Saskia Rao de Haas is not only a performing artist, but is a respected scholar, musicologist and author as well. She authored six books on Indian music for children and since the last 25 years has written multiple articles on music in leading magazines in India, the US and the Netherlands. She has written for magazines such as Sruti Magazine, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, India Festival Netherlands and many other (online) publications. She has written the Indian Music History book for the conservatory of Rotterdam. Her books have been praised by educationalists, artists and critics alike.

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A selection of Published Works:

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Articles:

2000 Notatie in Indiase muziek, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Musicologie

2002 The Indian Cello, Sruti Magazine

1996- 2022 About music, music education and India, Various newspapers in the Netherlands and India 

2000-2022 About Indian music and the Indian Cello, India Festival Magazines across the world

2012- 2022 About the meaning of music, Indian music, Indian cello, Online magazines 

 

Books:

1996 Indian Music History, Rotterdam Conservatory 

2015 Dhwani, Sangeet4All

2016 Vadya, Sangeet4All

2017 Raga&Tala, Sangeet4All

2018 Desi, Sangeet4All

2019 Duniya, Sangeet4All

2022 Shastra, Sangeet4All

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Events as author and public speaker:

• Virasat seminar New Delhi 2024

• Performed her 'Sangeet Aur Katha'  at the Bangalore Literature Festival in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 and at the National Galler

• Released book Shāstra at Asia Society in New York and Houston during the Jaipur Literature Festivals

• Spoke at innumerable institutes and seminars on Indian music, composition and music education (US, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, France, UK, Reunion island)

 

Author statement:

The reason I started writing is to share my knowledge on how to engage the audience and especially children and youth with Classical music. Too often the perception is that classical music is ‘too difficult’, whereas usually it means that the way of presenting and teaching the music needs more attractive and engaging resources to communicate to audiences. If we open our ears, we can internalise the universal truths embedded in the soft whisper of classical music.