In May this year, the NCPA posted a registration form online calling for auditions from musicians aged seven to 17. People responded from not just the far-flung suburbs of Mumbai, such as Ambarnath and Kalyan, but also from places like Indore. A total of 17 kids were selected after the auditions were completed. Songs were selected based on their preferences, and the children were then trained for a couple of months, learning how to improvise and add their own flavour to the tunes. Now, they are ready to perform those tracks on stage — with some doing so for the first time — for a property called The Wunderkinds.

An early start