The Albany Symphony, recognized for its excellence with two Grammy Awards, presented a spectacular concert on April 5 at the Palace Theatre in Albany in celebration of composer Maurice Ravel’s 150th birthday.
The performance featured three monumental works: Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, and the Concerto for Hindustani Violin by Reena Esmail, with Kala Ramnath as the violin soloist. This concert offered a mesmerizing blend of orchestral grandeur and cultural depth, alongside a pre-concert talk by Music Director David Alan Miller.
The Albany Symphony honored Ravel’s Boléro as part of the concert, a piece known for its hypnotic rhythm and sensual orchestral color, in celebration of the composer’s 150th birthday. Following this, Esmail’s Concerto for Hindustani Violin brought a unique fusion of Indian classical music and Western orchestral sounds, performed by Kala Ramnath, one of the foremost violinists in the Hindustani tradition, with Abhijit Banerjee on tabla. The final piece, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, took audiences on an emotional journey through the mind of an artist driven to despair, blending both the tragic and the fantastical.
The concert highlighted the diverse and dynamic nature of the Albany Symphony’s programming, from celebrating influential European composers like Ravel and Berlioz, to showcasing contemporary works like Esmail’s, which explores the themes of environmental balance and climate change through the lens of Indian classical music.
For more information on the Albany Symphony, visit albanysymphony.com
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