Ragaria with Patricia Rozario OBE, Baluji Shrivastav OBE, Oscar Castellino, Anusha Merrin-Bobby and Mark Troop. 

Part of the Summer Music Festival at Holy Sepulchre, the National Musicians’ Church, London EC1A 2FD. Wednesday 2nd August, 6.30pm

Ragaria explores the contemporary interactions between Opera and India. Raag is the Classical Indian music concept of melody and is the perspective of Indian maestro and composer Baluji Shrivastav OBE.

Three Arias from the world's first and only Urdu Opera 'Sohini and Mahival’, composed by Baluji together with Golden Globe Award winning film composer Dario Marianelli will be performed by Patricia Rozario OBE, Anusha Merrin Bobby and Oscar Castellino, all originally from India. Anusha will perform the Cricket Ghost Aria from award winning composer Johnathan Dove’s Adventures of Pinocchio. Oscar will be performing a reimagining of Rossini’s Figaro’s Aria from the Barber of Seville with tabla drum accompaniment by Baluji, who will also be performing on dilruba during the concert. Mark Troop will accompany the performances on piano.

‘‘exquisite singing of ethereal quality’’ Patricia Rozario OBE — The Sunday Business Post

‘..ravishing and utterly fresh’ Baluji Shrivastav OBE - The Scotsman

‘rising star in the opera world’ Oscar Castellino - BBC News

‘Anusha Bobby was brilliant’  - Planet Hugill

Programme:

Patricia Rozario OBE (soprano)

*Janaat’s Aria - Sohini and Mahival (Baluji Shrivastav OBE and Dario Marinelli)

*Matins for the virgin of Guadalupe (Stephen McNeff).

*Melina (John Tavener)

Oscar Castellino (baritone)

*Mahival’s Aria from Sohini and Mahival (Baluji Shrivastav OBE and Dario Marine)

*Figaro’s Aria from The Barber of Seville (Rossini)

*Selections from The Little Big Man (Betram Wee)

Anusha Merrin Bobby (soprano)

*Sohini’s Aria from Sohini and Mahival (Baluji Shrivastav OBE and Dario Marinelli)

*Cricket ghost aria from the Adventures of Pinocchio (Jonathan Dove)

*A Hand of Bridge (excerpt, Samuel Barber)

*No word from Tom from The Rake's Progress (Igor Stravinsky)

About:

*Patricia Rozario OBE FRCM is a British soprano.  Born and educated in Bombay, India, she went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She has performed at the English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the Garsington Opera in England, and has performed on stage across Europe in Aix-en-Provence, Brussels, Frankfurt, Ghent, Innsbruck, Lyon and Stuttgart. One of her most notable appearances was across Europe in The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Sir Georg Solti. She has also given concerts in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and as part of The Proms in England, and abroad in Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Halle, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Cologne, Leipzig, Madrid, New York City, Paris, Riga, Rouen, Strasbourg, Vienna, Winterthur and Zürich. She performed in a production of Elvis Costello’s Meltdown.  Patricia has made numerous recordings of the works of composer John Tavener. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2001. Patricia is currently a professor at the Royal College of Music, where she is a member of the Vocal Faculty.

*Baluji Shrivastav OBE is an Indian multi-instrumentalist and one of the world’s leading composers and sitar players. He has performed and recorded with some of the greatest tabla accompanists such as Anindo Chatterji and Ustad Fayaz Khan. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Massive Attack. His compositions feature in a wide spectrum of films, theatre and television. The documentary film ‘Baluji’ about his life and work was directed by Marie-Cecile Embleton and has been screened at the New York Film Festival & the Auroville Film Festival in India.

Baluji and his wife, musician and writer Linda Shanson, established the Baluji Music Foundation in 2008 to increase opportunities for blind and visually impaired people. They founded the Inner Vision Orchestra of professional blind and visually impaired musicians in 2012. Baluji has been blind since the age of 8 months.

Baluji was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours List for services to music and in 2016 was given the GG2 Award for Overcoming Adversity. In 2017, Times Group India awarded him the accolade of Non-Resident Indian of the Year for Art and Culture. In 2019 Baluji received the prestigious Hind Rattan Award-Jewel of India from the Indian Government.

*Hailed as a "rising star in the opera world" (BBC News), Oscar Castellino is an international operatic baritone and composer of the anthem for the planet Mars, commissioned by the Mars Society USA. He has performed with Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera. Besides singing operatic roles Oscar is now working towards creating new opera in Indian languages. Oscar was offered the Welsh National Opera Award for his training at the Royal College of Music. Other awards include the Blair Wilson Award, Martin Harris Award and the Lee Abbey Award.

*Pianist, broadcaster and writer, Mark Troop is founder of The Chamber Music Company, devoted to all types of music. His broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 have included The Twilight of the Iguana, which is a three-part Latin American series and several live recitals. He has made an in-depth study of the Songs of the 20th Century Argentinian tango master – Astor Piazzolla and performs South American repertory regularly.

Mark also runs five London-based events: The Latin American Roadshow, a multi-arts Festival dedicated to the culture of Latin America; The CMC Summer Solstice, which scales up classical and jazz music under one roof; The CMC Rare Music Series, which discovers neglected Classical repertory; The Second Glance Festival of New Music which peddles selected new music to a wider audience and I’m a stranger Here Myself. He also runs Yin Yang Collective, London’s first Chinese-Western fusion group. He has also set up British Council tours in India, Spain and Latin America.

*Indian Soprano Anusha Merrin Bobby is a native of Kerala and a resident of the Kingdom of Bahrain. She is currently pursuing her Master of Music in Vocal Studies and Opera at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Elizabeth Ritchie and is generously supported by the Dame Eva Turner Award, The Peter Heath Award and the Maurice and Jean Buckley Award. Awards include finalist of the Frederic Cox Award for singing 2023, a member of the RNCM Songsters 2023, Second Prize at the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for the Singing of Strauss 2022, Best Overall Performer in Art Songs Festival 2021 with Trinity Laban and KM Music Conservatory.