With the increasing demand for quality music education in India, if someone is interested in western classical singing, but it did not know where to start, a quick search or mouth word would bring them to Situ Singh Buhler. While not much has been written on the Internet, one is found to be a pile of video, news articles, singing posts, reviews, and individual blog pages of installed Indian artists who quote him as his teacher. He must have been told that he was the best India, was selective, a difficult task master, extremely emotional and operated as a teacher. After working with him, many students became international performing art professionals, and others are among the famous singing coaches across Delhi and all over India today.
On meeting him, you will immediately be hit with his elegance and gentle nature. As you know him, you must have realized that he was equally a loving friend, a lifetime patron, and someone who believed in the good person who is within the universe. He had a permanent vision for independent artists in India to bring tangible changes at the public policy level.
From a demonstration by students of CITU Singh Buhler. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
I first heard of Situ when I was only nine years old. At that time, the conductor of my songs was his student. During vocal training, she will confirm with love, “This is what CITU has taught me …”. While I would not meet him for half a decade later, I was already influenced by a glimpse of his technique and his magnificent appearance. Losing it earlier this year has led to a gap in the hearts of those who praised and respected it. But his contribution to music education and performance art in India will be echoed for years to come. He is single-form responsible for opening avenues for many cultural exchange, providing young Indian talents opportunities to enter the first room.
Born in 1946, Situ was the second of the four children and was initially named Devika by her mother. His house was extremely music, with parents who loved western classical music and encouraged the art field in independent India as an active patron. His father, Amarjeet Singh, a Cambridge-educated scholar, was the founding member of the Delhi Music Society. During childhood, CITU’s house was filled with tune, from hymns to Bethoven. Music visitors from all over the world used to come to their homes in Delhi, and their interest was only attached to hearing. But as she often told me, her journey started with the Indian classical at a very young age. During the lessons, she would struggle to pay attention and often reprimanded by her teacher, who said that she did not have a gift. Her voice was considered unsuitable for classical music, and she became tired of training.
Many of his students have also become professional artists. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
At the age of 23, he discovered his love for western classical singing when he took a voice lesson under Margita Shak Collaruter at Max Muller Bhavan, Delhi. She was talented and took to this style of music without hesitation. His voice, as his teacher then said, was fully developed for operative training. The list of his performances spread holy music, German Lidar, Arius and English songs. He began performing in recitals in India, often through Max Muller Bhavan. It was here that she met a German diplomatic Jochim Buhler posted in India. He was a pianitist, a Bombay Chamber orchestra conductor and his accompaniment during recall. They fell in love, got married, played the role of diplomat’s wife.
SITU was determined, and her journey began when she traveled around the world with her husband, she continued her education in music, performed throughout Europe, America, Southeast Asia and Australia. He shared the feet with several Indian stallwarts singing with PT. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Sultan Khan, and PT. Hariprasad Chaurasia. He recalled a very young Anusa Shankar in his operative voice fear during a concert with PT. Shankar. He performed as a single artist for several global orchestra. In the house of his beautiful Panchsheel Park, there was a crowd with photographs in his mantelpiece. The display mentions in an old brochure that he was a leading moment in the Western classical scene of India, a single artist for the Parynoteo Chorus and the Bombay Chamber Orchestra.
CITU Singh Buhler provided opportunities to young Indian talents to enter this style. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
She moved back to India permanently in the 2000s and started her journey as an opera singer and vocal coach in Delhi, carrying years of experience under her belt. Through his effort, he set up the structure for the Neemrana Music Foundation, in which the late Francis Wakiziyarg from the Nemrana Group of Hotels. This brought the quality performance of opera to India, including the famous rendering of the magic flute, Banaras, Romeo and Juliet’s fakir and many others, which are loved and nourished by the Delhi audience. In 2016, he founded a group of Delhi’s Lirik Encycles, meeting his students, specializing in Broadway, Jazz and Opera. The group has organized several houseful shows under its protection, and the model of learning-to-demonstrations has helped many artists to establish a leg on stage. One of his students, Darwin Prakash has recently made history as the first Indian to compete in an international opera festival operia. Kanchana Jaishankar is preparing to perform with a contralto, Glindbourne Opera Festival. Ankur Dang has received a scholarship to study at the Royal Northern College of Music, United Kingdom, where he also premiered his first opera production as a dedication for Buholar. Many others such as Ashwati Parmeshwar, Nilima Buch, Sparsh Bajpai, Meera Arora, and Ridhman Dutta are taking baton for Western classical teaching in India.
Such movies Taare Zameen Par Speak about that a dedicated learner requires an equally dedicated teacher; The one who satisfies the student’s hunger to learn, who sees success in his victory. As artists, we cherish this relationship. For us, his family and his fans, he will live in each music note.
Published – 04 September, 2025 07:36 PM IST
