Danish Conservatory Students Perform with the Symphony Orchestra of India

From June 20 to 28, a total of 17 students and three lectures from the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM) and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus (RAMA) will travel to India to hold rehearsals and perform two concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI).

SOI is India’s only professional symphony orchestra specializing in Western classical music. It was founded in 2006 and is based at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on India’s west coast. The two concerts will also take place there.

A Joint Concert Project Focused on Nordic Music

The first concert, on Tuesday, June 24, is a brass concert. Brass has a weak presence in India, and SOI often has to hire brass musicians from abroad for their concerts. The orchestra was therefore very interested in holding a concert where its own brass players would perform together with the guests from Denmark. This concert will be conducted by trombone professor Niels-Ole Bo Johansen from the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, and the repertoire includes works by Carl Nielsen, Sibelius, and Jan Magne Førde.

The second concert is a full symphonic performance and will take place on Friday, June 27. Nicolas Sublet, violin lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, will serve as concertmaster, and Søren Rastogi, also from the Academy, will be the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The concert will be conducted by Danish conductor Maria Badstue, who frequently collaborates with SOI and is also the initiator of this project. In addition to the piano concerto, the program includes Carl Nielsen’s Helios Overture and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5.

Part of a Cultural Exchange Program

The visit to Mumbai is part of a cultural exchange program between the Ministry of Culture of India and the Ministry of Culture of Denmark for the years 2022–2026. This long-term collaboration between music institutions and conservatories in Denmark and India facilitates exchange between students and faculty from both countries.

From the Danish side, the primary partners are RAMA and the Danish National Academy of Music (SDMK). For the first of three projects in 2025–26, RDAM is also involved to strengthen the brass section of the orchestra.

For the other two projects, which will be completed by the end of 2026, SDMK and RAMA will be the Danish partners, while the Sangeet Natak Akademi for Music, Dance, and Drama in New Delhi will be the main Indian partner.

The second project is an intensive program focusing on classical Indian music. Three teachers and seven students from SDMK and DJM will visit a relevant institution selected by the Sangeet Natak Academy for a week of mutual inspiration and artistic exchange.

The third project is an intensive folk music program held in Denmark. Six folk music students and two teachers from Indian institutions, selected by the Sangeet Natak Academy, will spend a week in Denmark, focusing on exchanges between Nordic folk music and Indian traditional music.

Thus, these are three very different projects that together span a wide range of musical traditions. Students from both Denmark and India will gain valuable insight into the various traditions through this collaboration.