This year’s education programme will extend to the Centre for Autism India in Kerala
As part of the upcoming ‘Australia Fest’ – a festival of Australian culture and creativity across India, beginning this September – the Australian World Orchestra reunites for its second tour to India in September 2018. Led by Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Alexander Briger AO, the tour sees the Australian World Orchestra return to Chennai and Mumbai, and the first performance in Kerala of a western symphony orchestra, managed by Impresario Events, and taking place in a unique concert venue within the sumptuous surrounds of the newly opened Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty.
The programme, including operatic and symphonic works by Mozart, Bizet and Beethoven, will be performed by 52 of Australia’s finest musicians from the world’s leading orchestras including the Vienna and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, the Antwerp and London Symphony Orchestras, and musicians from the Australian state orchestras.
A special highlight of the concerts will be a solo performance from the outstanding violinist Daniel Dodds (Artistic Director of Festival Strings Lucerne) of the virtuosic Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens performed on his 1717 Stradivarius violin. The Australian World Orchestra is also delighted to announce mezzo-soprano Caroline Meng as guest soloist in Cochin and Mumbai where she will perfom 3 famous arias from Bizet’s opera, Carmen. The Paris based Meng is acclaimed for her versatility across a variety of musical styles ranging from opera to recital and scared concerts.
The extraordinary undertaking of this tour continues to deepen the bilateral ties between India and Australia in the cultural sphere and build on the people-to- people links that are vital to promoting mutual understanding and respect between the two countries. ‘Australia Fest’ celebrates and showcases the focus by Australia on India following the visit of Prime Minister Turnbull to India last year. The Australian World Orchestra is also thrilled to continue its association with the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, which commenced with the orchestra’s tour with Maestro Zubin Mehta in 2015, to deliver workshops and outreach music education programmes in Mumbai. This year’s education programme will extend to the Centre for Autism India in Kerala, where the AWO education team will travel to Tiruvalla to conduct workshops and performances with the children and their teachers to enhance the experiences and opportunities for these children. All proceeds from the Cochin concert will go to Centre for Autism India.
The AWO Academy provides an early career professional Australian musician the opportunity to tour with the AWO and work side by side with world-class musicians from the AWO. The AWO Academy player for the tour is violinist Sagar Nagaraj formerly of the Sydney Youth Orchestra, now with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra.
