Western classical symphony headlines opening night of Bengal Music Festival
Dhaka: Western classical music tiptoed into the Bengal Classical Music Festival for the first time on Tuesday night courtesy The Astana Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra from Kazakhstan.
Barely 20 minutes into their second act -- famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", one of the most popular ballet compositions in the world -- the discerning crowd at the near-packed Abahani Ground on Dhanmondi was almost on its feet basking in the afterglow of symphony and craving for more.
So much so that once the Kazakh group's performance got over, Bangladesh Finance minister A.M.A. Muhith declared: "There are two wishes I have. One is there should be a Bangladesh symphony group. What we witnessed today was brilliant and every nation must have a symphony group. I want to see our own also."
Muhith's other wish was to a have a designated venue for the mega-event, dubbed the "biggest classical music festival in the world" after clouds over this edition taking shape surfaced earlier.
The Army Stadium -- its home for the last five years -- was originally supposed to host the meet but logistical issues surfaced, forcing the organisers, Bengal Foundation, to postpone it from November to December and at another venue.
"I thank Salman F. Rahman (Chairman of Abahani Ltd, a top division football club) for allowing us to host the event here despite the league being on. The players are staying at a hotel and practising somewhere else for this event to take place which is commendable," Bengal Foundation Chairman Abul Khayer said.
Coming back to the orchestra, conductor Berik Batyrkhan used his baton to shepherd the band so symphonically with the strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion sections that the surreal sound transcended the audience into a make-believe world.
The group, which has collaborated with several distinguished conductors including K. Penderecki, V. Ashkenazy, R. Gutter, A. Tchaikovsky, R. Kanetti, and D. Bross, started off with a short composition by a noted Kazakh composer.
Prior to them taking the event by storm, virtuoso violinist L. Subramaniam got the ball rolling on Day 1 of the four-day extravaganza by performing a kriti (a compositional format of Carnatic music) on Raga Abhogi, a Carnatic raga that has also been adopted into Hindustani classical form.
Subramaniam came back on stage with his ensemble to perform with the Astana Orchestra, this time with a fusion between the East and West with his composition titled 'Shanti Priya'.
Late into the night, there was sarod recital by Rajrupa Chowdhury, khyal vocals by Vidushi Padma Talwalkar and Supriya Das, sitar by Firoz Khan and a flute-sitar jugalbandi by Rakesh Chaurasia and Purbayan Chatterjee.
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Delhi airport sees 15 flight diversions due to bad weather
New Delhi, Apr 23: As many as 15 flights were diverted at the Delhi airport on Tuesday evening due to bad weather in the national capital.
Many flights were also delayed.
Out of these flights, an airport official said, nine were diverted to Jaipur, two each to Amritsar and Lucknow, one each to Mumbai and Chandigarh.
A senior government official who was to fly to Chennai from the national capital said his flight had been delayed by more than 5 hours.
The IndiGo flight was to take off at around 5.15 pm and there is no update so far on the departure timing, the official said late in the evening.
Vistara said two of its flights from Pune and Ranchi that were to land at the airport were diverted.
In a post on X, IndiGo said that due to unfavourable weather conditions in the national capital, customers are requested to check their flight timings before heading to the airport.
"Flight UK998 from Pune to Delhi (PNQ-DEL) has been diverted to Amritsar (ATQ) due to bad weather at Delhi airport...," Vistara said in a post on X.
In another post, the airline said flight UK754 from Ranchi to Delhi has been diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the weather in Delhi experienced a sudden change in the evening, with the maximum temperature settling a notch below normal at 36.8 degrees Celsius. There were gusty winds and light rains.
#6ETravelAdvisory: Due to unfavorable weather conditions in #Delhi, request our customers to check their flight timings https://t.co/F83aKzsIHg before heading to the airport.
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) April 23, 2024
#DiversionUpdate: Flight UK998 from Pune to Delhi (PNQ-DEL) has been diverted to Amritsar (ATQ) due to bad weather at Delhi airport and is expected to arrive in Amritsar (ATQ) at 1930 hours. Please stay tuned for further updates.
— Vistara (@airvistara) April 23, 2024
