Key Player

It’s not a name that’ll go unnoticed. Pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen,18,niece of novelist Salman Rushdie,will perform in Mumbai,the ancestral city of her family,next week. The London-based artiste says that the tag of being Rushdie’s niece lies lightly on her. “It’s not been my experience that people only identify me in relation to my uncle. In fact,his world and mine are quite different,” she adds. “At a personal level I’m really proud of him and I think he’s always been really proud of me too.”

In the 13 years that she’s been playing the piano,Momen has garnered many awards and accolades,including four years’ scholarships at all the leading London conservatoires — the Royal Academy,the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She opted to study at the latter and is in her third year there. Her playlist for Mumbai will include Debussy’s L’Isle joyeuse,Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata,and Chopin’s Ballade no. 2 and Sonata no. 3 in B minor.