India’s first professional symphony orchestra is coming to Edinburgh next month.
Music lovers will be able to experience the finesse, the power and the iridescent colours of one of the world’s newest and most exciting orchestras at Edinburgh’s iconic Usher Hall.
Founded in 2006, the Symphony Orchestra of India brings together exceptional players from across the Subcontinent – a region with its own vibrant traditions of classical music – together with superb international musicians.
Based in Mumbai, it is India’s very first professional symphony orchestra, and has already worked extensively with some of the world’s most renowned soloists and conductors, touring to the best concert halls across the globe.
To begin, the Orchestra will take audiences into the fairy realm with the magical orchestral evocations of Weber’s Oberon Overture.
The composer’s final opera, it depicts the tale of Oberon, who quarrels with his wife Titania over whether men or women are faithful to their lovers. The pair can only be reconciled when a couple constant through misfortune can be found. The Overture is a musical standout of the work, with supernatural horns and strings transporting the listener into another realm.
The Orchestra’s co-founder and Music Director, Kazakh-born violinist Marat Bisengaliev, joins the players for one of the true wonders of the violin repertoire. Bruch’s soulful First Violin Concerto blends dazzling virtuosity with heartrending melody – it’s not hard to hear why it’s considered the world’s most adored violin concerto.
The iconic piece had drawn-out origins, with Bruch being consistently dissatisfied and modifying it “at least half a dozen times” over four years. It finally had its premiere in Bremen in 1968 with the great Joseph Joachim as the soloist, after Bruch sought his comments on the piece during the writing process.
Incisive British conductor Martyn Brabbins – Music Director of English National Opera – brings the concert to an electrifying climax with an exhilarating journey through the Arabian Nights – with tales of Sinbad’s adventures, swashbuckling heroes, tender young love and a cataclysmic shipwreck, all related in Rimsky-Korsakov’s sensuous Scheherazade.
The composer’s early life as a sailor surely played a role in the composition, with his own exploration of the Seven Seas and trips bound to the far east, where the tale of Scheherazade is set, giving Rimsky-Korsakov his own experiences to draw upon.
The Symphony Orchestra of India with Marat Bisengaliev is part of the Sunday Classics at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, starting at 3pm on Sunday 24 February 2019.
Tickets are available at www.usherhall.co.uk
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