Celebrating 10 years of music at the NCPA

The tenth season of the Symphony Orchestra of India has an eclectic menu for music lovers
The NCPA is in celebratory mode over the next couple of weeks, as it marks the tenth season of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) with works from composers ranging from Bizet to Brahms. There will also be Bollywood.
Over six concerts and 13 days, the SOI will have a chance to show off its dexterity and what it has achieved since its creation in 2006.Meanwhile, audiences will be treated to old favourites, including Rossini's William Tell Overture and Bizet's Carmen Suites 1 and 2, as well as pieces never played before in Mumbai, like Mahler's Symphony No 4 and Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2. Khushroo N Suntook, chairman, NCPA and founder, SOI, says: "Our members have a very varied taste and love all forms of art, so we have to have as varied a programme as possible."
Young musicians will also be participating in the celebrations-238 of them to be precise. These children, who have been learning violin by the Suzuki method as part of an initiative organized by the NCPA, will be filling the stage at the Tata Theatre on February 14. "Kids aged between four and seven will play little compositions for about five minutes," says Suntook. "It's great to give them exposure-they've just started so this encourages them to carry on playing." The children will then leave it to the big boys, world-renowned virtuoso Dmitry Sitkovetsky and the SOI's music director Marat Bisengaliev, who will play a mixed programme, including Mendelssohn's Octet in E flat major, op 20.
The tenth season of SOI is dedicated to NCPA's founder, Dr Jamshed Bhabha. It will be conducted by British-born Adrian Leaper and the orchestra's resident conductor Zane Dalal. Soloists include Hungarian-born pianist Marouan Benabdallah, Russian soprano Ekaterina Lekhina and pianist Mikhail Senovalov.
As an unusual overture to the season, SOI will play at the Western India Turf Club, accompanied for a song by Bollywood singer Kailash Kher. Suntook said, "When the chairman, Vivek Jain, suggested playing at the Turf Club, I said 'We don't play the races!'. But this will be a regular concert, which will widen our exposure to a different crowd."
February 14 to 26, 2011, at NCPA, and February 12 at the Western India Turf Club,