NCPA Mumbai – A Year of Promise
With a safer environment to host performances, the NCPA, under the leadership of Chairman Mr. Khushroo N. Suntook, is all set to bring to its stages the culmination of two years of planning with promising seasons and festivities.
By Aishwarya Bodke
An unbridled echo of music, cheer and laughter has not come easy after what has been a tumultuous mayhem. A packed auditorium, a roaring audience and the rising curtains are more valuable now than ever, and we must nurture them. Since the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai re-opened in February this year, we have been able to present more than 125 shows for our lovely audience across different genres.
The NCPA@ThePark initiative was met with resounding success, and passion and will continue to bring the performing arts to the outdoors in various parts of the city. As part of their national tour in June, the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI), which was founded by Mr. Khushroo N. Suntook, Chairman, NCPA, and violin virtuoso Marat Bisengaliev, took not only their music to Chennai and Bengaluru but also included workshops, auditions and interaction with young audiences in their itinerary to make this and other upcoming tours a vehicle for sustained engagement with Western classical music that goes beyond performance.
The Shrutinandan NCPA Centre of Excellence in Music, supported by the Tata Group, was inaugurated in April. Spearheaded by renowned classical vocalist Ajoy Chakrabarty, the centre is committed to the perpetuation of Indian music with an aim to create exceptional performers in different genres. The Pratibimb Marathi Natya Utsav, which celebrates the rich tradition of theatre in the Indian state of Maharashtra, was relaunched in May. International Music concerts at the NCPA have been drawing capacity audiences, a recent success being the International Jazz Day celebration on 30 April.
“The last few months have been months of preparation for the busy seasons ahead. The management is back in force and the genres have started planning and presenting performances in all earnestness,” says Mr. Suntook.
There is much to look forward to this year at the NCPA with an exciting next quarter. It is a rather special year as we celebrate 75 years of India’s independence. Events celebrating the treasure of our diverse art forms are lined-up with legendary performers for an unforgettable experience.
Various presentations on the eve of Independence Day will culminate in the magnificent grand finale with Gulzar, the celebrated poet, writer, lyricist and filmmaker, and the renowned music composer Shantanu Moitra. Gulzar was born in the pre-independence India, at a place that is today in Pakistan, while Moitra represents the generation nurtured in the environment of post-independence India. With specially written works and original musical compositions, they will take us through the journey of 75 years of free India. An ensemble of vocalists and instrumentalists, including Papon, Ambi Subramaniam, Prateek Srivastava, Mehtab Ali Niazi, as well as the musicians of the SOI will join in to weave a magical night.
The celebration of 75 years of India’s independence will culminate in a grand finale featuring Gulzar (in pic), the celebrated poet, writer, lyricist and filmmaker, and Shantanu Moitra, renowned composer.
Come September and the NCPA will present the SOI Autumn 2022 Season, bringing to India a fully staged production of Johann Strauss II’s beloved operetta, Die Fledermaus, presented in collaboration with the Hungarian State Opera, with the SOI in the pit. The season will also feature internationally renowned artists, including pianists Pavel Kolesnikov, Benjamin Grosvenor and conductor Alpesh Chauhan. The season’s remarkable programme is the result of Mr. Suntook’s long-standing association with heads of opera houses and performing arts centres of repute around the world, artists and international consultants who have all come to appreciate and value the role the NCPA has played in nurturing the fine art form of Western classical music in India through the formation of the country’s first and only professional orchestra.
The SOI Autumn 2022 Season will bring to India a fully staged production of the operetta, Die Fledermaus, and feature renowned soloists and conductors.
NCPA Bandish: A Tribute to Legendary Indian Composers is a three-day festival showcasing compositions of composers who have been witness to both, pre-independence and post-independence eras in the history of India. The first day will offer performances by vocalists Rahul Deshpande and Ulhas Kashalkar. Bhakti Sangeet ki Indradhanushi Yatra: A Bouquet of Devotional Forms on the second day, will take the audience on a musical journey traversing various languages. The final day will be devoted to A Tribute to Salil Chowdhury through a composer’s eyes.
Mukta: The Voices of Women Today offers three days of musical presentations conceived, composed and led by prominent artists, which include Shubha Mudgal, Jayanthi Kumaresh, and Kaushiki Chakraborty, among others. The performances will encompass broad-ranging themes like female sexuality, beauty, societal norms and patriotism.
Mukta, The Voices of Women Today will offer musical presentations conceived, composed and led by prominent artistes, Shubha Mudgal, Jayanthi Kumaresh (in pic) and Kaushiki Chakraborty
The stunning Swiss singer and songwriter Veronica Fusaro will be live in concert at the NCPA to end the month of August with a bang. Fusaro has performed over 350 concerts worldwide, including Glastonbury, Eurosonic and the Winter Olympics. As a young musician pushing boundaries, her work is pure, powerful and intimate. Vocalist Holly Petrie will be performing at NCPA Legends, presenting some of the greatest pieces by world icons, complementing them with her extraordinarily versatile voice.
Well-known Swiss singer and songwriter Veronica Fusaro will be live in concert at the NCPA in August
After a hiatus of two years, the Wunderkinds are back with their melodic and toe-tapping music. As part of the NCPA Performance Series, The Wunderkinds will showcase talented young musicians, who will take the audience through a journey of different musical styles and vocalese, encompassing funk, R&B, Latin, pop, rock and jazz with an innovative twist.
A fine theatrical experience is also in store with Every Good Boy Deserves Favour by acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard. With music composed by conductor André Previn, it is a play with six actors and the SOI. Set in Soviet Russia, the play revolves around a man held captive in a mental asylum for speaking out against the government. He shares a cell with a disturbed schizophrenic who believes he has a symphony orchestra to conduct.
It will be a riveting quarter for dance enthusiasts at the NCPA. Navdhara India Dance Theatre and Club Guy & Roni, a dance company from the Netherlands, will be presenting The First Encounter, which discusses and explores the two cultures and points of view while embracing an artistic exchange. As a part of the August Dance Residency this year, the NCPA invites Kathak Kendra, a premier dance institution for the Indian classical dance form of Kathak, and a unit of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, from New Delhi. The workshops and performances include some of the finest choreographies of the legendary Birju Maharaj, along with some new choreographies. As part of the Independence Day festivities, the audience will witness a celebration with classical and folk dances of India as well. Journey of Footprints and Sanskriti Gatha will present a series of phenomenal performances by veteran and up-and-coming artists of Mumbai.