Western Music
Mumbai has had a long standing tradition of welcoming western classical music to its shores. Over many years, visiting artists of international stature have made Mumbai their musical destination in India, creating a large and growing enthusiasm for all forms of western music.
With its acoustically superb and technically well equipped range of auditoriums, the NCPA has always been an important platform for promoting music in Mumbai, and in the recent decade has hosted a wide range of concerts. Since 2006, the Centre has also been the home of India’s first fully professional orchestra – the Symphony Orchestra of India
Annual Concert Seasons
Collaborative relationships exist with several groups offering world class music to the NCPA’s patrons in Mumbai. Ongoing activities include annual offerings of two symphonic seasons, two series of chamber music, numerous solo recitals and a focus on education and audience development initiatives.
Education & Audience Development
The NCPA’s initiative to teach young children the Suzuki Method of violin playing involves a rapidly growing number of students. In addition, the Centre is active in creating awareness and appreciation for western classical music with lectures, workshops and the promotion of exceptional talent.
Affiliations
The NCPA welcomes a range of ongoing relationships with international agencies such as the Goethe-Institut, Mumbai, and maintains close ties with several consulates as well as with the Indian Council for Cultural Relation in the promotion of western classical music.
The NCPA’s current concert season includes the following regular platforms:
Symphony Orchestra of India
In August 2006, the National Centre for the Performing Arts formed The Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI), the country’s first fully professional symphony orchestra, offering two seasons of western classical music concerts each year, in September and February, in Mumbai. The 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, the SOI has now become India’s foremost western classical music ensemble. Players are recruited from an international field, but the orchestra places a great emphasis on developing musical potential within India itself. To date, there are 11 Indian players (Indian musicians and persons of Indian origin) representing the finest local talent and providing a solid foundation for the future of orchestral playing in this country. The SOI also has teachers in residence who train and nurture young talent. More
Arties Chamber Music Festival
Inaugurated in March 2008, the Arties Festival takes place every March and November as a result of a collaboration between the NCPA and Gauthier Herrmann to bring to Mumbai the finest Chamber Music played by the finest young musicians, who are handpicked for the festival. The musicians have three things in common: They can all compare with the finest in Europe, they are all ready to play for a good cause and they have an uncompromising love for India. Gauthier Hermann has been at the helm of the Arties festival for the past four years and has brought several Chamber music artistes to India in eight editions of the bi-yearly festival. He is also the cellist of the prize-winning Trio con Fuoco. Click here to see the March 2012 programme.
Western Music Advisory Committee
