Artwork meets structure in a uncommon jugalbandi on the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre

The Grand Theatre at NMACC, Mumbai,
| Photograph Credit score: Courtesy: NMACC

‘Music is liquid architecture; architecture is frozen music,’ stated 18th-century German author Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. The 2 streams may appear unrelated however ‘harmony’ and ‘proportion’ bind them.

A efficiency can go away you exhilarated, however when the live performance corridor, with its good design and acoustics, additionally vies for consideration, it ends in a jugalbandi all too uncommon. 

One thing comparable occurred on the Studio Theatre within the recently-unveiled Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, in Bandra Kurla Complicated, an upscale business hub in Mumbai. The colossal construction stuns with its geometrical simplicity and ineffable grandeur, but additionally its pitch-perfect acoustics.

On a heat, humid night, artwork and structure got here collectively when the younger, santoor exponent Rahul Sharma, son of the legendary Shivkumar Sharma, stepped on the elevated platform-like stage for ‘SantoorRain’. Accompanying him had been Pt Bhawani Shankar on the pakhawaj, Aditya Kalyanpurkar on the tabla and Avinash Chadrachud on the keyboard. The viewers soaked within the bathe of melodies. 

Classic raag

Rahul’s fingers — gently and typically swiftly — traversed throughout the 100 strings of the santoor, as he performed two compositions in raag Megh, the primary one in Matta taal and the second in Teen taal. A classic Hindustani raag, Megh by no means fails to arouse within the listeners the romance for music and Nature. Right here, it brimmed with thrilling improvisatory segments.

Rahul Sharma performing the santoor with Pt. Bhawani Shankar on the pakhawaj, Aditya Kalyanpurkar on the tabla and Avinash Chadrachud on the keyboard.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: NMACC

Rahul additionally performed compositions created by him, the place the classical notes joyfully shared area with up to date tunes, creating photographs of cascading waterfalls, calmly flowing rivulets, and snowy mountains. The santoor, in any case, has its roots in Kashmir. The play of heat lights and colors within the background, made simple by the strain wire grid on the ceiling, enhanced the great thing about the sound.

Like in baithaks or chamber concert events, sitting within the intimate 250-seater Studio Theatre, one skilled a detailed join with the artiste and his music. This interplay will be felt extra intensely at The Dice, a 125-seater area to stage experimental works or lec-dems for a close-knit group of artwork lovers. The tech interventions on the two cozy venues and the 2000-seater Grand Theatre heighten the expertise of watching performances.

In the meantime, the ultimate exhibits of ‘The Sound of Music’, the primary Broadway musical to come back to India, are on on the Grand Theatre, which options three-level seating (together with 18 personal packing containers).

This weekend, on the event of Guru Purnima, the Grand Theatre’s lavish interiors —  a constellation of LED lights and eight,400 Swarovski crystals on the lotus-petal-shaped ceiling — and up to date acoustics will mix with the richness of Indian classical music. A line-up of artistes, led by veterans Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, will carry out to rejoice the guru-sishya parampara.  

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe should be smiling to see his phrases come alive.