LATEST:
Param Vir gives an illustrated lecture on his music at WAIKATO UNIVERSITY, Hamilton New Zealand Wed. 16 June 2010 at 2 p.m. Room IG.09 Basement Music Lecture Room
TWO NEW WORKS:
ENCOUNTER: Darbar Chhayanat
East-West integrated work in association with the Darbar Festival, premiered on 1st April 2010 London
CONSTELLATIONS
Ensemble work for the BCMG premiered at the CBSO CENTRE Birmingham and BARBICAN CENTRE London- April 2010
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. . . beyond the reach of the world . . . for solo cello, inspired by the diary of Kim Malthe-Bruun. American Premiere by Rohan de Saram, 15 May 2010 Los Angeles
Param Vir gives an illustrated lecture on his music at WAIKATO UNIVERSITY, Hamilton New Zealand Wed. 16 June 2010 at 2 p.m. Room IG.09 Basement Music Lecture Room
ENCOUNTER: Darbar Chhayanat
East-West integrated work in association with the Darbar Festival, premiered on 1st April 2010 London
Ensemble work for the BCMG premiered at the CBSO CENTRE Birmingham and BARBICAN CENTRE London- April 2010
NEWS FLASH: Param Vir has been awarded the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship for a major 6-week arts residency in Italy during the summer of 2011
Vir's fourth opera - and other Video Interviews with artistes in the first production of BLACK FEATHER RISING
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Delhi-born composer Param Vir is a leading figure in contemporary music. Based in London, his compositional output encompasses works in several genres that include chamber music, symphonic works and opera / music-theatre. His works have been performed by major ensembles, orchestras and opera houses, and presented at several international festivals. He composes prolifically, and the last season alone has seen the premieres of three major works, including a full-length opera Black Feather Rising, a choral work He Begins His Great Trance for the BBC Singers and A Spread of Dreams for the Orchestra of the Swan. His work is inspired by varied sources drawn from world mythology, art and literature. Groups that have performed or given premieres of Vir’s works include The Netherlands Opera, London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, Schoenberg Ensemble, Fulcrum Point (Chicago), Scottish Opera, Music Theatre Wales and Ensemble Modern. Current commissions include a new work for the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. |
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Param Vir has also embarked on a major long-term initiative to integrate classical Indian music into mainstream contemporary music, and is currently developing collaborative work with prominent soloists of Indian classical music in association with Darbar, the Asian Arts Culture Heritage. |
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NEWS
. . . beyond the reach of the world . . . has an acclaimed AMERICAN PREMIERE in Los Angeles with Rohan de Saram:
"In between came Param Vir’s “… beyond the reach of the world …” This moving 16-minute solo, given a transcendent performance by de Saram, was inspired by 22-year-old Danish Resistance fighter Kim Malthe-Bruun, who was tortured and executed by the Nazis in 1945. Percussive effects suggested a clock ticking down, while ghostly figurations deepened this memorial to one person’s heroic and horrendous ordeal. Then, de Saram’s extraordinary dynamic control turned his cello into a whispering soul until only silence remained."
LOS ANGELES TIMES, MAY 16, 2010
WATCH THE TRAILER OF BLACK FEATHER RISING
FORTHCOMING PERFORMANCES:
TWO WORLD PREMIERES IN APRIL!
- Encounter: East-West World Premiere with Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Patricia Rozario, Dhruba Ghosh, Paul Silverthorne, Rohan de Saram and others engaging with a new composition by Param Vir DARBAR CHHAYANAT with settings integrating Indian Khayal singing and Coloratura for Soprano within Raag Chhayanat, 1st April 2010, Kings Centre, King's Cross. Darbar Chhayanat is a fluid, melismatic raga-based performance rich in counterpoint and texture, with a contemporary edge. Commissioned by DARBAR, Asian Arts Culture Heritage.
- CONSTELLATIONS World Premiere by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Sunday 18 April 2010 – Birmingham CBSO Centre (2 Concerts),
CONSTELLATIONS Saturday 24 April 2010 – Barbican Centre, London (2 Family Concerts) and
CONSTELLATIONS Friday 30 April 2010 – Birmingham (2 Schools Concerts) - . . . beyond the reach of the world . . . Rohan de Saram (solo cello), American Premiere, Herbert Zipper Concert Hall, Los Angeles - 15 May, 8 p.m.
- OTHER MAJOR RECENT PERFORMANCES:
- CLEAR LIGHT, MAGIC BODY performance by virtuoso guitarist Oren Fader, 6 February 2010 in Brooklyn.
- . . . beyond the reach of the world . . . new work for cello and percussion, Rohan and Suren de Saram at the Sound Festival, Aberdeen, 14 and 15 November 2009
- WHEELING PAST THE STARS, Song cycle - Romanian Premiere 7 August 2009, Icon Arts Cisnadie 2009 Muzica
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- ANGEL BLUE - Romanian Premiere 7 August 2009, Icon Arts Cisnadie 2009 Muzica
- Last two performances of the opera BLACK FEATHER RISING, Stichting Octopus, April 2009 in The Hague and Zwolle, the Netherlands
- HAYAGRIVA Chicago, with Fulcrum Point, conducted by Stephen Burns (USA Premiere) in January 2009
- BLACK FEATHER RISING - new work of Music-Theatre commissioned by Stichting Octopus, with dramatic poem by David Rudkin. 24 October 2008 World Premiere at De Toneelschuur - Haarlem (The Netherlands) followed by Autumn Tour (Europe)
- HAYAGRIVA - performance by Klangforum Wien in Berlin, 6 October 2008
- WHEELING PAST THE STARS, UK premiere, 3 July 2008 City of London Festival, Drapers' Hall, with Patricia Rozario and Rohan de Saram
- HE BEGINS HIS GREAT TRANCE world premiere of new choral version for the BBC Singers, St. Giles Cripplegate, 4 July 2008 City of London Festival
WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT:
WHERE MY HEART LISTS - Choral work on texts by Gerard Manley Hopkins, for female choir
AWAKENING - full length Opera in collaboration with dramatist David Rudkin