Concerto by renowned composer and Holy Cross music professor to receive U.S. premiere

Shirish Korde, professor and chair of the music department at the College of the Holy Cross, has always liked to incorporate the sounds of different cultures (especially Indian) into his music.

His latest work is no different. Svara-Yantra, a concerto for violin, tabla and orchestra, combines elements of Western music with instrumental techniques specific to the music of India.

Svara-Yantra will have its United States premiere on Oct. 17 when the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra comes to Mechanics Hall to kick off Music Worcester’s 148th season.

“Normally they don’t do contemporary work, but Benjamin Zander [conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra] really liked the piece,” says Korde.

Indeed, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra brochure states that it is their “most unusual program ever.”

The genesis of Korde’s new work began with a request from renowned violinist Joanna Kurkowicz. In addition to her role with the Boston Philharmonic, Kurkowicz also serves as concertmistress of the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra.  Internationally renowned soloist Pandit Samir Chatterjee, originally from India, will perform on tabla.

“Joanna is an amazing violionist,” says Korde, an internationally celebrated composer. “The way the piece came about is that she had performed in a piece of mine, an opera, which was done by the Celebrities Series of Boston about five years ago. So she asked me to write her a piece. The piece was commissioned by her and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, which premiered it in Poland.”

As a Western trained violinist, Kurkowicz had to learn certain techniques that are specific to Indian classical music, Korde says. Rhythm plays a very important role in this piece.

“A lot of the techniques that are employed draw on Indian classical music, jazz, and contemporary Western music. That meant she had to learn certain techniques that are known as gamakas (decorations of notes), which is very unique to Indian music. The other element that is very important in this piece is the use of the Indian rhythmic system called Tala.”

The result is a hauntingly beautiful composition that melds together two cultures.

In Indian music, Svara refers to music notes: Sa, Re, Ga … (i.e., Do, Re, Mi …). Svara might also mean audible sound. Yantra is a geometric diagram, usually constructed from intersecting triangles and circles, which is used to harness the mind in meditation. The composition Svara-Yantra represents three sonic structures (diagrams), which are conceived as devices for meditations through sound.

“I like the listeners to have an intense listening experience,” says Korde. “I want them to get lost in the music and go through a journey, something like a meditation on sound.”

Svara-Yantra was premiered in Poland by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2005. Over the past year, Svara-Yantra has been performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington at the Asia Pacific Festival in New Zealand, and the Koszalin Philharmonic in Poland and has received rave reviews from music critics.

In addition to the Worcester date, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra will present Svara-Yantra at Harvard’s Sanders Theater in Cambridge on Oct. 18 and Oct. 21 and Jordan Hall in Boston on Oct. 20. The concerts will also feature Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes and Ravel’s transformation of Mussorgsky’s classic Pictures at an Exhibition.

Korde came to America from East Africa in 1965 when he was 20 years old to study music. He studied jazz at Berklee College of Music, composition and ethnomusicology at the New England Conservatory, and advanced ethnomusicology at Brown University. He teaches theory and composition, world music, and jazz at Holy Cross.

“I love teaching, I love my students, I enjoy my classes,” he says. “It allows me to share what I’m doing in my creative life with what happens in the classroom. I also learn from contemporary popular music from my students.”

He continues, “That’s the only thing I ever wanted to do. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

Related Information:

• Press Release: Holy Cross Professor Kicks off Music Worcester with the National Premiere of His Concerto • www.shirishkorde.com • Music department