From Berlin, with love

Violins, violas, violoncellos and clarinets will come together to charm you with their melody when the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Soloists will perform in the city, this Wednesday.

Presented by The Poona Music Society in association with the Goethe Institute (Max Mueller Bhavan, Pune), the concert will feature Henja Semmler and Christian Heubes on the violin, Delphine Tissot and Anna Puig Torn on the viola, Antoaneta Emanuilova on the violoncello and Olivier Patey on the clarinet.u00a0

While the six-person orchestra is on tour, they will be involved with educational outreach work. "We will be touring Panaji and Mumbai where we will contribute instrumental training of young instrumentalists at the Indo-German Confluence Festival at the Kala Academy," says Henja Semmler as she expresses her excitement about her first performance in India.u00a0

"We will be working with Joseph Walters, founder of the music education initiative Songbound, as we would visit two newly established music centres for needy children in Mumbai. We are planning to get the children to sing along with us and play some musical games as well," adds Semmler.u00a0

The musicians are also excited about collaborating with young Indian musicians and exploring the cities they are touring. "We love going to new places every time, making new friends and learning something new from there," says Delphine Tissot, who emphasises that this tour is all about presenting their music to a new audience and exchanging music and culture.

Olivier Patey, who has visited India in the past admits that he loves coming back to perform for Indian audiences.u00a0The musicians who perform chamber music have contributed their independent artistic ideas to the genre and given it a personal touch.u00a0

"Chamber music is synonymous with fine-tuned listening and communicating in a group of alert and independent musical personalities," describes Christian Heubes.u00a0"You don't need technical knowledge to enjoy Chamber music. It is a very soothing and relaxing genre of music, which is sure to enchant everyone who attends our concert," adds Heubes.u00a0

On the occasion of completing 60 years of Indo-German diplomatic relations, a 15-month collaborative celebration, titled Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities is slated to be held in India till January 2013. This concert is a part of the pre-celebrations.