Austrian composer Mozart`s music to get rainbow cast in Delhi

New Delhi: Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will get an Indian makeover in a concert of fusion music in the capital Jan 6-8. The carnival will open with an open-air free concert at Central Park in Connaught Place followed by two concerts at Siri Fort. "This is the first time the ICCR is promoting western music in an open space. The concert is also scheduled on the bank of Brahmaputra in Guwahati in Assam," Indian Council for Cultural Relations director general Suresh Goel said in a statement Monday. An ensemble of international musicians and instructors from France, India, the US, Russia, Austria and New Zealand will present "Mozart Magic in India", a selection of arias, choruses and orchestra pieces from the vast repertoire of Mozart`s famous operas -- "The Magic Flute", "Idomeneo", "Cosi Fan Tutte" and "The Marriage of Figaro", the ICCR statement said. The concert will feature 40 musicians, 40 choristers and 12 soloists -- including Indian performers who have been trained in France and at the the Bombay Chamber Orchestra Society set up in 1962 to coach young musicians. The show will have wind musicians from the Rouen Haute-Normandie Opera House, especially trained to play Mozart`s music. The concert will be a collaboration between ICCR and the Neemrana Music Foundation. It will be supported by the Embassy of France and the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre. The Mozart concert will be conducted in two parts. The first segment will feature music from "The Magic Flute" for 45 minutes and the rest of the performance will comprise seven acts from "Idomeneo", "Cosi Fan Tutte" and "The Marriage of Figaro". The concert will be led by Singapore-born Indian conductor George Mathew, an alumnus of Manhattan School of Music. In 2010, he was named artistic director and conductor of the New Year`s Eve Concert for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The concert is an evidence of the growing popularity of Mozart`s music in India with several choral groups in metropolitan cities carrying his music to the masses. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born January 27 in Salzburg, composed over 600 works which many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concert, chamber, piano, operatic and choral music. IANS