Dr. Luis Dias
Child’s Play India Foundation is pleased to raise the curtain on Goa’s concert calendar with world-class orchestral fanfare.
Since our inception 17 years ago, we have been in communication with the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI), based at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, India’s first and only professional orchestra, founded in 2006 by NCPA chairman Khushroo N. Suntook and internationally-renowned violin virtuoso Marat Bisengaliev, who serves as the Orchestra’s music director.
The SOI has worked with such renowned conductors as Zubin Mehta, Carlo Rizzi, Martyn Brabbins, Charles Dutoit, Laurent Petitgirard, Alpesh Chauhan, Duncan Ward, Karl Jenkins, Mischa Damev, Evgeny Bushkov, Alexander Lazarev, and Christoph Poppen. Soloists appearing with the SOI have included Maria João Pires, Augustin Dumay, Cédric Tiberghien, Alina Ibragimova, Stephen Hough, Stephen Kovacevich, Barry Douglas, Benjamin Grosvenor, Pavel Kolesnikov, Angel Blue, Zakir Hussain, Béla Fleck, Tamás Vásáry, and Lena Neudauer.
International tours have seen the SOI perform in the Hall of Columns, Moscow; the Royal Opera House, Muscat; and the Emirates Palace Auditorium, Abu Dhabi. In January 2016, the SOI presented three sold-out concerts in Switzerland—at the Tonhalle, Zurich; Victoria Hall, Geneva; and the Tonhalle, St. Gallen. Le Temps hailed “the commitment, the enthusiasm, and the discipline of this ensemble, which played with ferocious energy and appetite.” In February 2019, the SOI embarked on a six-concert tour to the United Kingdom, performing to delighted audiences in prestigious venues in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Guildford, and Edinburgh, and garnering rave reviews. In 2023, the SOI returned to the U.K. to perform nine concerts across eight cities.
Apart from the mainstays of the symphonic repertoire, the NCPA and SOI have also presented large-scale productions, including fully-staged opera productions of ‘Tosca’, ‘Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci’, and ‘Madama Butterfly’. In 2017, the SOI premiered a highly-acclaimed, innovative new production of ‘La Bohème’, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, featuring an international star cast, which was streamed globally on Opera Vision. A fully-staged production of ‘Die Fledermaus’ was presented in 2022, in collaboration with the Hungarian State Opera.
The Orchestra’s core group of musicians is resident at the NCPA all year round and forms the SOI Chamber Orchestra. Additional players are recruited from a talented pool of professionals from around the world. The SOI Chamber Orchestra performs a regular series of concerts through the year at the NCPA and at other venues around Mumbai and India. A monthly concert series at Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, the first regular music series in the venue, has been running for close to a decade. National tours have seen the SOI Chamber Orchestra perform in Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Dehradun, and Pune, among other cities.
The Orchestra places great emphasis on education and many of the SOI musicians are also teachers, working to develop the musical potential among young people in India. Musicians of the SOI conduct workshops, masterclasses, and teacher-training programmes in various cities and a traineeship programme nurtures the talent of young musicians from around the country. Chief among the Orchestra’s educational initiatives is the SOI Music Academy which brings a professional level of teaching, previously not available in India, to gifted young musicians. Several graduates of the Academy are now pursuing music further in leading conservatories around the world and can often be heard performing as part of the SOI. Together, these programmes aim to raise the standard of Western classical music performance in India and grow the number of Indian musicians in the SOI.
Musicians and pedagogues from the SOI have conducted intensive week-long workshops at Child’s Play for the past three consecutive years, with the benefits reaped by Goa’s children and young people from all corners of the state. One teenage Goan girl is already enrolled gratis at the SOI Music Academy in Mumbai for her higher education in violin after her potential was spotted during one of their visits. On Saturday, January 17, 2026, we present the SOI Chamber Orchestra led by Bisengaliev (violin/conductor) in a concert at Institute Menezes Braganza, Panaji, 7 p.m. Donation passes available at Furtados Music stores in Panaji and Margao.
A quartet of SOI musicians will also conduct a workshop for orchestral stringed instruments on Sunday, January 18, 2026 at St. Inez, Panaji. Call or message 9011051950 to register and for further details.
I spoke with orchestra manager Bianca Mendonca in the run-up to this historic concert in Goa.
“The SOI Chamber Orchestra has had the privilege of performing in a variety of auditoriums across major Indian cities such as Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi, among others. Alongside traditional concert halls, the orchestra also performs at outdoor venues, allowing us to reach a broad and diverse audience. These performances have been extremely well received, often playing to full houses, with many venues inviting us back—an encouraging testament to the audience’s appreciation of our music.”
While the SOI Chamber Orchestra is resident at the NCPA Mumbai, it also performs regularly at several other venues across the city, significantly widening the audience base for classical music and music appreciation in general.
“SOI@Prithvi is a 10-year long series with performances held at Prithvi Theatre Juhu by musicians of the SOI on the second Monday of every month. Another important outreach initiative is NCPA@thePark – which began during the lockdown. These are free, open-air concerts inviting audiences to experience classical music in a relaxed and informal setting. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with enthusiastic participation from people across different age groups.”
“Performing for diverse audiences across different cities has been a deeply rewarding and enriching experience, not only for our listeners but also for the members of the orchestra. Each concert offers valuable learning opportunities and fosters a stronger connection with audiences, making every performance truly meaningful”, said Mendonca.
Regarding the concert programme, Mendonca added, “A 35-member orchestra, will present a programme that reflects both the classical tradition and contemporary repertoire closely associated with Marat Bisengaliev, who is the artistic director of the SOI Chamber Orchestra. The programme will include works by Haydn, Mozart, Elgar and Karl Jenkins.”
“A particularly significant aspect of this programme is Bisengaliev’s long-standing and close artistic collaboration with Karl Jenkins, one of the most widely performed contemporary composers of our time. Bisengaliev has worked with Jenkins over several decades as both violin soloist and conductor, playing a key role in shaping the performance style and interpretation of many of Jenkins’ orchestral works.”
“His violin performances, especially in Palladio, have become closely identified with the piece’s distinctive energy and global popularity, featuring prominently in landmark recordings and international performances. Through this collaboration, Bisengaliev has helped bring Jenkins’ music to a broad international audience, bridging classical traditions with contemporary and crossover idioms.”
“Bisengaliev has a deep and enduring artistic connection with the music of Sir Edward Elgar, a composer he greatly admires. As both violinist and conductor, he has frequently performed Elgar’s works, drawn to their emotional depth, lyrical richness, and noble expression. Through his interpretations, recordings, and programming choices, Marat continues to champion Elgar’s legacy for audiences around the world.”
