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Beats of both worlds: Nirupama Rao on her orchestra's mission to unite hearts & borders

Inside a massive rehearsal hall in Bengaluru, the air is alive with sounds of tuning, violins stretching into warm-ups, brass catching the light and percussionists tapping out quiet patterns. At the centre of this show stands former diplomat and ambassador Nirupama Rao, smiling with a kind of deep, steady contentment. As the founder of the South Asian Symphony Foundation and the creator of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra (SASO), she looks entirely at home in this storm of music. This time, the orchestra is bringing together two emotional worlds youd never expect to meet on the same stage Beethovens Ode to Joy and the timeless music of Raj Kapoor. Rao sees the pairing as effortless. In her eyes, both artistes, separated by continents and centuries, speak to the same human hunger for connection. Beethoven stands for a vision of human fraternity that rises from a remarkable union of intellect, emotion and lived suffering. His Ode to Joy is the cry of a man who fought adversity and turned it into a universal message of hope. Raj Kapoor touched millions with stories of longing, vulnerability, humour and compassion. When they meet on the stage, you sense that both are speaking to the same human longing for connection, she says. Ambassador Nirupama Rao The idea took hold when she realised how naturally Beethovens Symphony No. 9 aligned with the mission behind the foundation. Gandhi urged us to keep our windows open to the worlds cultures without being blown off our feet, she says. It struck her that Beethoven had already entered Gandhis circle through Mirabehn and Romain Rolland, shaping the way he thought about moral courage and inner stillness. Bringing the symphony into a South Asian framework, she felt, wasnt a leap at all. It was a continuation of that dialogue, letting universality breathe through local soil. At the rehearsals, the philosophy feels tangible. Musicians from across South Asia have gathered with a kind of attentive gentleness. Harmony begins with listening. Their differences dont create discord, they create counterpoint independent lines woven together with trust and curiosity, she adds. What she looks forward to most in the upcoming concert isnt a grand solo or a spotlight moment. Its the way the orchestra breathes as one entity. Rao knows this is why orchestral music resonates in both crowded cities and quiet valleys. A melody goes straight to the emotional core. It dissolves distance, she notes. That is the heart of her mission using sound to stitch together a region often divided by politics and history. She even dreams of future concerts devoted to themes like the environment or mental health. A fun illustration on SASO by Ravi Menezes of Goobes Book Republic Joining the global symphonic tradition, to Rao, doesnt mean loosening Indias musical roots. Instead, it expands the space in which those roots can grow. She points to the way China embraced orchestral music and emerged with artistes who became global ambassadors like Lang Lang. Look at the artistes who have emerged from this global tradition: Yo-Yo Ma, Danielle de Niese and of course our own Zubin Mehta. They step onto any stage and are understood immediately. We need young Indians who can carry our story into the global symphonic world with confidence and originality, she says. Just the way India transformed cricket into its own art form, she believes the country can make the symphony orchestra a part of its cultural vocabulary. As the rehearsal builds around her with strings tightening into shape, winds falling into effortless blend, Rao walks through the hall with each note bringing her closer to what she hopes the performance will become not just a concert, but a statement about who we are and who we might be together, across borders, languages and histories. (SASOs next concert will be held at Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, Konanakunte, on Nov 29, 7pm. For info, visit bookmyshow.com )