Back on the 30th January 2014 I participated in a concert celebrating music from different cultures. It was part of the Celtic Connections series of concerts and we performed alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, students form the Chennai Conservatory and AR Rahman himself. I found some photographs taken by Saravanan Elayappan on his Facebook page and wanted to share them with you.
We had a great time with the students who came from the Chennai Conservatory who recently celebrated the Hindu festival Holi, the festival of colour which takes part in spring each year. You can read more about this festival on my blog friend Gaurab’s blog
In a reciprocal arrangement and as part of an Indian tour the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will visit Chennai on the Saturday 29th March 2014 to perform in a concert featuring 20 students from the RCS, violinist Nicola Benedetti and composer James MacMillan. Nicola Benedetti is an accomplished violinist who in 2012 won the Best Female Artist at the 2012 Classical BRIT Awards. James MacMillan is a Scottish composer whose music is said to combine “rhythmic excitement, raw emotional power and spiritual meditation”.
( update by the 25th March the event sold out )
Performing with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Chamber Choir at Paisley Abbey last night was a fabulous experience. The music was inspiring and the audience, who were magnificent, kept the energy of pieces flowing throughout the evening. The organ was a beautiful imposing instrument which created truly delicate phrases against powerful forte chordal passages. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and hope that those of you that were in the audience did so too.
You always look like you are so enjoying yourself in these pictures. That is awesome to be doing something you love to do. Keep it up.
Hi Don, It’s a fabulous feeling performing, I do love it. Will do.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Marvelous, !!!!!
Merci beaucoup!!
Best wishes
Charlotte 😉
Sounded exciting. I like the Paisley Abbey.
It was a brilliant venue, the sound travelled magnificently and was really easy to project the voice. Very excited to be part of such a lovely memorial service.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Music is your life 🙂
Hi Jimmy, music is a massive part of my life, I have to remember to make time to dance too lol 😉
All the best
Charlotte
Groovy! Do the high ceilings make the sound/vocals fill the space even more?
Brilliant acoustical space and it had similar intricate carving to the cathedral in Chester. The solos were fabulous and it was a very moving experience.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Awesome! I call ARR, the God of music and it must have been awesome performing in front of him.
It was a fantastic night Ramesh, the audience was simply magnificent.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Wonderful! Sounds like it was an amazing experience!
Two truly outstanding evenings, very different but both epic 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
It looks as though you had a wonderful time singing with A R Rahman, it must have been very enlightening to hear the two cultures coming together. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Gill you would have loved it, I wish you were a bit closer 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Whaaaa!! You perfomed with A.R. Rahman! I am huge fan of his and have seen him at the O2. That’s amazing!!! How do you like Indian music in general?
I’d love to perform in the O2, I bet his concert was amazing!!! In such a big venue his fans are fantastic. I used to love dancing to Indian music, I enjoy listening and the extravagance of Bollywood suits my personality but I’ve not tackled singing any, yet 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
Talented..blessed…
Thank you, you photograph a beautiful homeland 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
I feel honoured that you followed my blog! I have the utmost respect for classical music and singers. My mom used to play The Three Tenors when I was young, and I didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now. I like Andrea Bocelli and I love to listen to Enya (different genre, though).
I like this video I found:
Thanks Ellie, lovely video 😉 thank you for your visit and message.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Dear Charlotte, catching up on your posts. Love the Callas’ vignette. Also your lovely photos from your concert and spring outing. David says his father was in love with Callas. Dianne
Thanks Dianne, they say she wasn’t very lucky in love 🙁
Glad you enjoyed the pictures.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Pictures never truly do an event justice, but I think I have an idea of the energy and magic from those concerts, especially the last one. I’ve been to concerts in old cathedrals/abbeys, and the acoustics are phenomenal.
It was very uplifting whilst moving in memorial to the lost souls in World War One Stephanie.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Dear Charlotte, coming form the same part of the world as AR Rahman, I am a fan. Thanks for posting the pictures.
I loved meeting the students from Chennai and working with them.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte, the post is really colorful and vibrant in tune with the festival of Holi. The pictures of the concert looks great, I could actually feel the vibes here.Congrats for your successful concert 🙂 It would have been a great experience to perform alongside A.R.Rahman. 🙂 😀 Thanks for quoting my post 😉 🙂
Hi Gaurab I said at the time it was an Epic concert, the audience was so alive and responsive, you are so right about the vibes. You’re welcome I learn lots from your posts. Are you celebrating the Indian new year on Monday?
All the best
Charlotte
Thanks. No, I would be celebrating it on 14th April. There are few different new year’s day here. 🙂 😀
Hi Gaurab, I’m doing a post about the Indian New Year, please feel free to add to it as I’m very interested to learn about why there are several New Years in one Country 😉
Best wishes
Charlotte
AR rehman is a fabulous artist. I hope you had a great experience with him.
We had a fantastic time and the atmosphere in the concert hall during the performance was electric 🙂
Best wishes
Charlotte
Have you ever performed with any Pakistani Artist ? Have you heard any of them ?
Not yet but I love learning about music from all the different Countries, I recently took classes in Indonesian gamelan music which was fascinating. Do you have any you tube suggestions?
Best wishes
Charlotte