Alliance Française of Hyderabad 'Ananta Opus 195' Press Meet

ANANTA OPUS 195
Concerto for sarod, symphonic and electronic orchestra with sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, the Avignon Provence Symphonic Orchestra along with the Kords Collective with Samuel Jean and Pierre Thilloy

« Connecting the fundamental principles of two musical cultures: sharing heritage, exploring horizons »

The concerto for sarod, symphonic and electronic orchestra is an original and harmonious work born from the meeting of different musical cultures. Written by Pierre Thilloy and performed by sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan with the Avignon Provence Symphonic Orchestra and the Kords Collective, the creation is directed by Samuel Jean.

As much as he is hailed as a “musician of the world”, Pierre Thilloy is not an explorer of music; irrespective of his multiple experiences, he creates original works accessible to all. Pierre Thilloy began his musical study at the Conservatory of Nancy followed by the Conservatory in Luxembourg and later in Austria at the Mozarteum of Salzbourg. A prolific composer, Pierre’s official catalogue comprises of more than 180 compositions including symphonies, concertos, chamber music, symphonic poems, mass, oratorios and even the accompanying score for silent films. His interaction with the cultures of the world began in Africa and took him to Central Asia especially, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan and then India in 2010. Here he had his first taste of a vast and ancient musical tradition with divine origins and a metaphysical quality. During his Indian visit he met with the grand maître of the sarod, Amjad Ali Khan and from this meeting was born a project of writing a concerto based on an Indian raga - founded on the fundamental principles of Indian music as well as the execution of a raga.

Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan is one of the greatest masters of the sarod. Taught by his father Haafiz Ali Khan, Amjad Ali Khan was born to the illustrious Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of music. Today he shoulders the sixth generation of inheritance in this legendary lineage. He developed a unique style of playing the sarod and gave it a new and yet timeless interpretation. He has performed in different parts of the world, is the recipient of many awards and honours and continues to be one of the busiest classical musicians in India today. In his case, the term 'beauty of the Ragas' acquires a special meaning as he has to his credit the distinction of having created many new Ragas. Khan Saheb will be accompanied by his sons Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, both well known names on the music scene and the seventh generation of musicians in the family. The New York Times refers to Amaan and Ayaan as, “excellent musicians, who play with power and precision and can light up an audience with fast passages".

Founded at the end of the 18th century, the Avignon Provence Symphonic Orchestra is one of those orchestras which, for many years, have structured musical life in France and undertaken public service missions. With its 200-year existence, it has become a truly unmissable cultural showcase for the city of Avignon, the Grand Avignon area, the Vaucluse and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.
Thanks to its successive musical directors, the Avignon Provence Symphonic Orchestra offers a profound musical intelligence and a rare flexibility in its approach to works, irrespective of their period or their style. Under the leadership of Philippe Grison, its Managing Director, the Orchestra is now spreading its reputation throughout the region, France and internationally. The main mission of the Avignon Provence Symphonic Orchestra is to produce and to broadcast symphonic and operatic works and to take part in awareness and audience development campaigns in Avignon and its surroundings. It is supported by all the local and regional authorities including the Ministry of Culture and Communication - DRAC PACA. Samuel Jean its Principal Guest Conductor.

PROGRAMME
Gabriel Fauré: Pavane
Amjad Ali Khan: Kirvani
Pierre Thilloy: Le Songe d’Ananta, world creation for sarod, symphonic and electronic orchestra
Direction: Samuel JEAN

With Amaan Ali Khan & Ayaan Ali Khan
Kords Collective- François Guillou, Vincent Guillou, Stéphane Escoms
And the musicians of the Avignon Provence Symphonic Orchestra

CALENDAR
26th February, 7 pm
Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi

1st March, 7 pm
Shilpa Kala Vedika, Hyderabad

3rd March, 7 pm
Gujarat University Convention Hall, Ahmedabad

5th March, 7 pm
Sri Shanmukhananda Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Auditorium, Mumbai

BIODATAS

Samuel Jean
Principal Guest Conductor, Avignon Provence Symphonic Orchestra

After studying piano and accompaniment at Boulogne-Billancourt Regional National Conservatory then at the Higher National Music Conservatory in Paris under Serge Zapolsky, Samuel Jean started his career as head of singing, choirmaster and assistant in several Opera houses. In the symphonic field, he has conducted the Radio-France Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ile de France National Orchestra, the Montpellier National Orchestra, the Paris Orchestral Ensemble, the Rouen Opera Orchestra, the Avignon Provence Regional Operatic Orchestra, and the Marseille Opera Orchestra. Recognised for his musical eclecticism, Samuel Jean has collaborated with jazzmen such as Laurent Dehors or Jean-Luc Fillon, pop stars such as Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) as well as for first productions of numerous contemporary symphonic and operatic works. As a pianist, together with soprano Sabine Revault d’Allones, he recorded a CD devoted to Massenet on the Timpani label, which has been unanimously acclaimed by critics and for which the Lyrical Disc Academy awarded him the Golden Orpheus for Best Accompanist. Since 2005, Samuel Jean has been Professor of vocal ensembles at the Higher National Music Conservatory in Paris. He was also Musical Director of the Pierres Lyriques festival at Béarn des Gaves. In November 2012, Samuel Jean was appointed Principal Guest Conductor at the Avignon-Provence Regional Operatic Orchestra. He has recently recorded the first worldwide recording of Peter Pan composed by Olivier Penard, which was released in November 2012 in the form of a book-CD and the Miracle Doctor by Bizet, which is scheduled for release in February 2013.

Sarod Maestro Amjad Ali Khan

He was all of 6 years old when Amjad Ali Khan gave his first recital of sarod. It was the beginning of yet another glorious chapter in the history of Indian classical music.

Taught by his father Haafiz Ali Khan Amjad Ali Khan was born to the illustrious Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of music. After his debut, the career graph of this musical legend took the speed of light, and on its way the Indian classical music scene was witness to regular and scintillating bursts of Raga supernovas.

He has performed at the WOMAD Festival in Adelaide and New Plymouth, Edinburgh Music Festival, World Beat Festival in Brisbane, Taranaki in New Zealand, Summer Arts Festival in Seattle, BBC Proms, International Poets Festival in Rome, Shiraz Festival, UNESCO, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Adelaide Music Festival, 1200 Years celebration of Frankfurt WOMAD Rivermead Festival, UK, and ‘Schonbrunn’ in Vienna.

In the matter of awards, Amjad Ali Khan has the privilege of winning the kind of honours and citations at his relatively young age, which, for many other artistes would have taken a lifetime. He is a recipient of the UNESCO Award, Padma Vibhushan (Highest Indian civilian award), Unicef's National Ambassadorship, The Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum and Hon'ry Doctorates from the Universities of York in 1997, England, Delhi University in 1998, Rabindra Bharati University in 2007, Kolkata and the Vishva Bharti (Deshikottam) in Shantiniketan in 2001. He has represented India in the first World Arts Summit in Venice in 1991, received Hon'ry Citizenship to the States of Texas (1997), Massachusetts (1984), Tennessee (1997), the city of Atlanta, Georgia (2002), Albuquerque, NM (2007)and the Key of the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Fort Lauderdale, Miami. April 20th, 1984 was cleared as Amjad Ali Khan Day in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1995, Mr. Khan awarded the Gandhi UNESCO Medal in Paris for his composition Bapukauns. In 2003, the maestro received “Commander of the Order of Arts and letters” by the French Government and the Fukuoka Cultural grand prize in Japan in 2004.

His collaborations include a piece composed for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yoshikazu Fukumora titled Tribute to Hong Kong, duets with gutarist Charley Byrd, Violinist Igor Frolov, Suprano Glenda Simpson, Guitarist Alvaro Pierri, Guitarist Barry Mason, Cellist Claudio Bohorquez and UK Cellist Matthew Barley. He has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Yorkshire, Washington, Stony Brook, North Eastern and New Mexico. BBC Magazine had voted one of his recent CDs titled ‘Bhairav’ among the best 50 classical albums of the world for the year 1995. In 1994, his name was included biographically in "International Directory of distinguished Leadership", 5th edition. In 1999, Mr. Khan inaugurated the World Festival of Sacred Music with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In 1998, Khan composed the signature tune for the 48th International Film Festival.

In 2009, Mr. Khan presented his Sarod concerto Samagam with the Taipei Chinese Orchestra. The same year Amjad Ali Khan was nominated for a Grammy award in the best traditional world music album category. Khan has been nominated for the album 'Ancient Sounds', a joint-venture with Iraqi oud soloist Rahim Alhaj. Recently, the Khans collaborated with American Folk artist Carrie Newcomer at Lotus Arts Festival in Bloomington. On the ninth anniversary of 9/11, Amjad Ali Khan gave a Peace Concert at the United Nations in New York in the presence of the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon.

Two books have been written on him. The first is titled, ‘The world of Amjad Ali Khan’ by UBS Publishers in 1995 and the second, ‘Abba-God’s Greatest Gift to us’ by his sons, Amaan and Ayaan published by Roli Books-Lustre Publications in 2002. A documentary on Mr. Khan called ‘Strings for Freedom’ won the Bengal Film Journalist Association Award and was also screened at the Ankara Film Festival in 1996.

In 2007, Mr. Khan featured in the Southbank Centre’s recently launched the Royal Festival Hall hoardings project ‘Rankin’s Front Row’, where his photograph is included in the frieze that will run the length of the river façade of the Royal Festival Hall. Khan performed at the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament on the commemoration of India's 60th year of Independence in 2007. His concerto for Sarod and orchestra, Samaagam, the result of an extraordinary collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, is the latest embodiment of his unique ability to give new form to the purity and discipline of the Indian classical music tradition.

Other highlights include recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Recently, he was awarded the Fellowship of the Sangeet Natak Academy. In spring this year Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan brought his teaching philosophy to Stanford University this year in a residency titled Indian Classical Music: A Way of Life. As a finale to the Maestro residency, Amjad Ali Khan performed with Maestro Jindong Cai and the Stanford Philharmonia at the Mozart and More Festival.

As a soul, so in his heart, he is a man who has proven his indomitable belief in the integration of two of life's greatest forces, love and music. He is a living example of a man who practices that integration each day of his life, both on stage and off stage.

Amaan Ali Khan

Amaan Ali Khan, is the eldest son and disciple of the Sarod Maestro Amjad Ali Khan and grandson of Haafiz Ali Khan. Initiated into the fine art of Sarod playing at a very tender age, he began his public performances as early as eight. Accompanying his father to various music festivals in India and abroad, he has today, carved out a niche for himself. His precision in tunefulness and his bold and resonant strokes are all pointers to importance of tradition and continuity in Indian Classical Music. Amaan is one of the most loved artists of India today and has performed in most of the mainstream Music Festivals of India, in India and abroad.

In 2005 Amaan composed for the music for the film American Daylight by academy award winner Rodger Christian. The spring of 2005 saw collaboration at the Savannah Music Festival in Georgia with the Derek Trucks Band. The same year, he featured with his father in Real World Record’s much-acclaimed album Moksha in May 2005. In July 2006 Amaan collaborated with Evelyn Glennie at Queen Elisabeth Hall at the Rhythm Sticks Festival and also appeared at the WOMAD Rivermead Festival. His electronica lounge albums titled Reincarnation (2005) and ‘Truth’ (2006) won him critical acclaim. In 2009, he played at the United Nations in New York in presence of Ban Ki Moon to commemorate the Ode to Peace Concert along with his Father. In April 2011, Amaan collaborated with American Folk artist Carrie Newcomer at Lotus Arts Festival in Bloomington along with his father and brother and also performed at The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. He performed recently at New York’s Metropolitan Museum and The Lensic in Santa Fe. The same year, his performance with his father recorded at Wigmore Hall released under the ‘live at Wigmore Hall’ series in UK. The latest album Rang - Colors of Sufism released in March features Amaan and Ayaan’s interpretations of traditional Qawwalis on the Sarod in 2012.

Amaan released his solo album titled ‘Amaan’, in 2002. From 2000 to 2001, Amaan hosted a music series on Zee TV called ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’, with his brother. In October 2002, he received Provogue Society’s Young Acheivers Award for performing Arts. A recipient of the MTV’s Lycra Award for the Most Stylish person in Music in 2006, he was honoured recently by the Mayor of the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma with the Keys to the City along with an Honorary Citizenship and the Bharat Shiromani Award for Instrumental music in 2007. He was also recently felicitated by the Swiss brand Raymond Weil for his achievements over the years at the launch of their new collection of timepieces titled Freelancer, in 2011.

In addition to playing the Sarod, Amaan co-authored a book with his brother, Ayaan titled ‘Abba-God’s greatest gift to us on his father’s life’ in November 2002. Roli Books, Lustre Publications published the book as a part of their ‘Family Pride’ series. In early 2010, he co-authored his second book with Ayaan called “50 Maestros 50 Recordings” for Harper Collins and also released an album called “The Music Room” and “Sarod Symphony” with his father and guru.

Ayaan Ali Khan

The younger son and disciple of the Sarod Titan Amjad Ali Khan, Ayaan stepped into the world of music and the Sarod, at a very early age, with confidence, clarity, consistency and technical mastery that he learnt at his father's knee. Ayaan has been performing concerts in India and world –wide, since he gave his solo debut at the age of eight. He has given many other solo performances and also assisted his illustrious father at concerts all over the world.

Ayaan has won the hearts of music lovers both in India and abroad. He made his UK debut in 1989 and US Debut in 1991 at the Asia Society in New York. From 1997 onwards Ayaan has performed regularly at the Carnegie Hall and Smithsonian in the US, Palais Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Chicago Symphony Center, ESPLANADE in Singapore, and Summer Arts Festival in Seattle, Edinburgh Music Festival and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Ayaan made his debut tour in Australia early this year. He has also played concerts at the WOMAD Festival in Adelaide and New Plymouth, World Beat Festival in Brisbane WOMAD Rivermead Festival in UK, and the Opera House in Sydney. Ayaan performed at St. James Palace in July 1997 for the Temenos Academy and has also collaborated with the noted Cellist Mathew Barley of UK at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002. In July 2002, Ayaan conducted a workshop for the National Youth Orchestra of UK with Matthew Barley which followed by a concert with the NYO. In 2000, Ayaan joined his father at the Dalai Lama’s Sacred Music Festival inauguration in New Delhi. Over the years Ayaan has been a regular performer at Konzerthaus in Vienna, - Symphony Hall in Birmingham, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Recital Hall, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Centre d`Art Contemporain, Geneva and the UN International Labour Organisation auditorium, Geneva.

In May 2003, Ayaan performed for Prince Charles his High Grove Estate for Temenos Academy. In 2005 he composed the music score for Roger Christian’s film “American Daylight”. In the following years Ayaan played at Symphony Hall in Fukuoka, New York’s Town Hall, Metropolitan Museum and Salisbury Festival in UK, among other venues across the world.

Pierre Thilloy

Born on September 30, 1970, Pierre Thilloy started studying music rather late, in 1990 in Nancy (composition and orchestration with Jean-Pierre Rivière and writing with Noël Lancien), then he went on to study composition and its techniques with professor Alexander Mullenbach at the Luxembourg Conservatorium and the National Academy of Mozarteum in Salzburg and musical aesthetics in the XX century with Mario di Bonaventura.

Soon, he began his international career with the first order for a large orchestra from Jacques Lacombes, Canadian conductor, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Arsenal – a magnificent concert hall designed by Ricardo Bofilli. On this occasion, his second symphony L’HOMME APOCALYPTIQUE appeared, written for two accordions and over one hundred musicians. Since then, his taste for large symphonic pieces has born. Nowadays, there are eight large-scaled symphonies, about twenty symphonic poems and one oratorio for three orchestras, three choirs and seven soloists.
Finalist in several international competitions (Queen Elizabeth in Brussels, Leonard Bernstein in Jerusalem, Ladislav Kubik in the United States), he also won the National General Musical Contest in 1990, the F.F.E.M. in 1997, and received the Second International Prize “Olivier Messiaen” of the Guardini Foundation in Berlin in 1998. On June 18, 2008, he received the Prize of the Hunting and Nature Foundation for his fanfare LA POLONAISE.

In April 2001, Pierre Thilloy became the only European laureate of the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation in New York with his fifth symphony L’ARCHE D’ALLIANCE and the fifth string quartet LAPSIT EXILLIS.

He received the Prize of the National Academy for Sciences, Arts and Humanities in Metz for the bulk of his works in 2002, the Silver Medal of the Academic Society for Arts, Sciences and Humanities in Paris for his musical repertoire in April 2005, and the Grand Prix of the Ausonius Academy for his secular oratorio MOZELLA.

He was a musician in residence at the Abbey of La Prée from 1999 to 2002, at the French Embassy in Baku (Azerbaijan) between 2003 and 2005 (the experience lived in this period is told in a 52-minute documentary called Pierre Thilloy, la Montagne de Feu for the series Musiques au Coeur by Eve Ruggirei, broadcasted on France 2 and Mezzo channels), in Uzbekistan from 2005 to 2008 and again in Baku since 2008.

Fascinated by all forms of artistic expression, he worked on numerous projects around the dance, modern circus, painting, food, wine, silent films and literature. For over ten years, his many trips around the world, especially in the Central Asia and the Middle East have enriched his language with different musical elements and have led to several cross-cultural collaborations making him a musician of the world.

At the moment, he is carrying on his composer’s work, dealing particularly with his symphonic work, string quartet, music for silent films, and especially opera that has fascinated him literally since he attended the staging of THE TURN OF THE SCREW by Britten in 2003. Since then, Pierre Thilloy has forever devoted himself to such an absolute genre.

After several operas “for children” (AMI ROMÉ in Aix-en-Provence, ordered by Michel Camatte, then LE CHEMIN DES ABEILLES at the Opera in Nice, ordered by the Caisse des Depots & Consignations, and OOPS! at the Opéra-Théâtre in Metz), he wrote his first opera HAMLET ou LE JOUR DES MEURTRES based on the libretto by Bernard-Marie Koltès, in March 2011. [“...this JOUR DES MEURTRES is a great experience, sometimes exciting, sometimes clumsy which follows you as a beautiful and poisonous nightmare”.]

Appointed professor of composition, orchestration and music for film at the National Conservatory of Nancy in September 2006, Pierre Thilloy has been sustained by the Dokhan Foundation since 2007 and by the Catherine Gide Foundation since 2009.

Nearly 200 of his works have already been played and interpreted throughout the world by the most famous conductors and soloists. All his works are subjects of orders from prestigious foundations and institutions.

He is a co-founder of the OVNI group and the KORDS project.

Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon Provence

Founded at the end of the 18th century, the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon Provence is one of those orchestras which, for many years, have structured musical life in France and undertaken public service missions. With its 200-year existence, it has become a truly unmissable cultural showcase for the city of Avignon, the Grand Avignon area, the Vaucluse and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

Like all other full-time orchestras in France, the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon Provence initially had a single sponsor (the City of Avignon). In 1982, it developed into a Regional Orchestra and, operating as an association, it has assumed a threefold mission:

In the pit at the Opéra d’Avignon, it takes part in all the operatic seasons of the Opéra–Théâtre d’Avignon. In Avignon and throughout the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, it performs a rich programme of concerts intended for all audiences, and especially aimed at the younger generations.

Additionally, the establishment of the New Audiences department in 2009 has already enabled 20,000 youngsters, from primary schoolchildren to university students, to attend the orchestra's concerts.

In each of these three missions, it performs the entire spectrum of orchestral music, from the baroque period to present day works, composed in particular by Pascal Dusapin, Marcel Landowski, György Ligeti, Toru Takemitsu and Eric Tanguy etc.

Thanks to its successive musical directors, the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon Provence offers a profound musical intelligence and a rare flexibility in its approach to works, irrespective of their period or their style.

In October 2010, the orchestra was invited to South Korea to perform at the Daejeon International Orchestra festival.

In February and March 2013 the orchestra travels to India for a tour organised by the Institut de France in the context of the Year of France in India.

With support from the City of Avignon, the Grand Avignon area community, the State (through the Ministry of Culture and Communication), the Vaucluse General Council and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council, the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon Provence provides its contribution to the region whose cultural heritage and musical background, both past and present, are among the richest in Europe.

Under the leadership of Philippe Grison, its General Director, the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon Provence is now spreading its reputation throughout the region, France and internationally.