Param Vir: AWAKENING Trailer. Theater Bonn, 2026
About Param Vir
An award-winning composer of opera and instrumental works, Param Vir’s music fuses Western tradition and Eastern aesthetics. Born in Delhi, he grew up in a household suffused with the sounds of Indian classical music. In 1983 he moved to England to pursue his studies with Peter Maxwell Davies at Dartington and later with Oliver Knussen at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has a particular affinity for dramatic genres and amongst his most performed works are the operatic double bill Snatched by the Gods and Broken Strings, commissioned by Henze for the Munich Biennale, and the full length opera Ion which premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival. Among his concert works, Horse Tooth White Rock, The Theatre of Magical Beings and Hayagriva each draw their inspiration from ancient mythologies, while the vast orchestral canvas of Between Earth and Sky evokes the disorientating beauty of the sculpture of Anish Kapoor. Recent works include a much-acclaimed BBC Proms commission Cave of Luminous Mind and Raga Fields for sarod and large ensemble commissioned and toured by BCMG, Fulcrum Point New Music Projects (Chicago) and Klangforum Wien (Vienna). NMC released a portrait CD ‘Wheeling Past the Stars’ in 2021 and his opera double bill was released on Metier in 2024 performed by London Sinfonietta and conducted by Markus Stenz. Theater Bonn premiered his and David Rudkin’s opera Awakening in March 2026.
About Param Vir
Delhi-born composer Param Vir is a leading figure in contemporary music. Based in London, his 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 recent seasons have seen the premieres of several major works, including a full-length opera Black Feather Rising, a choral work He Begins His Great Trance for the BBC Singers, A Spread of Dreams for the Orchestra of the Swan, two works for cellist Rohan de Saram and the hugely successful Raga Fields for three international contemporary ensembles.
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, The Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, Schoenberg Ensemble, Fulcrum Point (Chicago), Scottish Opera, Music Theatre Wales, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Ensemble Modern. Current commissions include a new work of music-theatre, a string quartet and a new Concerto for Indian soloist and orchestra.
