As the Symphony Orchestra of India turns 10, we take a nostalgia trip with founder Khushroo N Suntook
Symphony Orchestra
In 2006, while strolling along Jermyn Street in London, Khushroo N Suntook chanced upon a performance at the local church, St James’ Piccadilly. It was led by Marat Bisengaliev, a violin virtuoso and his ensemble of 20 Kazakh musicians. “Bisengaliev was almost like the Shah Rukh Khan of western classical music with a massive following. His performance was so good that I decided to go approach him. Tepidly, I went backstage and invited him to perform in India,” recalls the chairman of Mumbai’s NCPA (National Centre for Performing Arts). “Everybody thought I was half mad,” he adds with a laugh. Bisengaliev, too, was incredulous at first, but he gave in eventually.
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Ten years later, Bisengaliev continues to direct the Symphony Orchestra of India along with its founder, Suntook. In the decade since its founding, the SOI has performed with world-renowned conductors and soloists, including Charles Dutoit, Augustin Dumay, Maria João Pires, and Zakir Hussain, amongst several others, and has also presented several fully-staged operas in Mumbai. “My idea was to provide a platform of excellence for Indian players to perform at an international level,” he says. Today, the orchestra has around 34 resident musicians.
To celebrate its anniversary, Suntook has organised a slew of performances starting September. It begins on September 12 with a concert led by British conductor Martyn Brabbins, who marks his debut in India. A winner of the Leeds Conductors’ Competition, Brabbins has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and at La Scala in Milan. It will also feature the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 with rising-star Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti. “I’m thrilled about Brabbins’ performance featuring The Planets, a seven-movement work by English composer Gustav Holst, with each movement based on one of the planets.”
Suntook says the journey hasn’t been easy. “Getting musicians of high caliber from abroad is an expensive affair,” he says. Infact, some of the musicians that he had recruited in their team ten years ago continue to perform with them. “We just hope to continually evolve, and become a centre of musical excellence.”
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