VSO at The Paramount: East Meets West

Guest soloists: Sandeep Das,
tabla; and Rajib Karmakar, sitar; conducted by Andrew Crust

The 2025-26 season opens with
one of the world’s leading tabla virtuosos, Grammy Award-winning musician
Sandeep Das, a 21-year member of the Silk Road Ensemble and collaborator with
Paquito D’Rivera, Bobby McFerrin, Yo-Yo Ma amongst others. VSO also welcomes
guest sitarist Rajib Karmakar to start the concert with the first movement of
pioneering composer Ravi Shankar’s Symphony. Das follows with Sri
Lankan/Canadian composer Dinuk Wijeratne’s brilliant Tabla Concerto, a three
movement exploration of baroque, electronica, folk, and romantic styles.
The concert completes its East/West connection with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an
Exhibition, a hugely popular, sweeping work masterfully orchestrated by Maurice
Ravel. The piece gives a distinct musical voice to visual art and shows the
full colors and virtuosity of the orchestra.