Symphony Orchestra of India

Alpesh Chauhan conductor

Zakir Hussain tabla

Niladri Kumar sitar

Rakesh Chaurasia bansuri

Strauss Rosenkavalier Suite

Hussain Triple Concerto

Stravinsky Petrushka (1947)

Representing an entire country and a population of 1.4 billion, India’s first and only professional symphony orchestra chose Symphony Hall as the launchpad for its first, highly successful, UK tour in 2019. Birmingham’s own Alpesh Chauhan guest conducts the orchestra in its return visit. His meteoric rise now sees him as Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company, Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and a regular at the helm of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

From the whooping horns of the opening, to the rapt intensity of the ‘Presentation of the Rose’ and the final rousing waltz, Strauss’s Rosenkavalier Suite shows off the orchestra in glorious technicolour. Petrushka is also an orchestral showcase as Stravinsky magically portrays the puppet characters in tales of servitude, love, jealousy and murder through music with a sinister undercurrent. This was one of the major works for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes that made Stravinsky’s name.

Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain has appeared many times at Symphony Hall and was soloist in his own tabla concerto, Peshkar, with the orchestra in 2019. Creating a fusion of Indian and Western classical music traditions, he uses the solo instruments and orchestra to the full, in a way that makes this combination seem the most natural thing in the world.