'Georgie' known for selflessness

Graduate student Sarah Jensvold Slover knew few people when she first came to Bloomington to study voice in 2003. When her birthday rolled around that year, she was astounded to find a gift bag stuck to her door. It was a votive candle holder from graduate student Georgina H. Joshi.\n"It was very touching because nobody else even knew," Slover said of her birthday. "Somehow she remembered."\nJoshi, 24, of South Bend, died late Thursday night in a plane crash.\n"Georgie" to her friends, Joshi's entire character can be illustrated by her demonstration of thoughtfulness to Slover. Joshi -- licensed pilot, talented soprano and friend to hundreds in IU's Jacobs School of Music -- was piloting the airplane when it crashed. She is remembered as a gentle, selfless soul by her peers.\n"We were trying to remember instances where she was mean or got angry," said Jennifer Feinstein. "None came up." \nJoshi learned to fly airplanes from her father.\n"She really was a fantastic pilot," said a friend and colleague of Joshi, graduate student Jamie Barton, who had flown with Joshi just a week and a half ago to an Indianapolis restaurant. "She was very, very careful when flying. She took us around the plane and showed us how she checked (it) every time before she got on."\nBarton said there were times when Joshi flew her plane three times a week. \n"Just to take it out to the air field," she said. "It was more of a hobby than a career interest."\nJoshi's career interest resided in vocal music, a field in which her peers say she was tremendously talented.\n"Her voice was perfect for Mozart," Feinstein said. "Clear as a bell. Clear and bright." \nFeinstein said Joshi preferred pieces by Mozart, Bach and other early musicians. Gelfand called Joshi's musicality an "academic pursuit," explaining that she would involve herself in conducting and composition projects in addition to the IU Opera Theater.\n"She would take the smallest part," Gelfand said. "She was just thrilled whenever she could sing."\nDistinguished professor of music Alan Bennett worked closely with Joshi in her voice education. Bennett said none of Joshi's many performances at IU particularly stand out, because "everything she did was exceptional."\nBennett remembers Joshi's audition to the music school three years ago, which she entered after completing her undergraduate studies of voice at the Royal College of Music in London.\n"It was immediately apparent that we would work well together," he said after observing her personality, musicianship and eagerness to learn. \nBennett said Joshi's broad-mindedness when it came to performance was remarkable, as she sought a career that combined concert work -- recitals and singing with an orchestra -- with opera.\n"She was able to learn music quickly and to internalize it and perform it as if it was written for her," he said.\nIt was Joshi's character, though, that made her musicianship so effective, Bennett said.\n"The thing about her singing which made her special was the warmth of her personality and her generosity," he said. "Her musicianship, of course, was absolutely top-rate."\nBennett said he was both Joshi's teacher and student. \n"Every time I saw and worked with her in lesson, I felt that I had learned as much or received as much from her as I was able to give her," he said.\nJoshi's beauty was apparent in all aspects of her life, and both her peers and Bennett emphasized her willingness to be involved and assist others to succeed.\n"It was self-defeating to tell her how great she was," Feinstein said, adding how Joshi turned around compliments she received so they flattered everyone else.\nFeinstein also noted Joshi's personal style. \n"She was always wearing really cool scarves and pieces of jewelry," she said, adding Joshi's headshot especially reflects her style and consciousness to aesthetics. \nGelfand said Joshi loved crepes and hot tea and that, while celebrating at bars after performances, Joshi would typically request hot water with lemon.\n"And if we managed to convince her to drink, and it took a lot, she'd order a shot of vodka and sip it like cognac," Gelfand said with a laugh.\nFeinstein said Joshi's mild British accent, which she obtained from her mother, who is British, and her undergraduate study in London, was poked fun at by her friends. \n"Every now and again a word would come up," Feinstein said, pointing out her pronunciation of "can't" as "kahnt."\nJoshi's humor and talent was demonstrated on stage as her role as an evil stepsister, Clorinda, in IU Opera Theater's "La Cenerentola" (Cinderella) in November 2004, Feinstein said.\n"She is the diametric opposite (of Clorinda) in every way," Gelfand said.\nOther notable performances by Joshi include the Beaumaris Festival with the Welsh Chamber Orchestra conducted by Anthony Hose, the role of Harlot in Handel's "Solomon" conducted by William Jon Gray, Despina, the maid, in IU Opera Theater's "Cosí fan tutte" and the Carmel Bach Festival, conducted by Gray.\n"It is not enough to say that she was always a good student and prepared," he said. "It was way past that. Her standards were the highest possible."\nHer peers and colleagues knew it.\n"Georgie, with her intellect and personality and work ethic," Gelfand reflected, "She could have done anything in the world"