NCPA Mumbai Closes the Year With a Crescendo

Close on the heels of a memorable season and landmark debuts, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) welcomes the last quarter with fine performances, annual festivals and major collaborations, reaffirming its role as India’s premier home for the performing arts.  

By Aishwarya Bodke  

It has been a special year at the NCPA. This September, distinguished composer AR Rahman’s maiden performance at the NCPA, devoted to the musical traditions of Sufi music and qawwali at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, was one for the books. Furthermore, the 20th anniversary season of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) invited spectacular performances under distinguished conductors and sold-out concerts.  

Founded in 2006 by Chairman Khushroo N. Suntook and violinist and Artistic Director Marat Bisengaliev, the dream of a homegrown ensemble stands today as India’s first and only professional symphony orchestra, with an international presence and a growing role in nurturing the country’s next generation of musicians. This is not only a moment to look back on how far the orchestra has come, but also an opportunity to look ahead to collaborations that challenge boundaries and embrace new forms that bring together seemingly disparate worlds.  

Commissioned by the NCPA, ‘The Absence of PRESENCE’ is produced and presented by the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company and The Drishtikon Dance Foundation in collaboration with the Symphony Orchestra of India

The most ambitious of these is The Absence of PRESENCE, commissioned by the NCPA, produced and presented by the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company and The Drishtikon Dance Foundation, in collaboration with the SOI. The production—with renowned Kathak exponent Aditi Mangaldas’ choreography at the helm—brings together distinct artistic languages in a meeting of Kathak, Western classical music, Indian music and contemporary movement. The creative team boasts of an excellent crew, including composer, arranger and producer Rushil Ranjan, whose work has taken orchestral, Sufi and Indian classical traditions into new spaces.  

The work turns its gaze towards children caught in the shadows of war, childhoods that have been interrupted and lives that are too often reduced to statistics in the telling of conflict. It asks what remains when the ordinary joys of childhood disappear, while also holding space for resilience and hope. Artists have always had the ability to make the world see what we might otherwise look away from. For an institution like the NCPA, commissioning work that engages with the world around us is part of what it means to remain culturally present and to ensure that stories that demand to be heard are not allowed to disappear into silence.  

The Absence of PRESENCE

Mr Suntook notes, “A multi-genre collaboration of this kind is only possible at the NCPA. These are ambitious undertakings that take much planning—curatorial, financial and logistical—but are also deeply gratifying and set us apart.” 

A look at the upcoming calendar offers an exciting glimpse into the array of musical offerings in store for audiences.  

Roysten Abel’s Beat Route

NCPA’s flagship annual Indian music festival, Aadi Anant, returns this December with a glorious line-up. Spread across three months this time, the upcoming edition brings together some of the country’s most distinctive voices and musical journeys. The festival opens with a santoor recital by Rahul Sharma, followed by Roysten Abel’s Beat Route along with Ranjit Barot and their ensemble. The programme continues with The Violin Trio, featuring violin maestro Dr L. Subramaniam alongside Ambi Subramaniam and Mahati Subramaniam in a rare coming together of three generations of virtuosity. Concluding the series is Shankar Mahadevan’s Baithak to Bollywood, exploring the intimacy of the traditional baithak to the expansive soundscape of Indian cinema.  

Francesca Tandoi, Nicole Zuraitis, Antonio Sanchez and Thana Alexa (L-R)

November at the NCPA is synonymous with its International Jazz Festival, one of the most anticipated jazz events of the year. The festival opens with Italian pianist, singer and composer Francesca Tandoi, whose trio brings a blend of swing and contemporary jazz, followed by Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and pianist Nicole Zuraitis on day two, bringing a glimpse of New York’s jazz scene to Mumbai. Closing the festival is vocalist, composer and producer Thana Alexa, joined by four-time Grammy-winning drummer Antonio Sánchez. 

Theatre enthusiasts, too, have plenty to look forward to in November with the NCPA presenting META Festival 2026 for the second time. A selection of plays drawn from the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) will make their way to Mumbai. One of Indian theatre’s most respected recognitions, META celebrates the many facets of stagecraft. This year’s selection travels across India—from Kerala and West Bengal to Manipur and Madhya Pradesh—bringing with it a rich mix of languages, stories and theatrical traditions. 

Bruce Guthrie’s Death and the Maiden returns

Also returning to the stage this October is the NCPA production of Death and the Maiden, Ariel Dorfman’s gripping psychological thriller, directed by Bruce Guthrie, Head of Theatre and Film at the NCPA. Set in a country emerging from dictatorship, the play probes the uneasy territory between memory and truth, justice and vengeance, brought to life through performances by its stellar cast. The production also features musicians of the SOI, marking another rewarding collaboration.  

Several annual festivals bring specially curated experiences to audiences in the final months of the year. Among them is Nakshatra, the NCPA’s dance festival dedicated to group choreographies and the collaborative spirit of Indian classical dance. The festival creates a space for artistes to reimagine traditional forms through collective movement, choreography and contemporary perspectives. This year’s edition brings together stalwarts of Odissi, Kathak, Mohiniattam, Bharatanatyam and Sattriya, including Aruna Mohanty, Sharmila Biswas, Sandhya Purecha, Rajendra Gangani, Jayaprabha Menon and Ramkrishna Talukdar.  

Artistes have repeatedly acknowledged this dynamic vision and the NCPA’s role in cultivating discerning audiences who approach the arts with curiosity and an openness to engage deeply with different forms and traditions. The NCPA’s commitment to presenting audiences with a diverse range of musical voices is also reflected in One World Many Musics: Celebrating Artistic Plurality, which explores music as a bridge between cultures. The line-up features Grammy Award-winning flautist Rakesh Chaurasia leading an ensemble of accomplished instrumentalists including Gino Banks on drums, Ojas Adhiya on tabla, Sheldon D’Silva on bass guitar, among others. Also on the programme are singer-songwriter and composer duo Garvit Soni and Priyansh Srivastava, adding another contemporary dimension to the festival’s offerings.  

A wide spectrum of dance styles, alongside the classical repertoire, finds a stage at the NCPA. In December, the Pravaha Dance Festival takes centre stage, dedicated to presenting new creations and productions that have not previously been performed in Mumbai. The festival brings together established and emerging choreographers and dancers, offering audiences an opportunity to encounter varied movement vocabularies and fresh approaches to dance. The line-up spans a range of classical and contemporary dance presentations. 

The winter months also usher in the NCPA@thePark series. Conceived as a community initiative, it transforms parks and public spaces of the city into lively cultural venues, inviting audiences to experience the arts in an informal and intimate setting. Every weekend, a mix of music, dance, spoken word, and stand-up comedy awaits audiences under the open sky. The series brings the year to a close on a note that reflects the NCPA’s larger vision: taking the arts beyond the theatre and into the heart of the city, where they can be encountered, shared and enjoyed as part of everyday life.