist with them. "I realized that she was not only lending a hand but organizing almost everything, liaising with musicians, the theater manager(s), government organizations, printers… Here was someone who put in her time, energy and resources to make the concerts a success…”
Khursheed excelled in both the sciences and the arts, wrote Firdause. She taught clinical chemistry and pathology at the Grant Medical College and at the same time was active in English and Parsi-Gujarati theater productions. A teenage model, sought out by then tsarinas of fashion Sylla and Nergish Spencer, Khursheed was active in organizing the Lovji Cama Elocution Competition in the 1960s and 1970s. As recalled Firdause, "She could quote Shakespeare and English poetry with as much ease as analyzing lab reports.”
Schoolmate and fellow chorister Mehroo Kotval recalled that Khursheed was known as Khorshed in school. She was "as pretty as a model but could hold her own as an office bearer from the Rose House in J. B. Petit school, while monitoring.”
"Looking back, the small things that she did, just being a wonderful selfless and open person made a big difference in the lives of the people who came in contact with her,” noted Ghadiali.