Acharya Roop Verma and Faculty from the East-West School of Music to be Featured at the Second Festival of Universal Sacred Music
November 4-5, Merkin Concert Hall, New York City
The East-West School of Music is very excited to
announce that our director, Acharya Roop Verma,
has composed and will perform a Concerto for Sitar
and Orchestra at the upcoming Second Festival of
Universal Sacred Music on November 5th at 7:30pm at
the Merkin Concert Hall in NYC. Master of the Indian
sitar, teacher, prolific recording artist and
composer of more than 2,000 works, Acharya Roop
Verma is world-renowned for his deep, pure,
spirit-guided expression of sound and for creating
new musical forms derived from Indian classical
music and adaptable to all classes of instruments.
This piece is a melodic and harmonic concerto in
three movements - Seeking, Serenity,
and Celebration - with solos in between,
orchestrated by Argentina native and friend of the
EWSM, Alejandro Rutty, a gifted composer and
conductor, and assistant professor of music at
Hartwick College in Oneonta. A truly East-West
exemplary work, this piece integrates a Western
instrumental ensemble with traditional Indian
instruments, including the soothing, meditative
voice of EWSM faculty member Deepak Kumar Pareek and the tabla
mastery of EWSM faculty member
Naren Budhakar.
This pioneering festival will feature nine world
premieres of commissioned universal sacred music, a
sacred work by legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck
and a transformative intercultural concert that
interweaves some of the earliest and purest sacred
music, from antiquity through the Middle Ages.
Sponsored by the nonprofit Foundation for Universal
Sacred Music to help bridge the spiritual
differences that divide the world today, the
festival presents first performances of
extraordinary commissioned choral and instrumental
works by the world’s foremost contemporary composers
of sacred music, including Emmy and Juno Award winners.
Please visit the links provided below for more
information about the foundation, the festival, and
upcoming classes and concerts with Acharya Roop
Verma.
