One of the finest sitar players to emerge from the UK, Roopa Panesar brings her joyful mix of Indian classical, jazz, and Western classical to the historic LSO St. Luke's.
A disciple of the great Ustad Dharambir Singh ji MBE, Roopa Panesar is known for her stylistic versatility, dexterity on the sitar, and depth of expression, inspiring collaborators and becoming one of the most sought-after musicians in the UK. Further, her natural ability to combine seemingly disparate forms into the cannon of Indian classical music has made her a special figure in UK music.
While having a love for solo playing, her real passion is collaboration. “I want to be a channel for something else to work through me and to give people an experience of something divine. So ultimately that’s not going to be coming from me, it’s going to be coming from somewhere else", as said in an interview from Pulse Archives. At LSO St. Luke's, she will be joined by Sudarshan Singh on the tabla, R N Prakash on carnatic percussion, and Camilo Tirado in charge of electroacoustics.
Continually experimenting with new pathways in the world of Indian classical music, her blend of jazz and Western classical mesmerises audiences with its simultaneous novelty and familiarity. Those unacquainted with Indian classical will find a warm introduction via familiar forms, and those more used to Indian classical over Western classical will find a style familiar to them become uniquely inflected with more contemporary forms. There is something for everyone here, beyond the joys of watching one of the rising stars in this country express her virtuosity at one of the best acoustic grounds in the country.