Toccata: Spreading the music of West End and Broadway
Dr. Sunil Paulraj knew he wanted to be a pediatrician. But he also loved his music, and cherished his involvement with choirs and his solo work as a tenor. Considering the fact that a solid formal training in Western Classical music was hard to come by in his home-country, India, in 2002 Paulraj decided to move to the U.K., where he knew he would be able to receive a thorough musical as well as pediatric training.
Music for all: Toccata artistes on tour
“I love music, and I love medicine as well, so it was the perfect combination,” he says. “I would come home from studying medicine and then practise my music!”
Little did he know that his commitment to fulfilling his personal desires would birth one of the biggest musical missions in the world.
Paulraj was training with Marie O’Sullivan, auditioning for major musical productions in and around London, and contributing to the healthcare sector as a neonatologist. Everything seemed perfect.
“And then [O’Sullivan] was diagnosed with cancer, and died very young. It left me in shock.”
Without a teacher, Paulraj had lost the perfect balance. But maybe by fate, he had already met Judith Sheridan, another well known and respected vocal trainer, and so he approached her about training. Paulraj remembers fondly, meeting with her after a hard day’s work at the intensive care unit, to get his singing perfected.
Dr. Sunil Paulraj
“She would be quite tired after a day’s teaching too, so sometimes we would go to the coffee shop across the street and have a meal together.”
During these meals, Paulraj would try to cajole Sheridan into performing in India. She, unfortunately, had no such interest. But in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, and a few glasses of wine, she gave in. The two musicians flew to India to perform for victims of the tsunami, and just like that, Toccata Musical Productions was born. Since then, the organisation has grown to include over a hundred professional musicians and receive recognition from the United Nations for their service to humanity.
Toccata now tours the world almost annually, taking a performance crew of over 70 members to many nations, putting on the full glamour of West End and Broadway shows in unlikely places. But they make no profit.
“We announce our tours on the TV and radio 16 to 18 months ahead of travel,” Paulraj explains. “Our young people work hard over the year, doing extra jobs, and save up to be a part of this group. We do look for sponsors, but we spend for ourselves.”
Toccata is proud of their banner, “musical productions for charitable causes”. Proceeds from their shows are dedicated to funding charities in the different nations they visit. From street children to healthcare, to the environment, Toccata is about getting the glitz and glam of the stage to fuel a healthier future. On Wednesday, August 12, even before the shows in Sri Lanka begin, the Trail Cancer Hospital will receive a major part of Toccata’s contribution to Sri Lankan healthcare in the form of much needed medical equipment.
But far from being the typically patronizing benefactor of a cause, Toccata is in fact about exchange. The new “medical wing” of the organisation, founded a few years after the establishment of the musical group, sends out practising doctors and nurses from Belfast around the globe on medical missions. They conduct teaching sessions and conferences and sometimes even spend time working at hospitals in other nations. The same mutual nurturing takes place on stage as in the hospital ward:
“We work with indigenous musicians to facilitate an interactive stage,” Paulraj says. “By that we enhance our own musical skills and also contribute towards the development of indigenous musicians, locally.”
Toccata’s commitment to make a change has propelled them, in a mere eight years, from being a simple collection of musicians to recognition as a global entity.
“Our profile has grown in leaps and bounds,” Paulraj says, “and people have begun to recognize the kind of music we do, and more importantly, the causes for which we work.”
With this magnified profile, Paulraj points out, Toccata has also received fame. More and more world-class musicians are becoming interested in taking part, making sure that their performance bar also just keeps rising.
“The kind of artists we are bringing to Sri Lanka next week are huge,” he enthuses. “We bring a very special brand of music with us, really popular, popular stuff specially arranged for Toccata…They will give you an absolutely heart-stopping cracker of a show!”
Come see your favorite Broadway and West End numbers performed by some of the leading artistes at “Best of West End and Broadway: hits from the musicals that we all know and love” or hear the radio hits at “Sounds of Nostalgia: Classic, Pop, Rock and Country HITS” and support a worthy cause.
| Some of the stars who will be here | |||
 Alison Arnopp |
 David Booth |
 Katie McHardy |
 Mary Loughran |