The Sanctuary, Vancouver Unitarian Church
CONCERT CANCELLATION
This concert is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
Artists: Uday Bhawalkar, dhrupad-vocal, Pratap Awad – pakhawaj & THE HATHOR CONSORT: Anne Freitag, renaissance-traverso flute; Liam Fennelly & Thomas Baeté, viols; Romina Lischka, dhrupad-vocal, bass viol & artistic direction
Dhrupad is one of the oldest and purest genres of North Indian classical music. It is a form of devotional music that traces back to the ancient text of Sam Veda. It is sung in Nomtom syllables which derive from a Mantra – telling “Take me out of the darkness into the light.” In the 16th century, the Dhrupad reached the Mughal courts in Rajasthan, where it developed into a classical art form and gained high prestige. The Fantasia was a favourite genre of polyphonic composition among English composers in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It arose from the art of improvisation and the form sprung ‘exclusively to the imagination and skill of the one who wrote it’, (Luis de Milan, 1535-6). The first expressions of fantasies in a musical context focused on the musical ‘idea’ rather than on the compositional form. Dhrupad Fantasia gives form to the wondrous fantasy, a visionary idea or illusion, by fusing ragas based on modal improvisations with the idea of polyphonic instrumental music, both of which have their origins in the court music of the 16th century.
Uday Bhawalkar, Dhrupad vocal
Renowned worldwide as one of the foremost Dhrupad vocalists, Uday Bhawalkar believes that when immersed in the raga, the self disappears and music takes on its own existence – the principle of ‘darshan’ in Indian philosophy. Although Dhrupad is one of the oldest forms of North Indian classical music, it is a living and evolving classical music tradition in which Mr. Bhawalkar has developed a unique style. He spent more than 12 years studying and living in the traditional guru-shishya parampara with Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Vocal) and Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (Rudra-Veena), the towering pillars of the Dhrupad tradition.
He has performed in a number of prestigious festivals and events in India and abroad including in Europe, USA, Canada, Mexico, and Singapore and has also collaborated with artists from other disciplines and cultures. He has contributed to the soundtracks of many films including Mani Kaul’s Cloud Door. In addition, Mr. Bhawalkar is also a teacher of Dhrupad and has taught internationally at institutions such as the Rotterdam Music Conservatory, the University of Washington (Seattle), and the Asian Music Circuit (London), to name a few. He is a Guru at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata, India and is also a Guru at the Bengal Foundation’s Parampara Sangeetalay, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Pratap Awad, pakhawaj
Hailing from the western Indian state of Maharashtra, Pratap Awad picked up the pakhawaj (an Indian drum) at age 10, learning the bhajan accompaniment style. He received training from distinguished masters Pandit Subhash Maharaj Deshmukh, Pandit Uddhav Aapegaonkar, Pandit Vasantrao Ghorpadkar and Pandit Arvind Kumar Azad. He has given many solo performances and is a vibrant accompanist for many Dhrupad musicians and instrumentalists both in India and abroad. In recognition of his virtuosity n the instrument, he has received many scholarships and awards including: Government of Maharashtra scholarship 2004, National Scholarship 2011, First prize All India Radio competition 2007, Talmani Puraskar 2008, National Gold Medal 2010 and Yashwanth Rao Chavan Yuva Sangeet Sanman 2017. Mr. Awad performs regularly on South Asian radio and TV.
The Hathor Consort
The Hathor Consort, takes its name from the Egyptian mother goddess Hathor and was formed by Romina Lischka in 2012. Under her artistic direction, this string ensemble is dedicated to performing music from the Renaissance and Baroque. Simultaneously, the group is also exploring new expressive possibilities of the refined, European chamber music repertoire in multi-disciplinary and intercultural concert forms where early and new music from other cultures combine with modern music, world music and electronics.
In Dhrupad Fantasia, the Hathor Consort’s first cross-cultural project, a new musical language emerges, combining compositional elements and collaborative improvisations from both styles, English and Indian Renaissance music. With its multi-facetted programming, the Hathor Consort has been invited to numerous festivals and concert halls throughout Europe, including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Warschau Filharmonie, Bozar Brussel, Concertgebouw BruggeLondon’s Wigmore Hall, Cologne Philharmonie, Hilharmonie Essen, Utrecht Early Music Festival, MA Festival Brugge, Musikfestspiele Potsdam, Opéra de Rouen, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Gent and the York Early Music Festival. Hathor Consort’s CDs have received numerous awards including Diapason d’or, IRR Outstanding, Klara’s 10.
Romina Lischka, Dhrupad-vocal, bass viol & artistic direction
Romina Lischka bridges the boundaries between cultures and genres by forging her own artistic language in which classical, contemporary and world music traditions cross paths. Since 2007, her concert activities have brought her to prestigious concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, Russia, Asia, Canada and North and South America. Ms. Lischka performed the premier of George Benjamin’s opera Written on Skin and has travelled with this production to the Opéra Comique (Paris) and the Bolshoi Theater (Moscow).
She has also toured with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra throughout Europe and with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in China. Alongside her activities as a gambist, Ms. Lischka also studied Dhrupad at the World Music department of the Rotterdam Conservatory (Bachelor, 2010) and in India (Delhi and Pune) with Ustad Fariduddin Dagar and Uday Bhawalkar. In the 2012-13 season, Romina was chosen as the early music ‘ECHO Rising Star’ by the BOZAR (Brussels) and Concertgebouw (Amsterdam).Her debut CD Pièces de viole de Sieur de Machy received the top five star rating by Diapason. The CD En Suite – Marin Marais, &Sainte Colombe was awarded the Klara prize for ‘Best classical CD of 2015.’ In 2018, she also received the Klara award as ‘Soloist of the Year.’ For the saison 2019-20 she was ‘Portrayed Artist’ of BOZAR and in 2021 she received the Ultima award for the Music category.
Media
