Subramanium, Kazakh orchestra captivate Dhaka audience
Dhaka audience had an unique music experience on Tuesday at the open air Bengal Classical Music Festival as the legendary Indian classical violinist L Subramaniam performed with Astana Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra, a reputed Kazakhstan-based music company.
L Subramaniam, a forerunner of the South Indian classical Carnatic music with experiences of playing and composing western classic music, presented Shantipriya, his own composition, with the Astana Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra.
The piece, as the title of composition suggests, was soft, soothing and evoked a sense of peace and calmness on the minds of hundreds of audience present at the show.
The violinist, however, opened the five-day classical fiesta with presentation of raga abhogi, which he said, combines North Indian and South Indian classical styles.
The viloin maestro was accompanied by Tonmoy Sen on tabla, Satya Sai on morsing and Sri Ramamurti on mridangam.
Artistes of Astana Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra also presented around ten sonatas composed by Kazakh and western composers like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and others to the delight of the audience.
‘It was a nice experience to listen to such a beautiful orchestra and to the legendary violinist’, said Joyanta Kumar Saha, a classical music lover.
The five-day Bengal Classical Music Festival, one of the biggest music festivals in the world, has been organised by Bengal Foundation at Abahani Limited’s playground in Dhanmondi. It will feature around 250 classical artistes.
The sixth edition of the festival was inaugurated by finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, in presence of cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor, Bengal Foundation chairman Abul Khair and professor emeritus Dr Anisuzzaman.
The festival has been dedicated to Dr Anisuzzaman.
The opening night also featured enthralling performances by Rajrupa Chowdhury on sarod and khayal by Vidushi Padma Talwalkar.
Local sitarist Firoz Khan and singer Supriya Das, a student of Bengal Parampara Sangeetalay, earned acclaim for their performances.
Duet performance by flautist Rakesh Chaurasia and sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee ended the first night.
For the first time, the festival has been organised at Abahani grounds, while organiser Bengal Foundation has been organising the festival since 2012 at Army Stadium.
The next four days of the festival will feature acclaimed Indian classical musicians and instrumentalists like vocalist Pandit Joshraj, vina player Vishwamohan Bhatta, violinist Kala Ramnath, ghatam player Vikku Vinayakram, vocalist Pandit Ajoy Chakrobarty, vocalist ustad Rashid Khan and flutist pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.
In addition, Indian classical dancer Sujata Mahapatra and Indian troupe Aditi Mangal Das Dance Company will present Oddisi and Kathak dance respectively in the festival.
Five Bangladeshi dancers, including, Sweety Das, Amit Chowdhury, Snata Shaheer, Sudensna Shyamprova and Mehraj Haque Tushar will perform at the event. Local flutist Gazi Abdul Hakim will entertained the audience with solo performance.
Moreover, students of Government Music College and Bengal Parampara Sangeetalay will also perform at the festival.