A record of sorts is being created in the celebrity concert season of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI). Into its sixth season at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, the concert opened with Karl Jenkins, one of UK?s most successful living composer, conducting the show. Incidentally, this was his Asian premier of Sarikiz, his new violin concerto, after its successful international premiere in New York in January 2009.
Two eminent Russian soloists have also performed for the first time in Mumbai ? pianist Ilya Itin (winner of the Leeds Piano Competition in 1996) and cellist Borislav Strulev. The SOI also saw the return of distinguished British maestro, Adrian Leaper, whose performances with the SOI last September drew rapturous responses from the audiences, the media and musicians alike.
The SOI is the country?s first fully professional symphony orchestra that offers a series of concerts at the NCPA, over the course of two seasons each year ? September and February. The orchestra has also begun to tour nationally and to take music into communities in order to enthuse new and young audiences around India.
Set up in 2006, the SOI came about as a result of an on-going collaboration between the NCPA and the internationally acclaimed Kazakh violinist, Marat Bisengaliev, who serves as the orchestra?s Music Director. Players are recruited from an international field, with a core of instrumentalists drawn from the West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra. Many of the principal players are also teachers, and the orchestra places a great emphasis on developing musical potential within India.
Speaking about the SOI, newly appointed Chairman NCPA and SOI, Khushroo N Suntook says, ?Our sixth celebrity concert is probably our most ambitious to date and we are featuring several challenging works including Richard Straus?s tone poem Don Juan, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, and the very beautiful Schelomo for cello and orchestra, which is probably being played for the first time in Mumbai. We are moving away from performing only standard repertoire to widen appeal to a larger audience as well as develop the orchestra?s skills.?
Besides the concert, the NCPA is honing young talent with 80 students in the age group of four to six, who learn the violin from Bisengaliev. ?This is an effort in outreach to the city which we hope will provide a wide base for future audiences at the SOI; and will provide a stream of talent that will eventually join our orchestra,? says Suntook.
?We would like corporates to sponsor our projects so that we can nurture budding talent in larger numbers. The advantage that Europe, UK or even China has over us is that they have a strong governmental support. People have begun to observe that the future of Western music lies in the East and we would India to be included in that list.?
NCPA, which has 6,000 hours of recorded music of Hindustani, Carnatic and Indian folk, is hoping to soon tie up a deal with a music company, after which CDs and digital music of their collection will be available to the public shortly.