“It was karma”, says Kazakh violin virtuoso Marat Bisengaliev about his India orchestra
World-renowned virtuoso violinist from Kazakhstan talks about his orchestra in India and how he fell in love with the country
- Mr Bisengaliev, as far as I know, the first ever professional symphonic orchestra in India – the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI, Mumbai) – was created in 2006. How was it established and where did the idea come from?
- To be honest, it was pure coincidence. The initiative to create an orchestra in Mumbai was coming from me and my friend Khushroo Suntook, Chairman of the Indian National Centre for the Performing Arts. He happened to attend my concert in London, and after the performance, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the UK, Erlan Idrissov, took him to our backstage room and made the introduction. Our friendship and cooperation started right there. Khushroo Suntook invited my orchestra to Mumbai and two years later we created a new local orchestra.
The most important thing was to impress the key person – Dr Baba, Chair of Tata Group.
Tata Group is an Indian transnational corporation based in Mumbai. It is one of the largest Indian companies in terms of revenue and market capitalisation. The corporation operates in communications and digital technologies, engineering, energy, services, chemicals etc. The Group has offices in more than 80 countries and has a network of more than 110 companies and branches. 65,8% of its assets are accumulated in various charities.
Dr Baba praised our orchestra as the most beautiful one he has ever listened to. I believe that his support played a crucial role in the success of our Mumbai orchestra, which now happily exists for more than 15 years. When we were laying its foundation, I was absolutely sure that in 10-15 years there would be a huge number of that kind of orchestras in India, like in China today. In China, by the way, there are more than 200 orchestras, whereas in India, to my great astonishment, our ensemble still remains the only professional orchestra in the country.
- I know that the majority of the orchestra’s musicians are from the Kazakh city of Uralsk. And you have only 12 Indian musicians there. Why is it so?
- Yes, most of the musicians in the orchestra are those who played with me in Uralsk. I will tell you a secret: my Uralsk orchestra was closed, so I had to transfer the musicians to Mumbai. I have a special approach when it comes to selecting Indian musicians. I would gladly take more musicians from India, but there is a criterion according to which I recruit people to my team.
First, there is a principle – there is no compromise in music, we need talented people (!) whose skills are not lower than high class. For this reason, we have not yet increased the number of musicians, but we have the SOI Music Academy which produces very promising and talented young people who, I am absolutely sure, will play in this orchestra in the future. This is the only way to make the Indian orchestra truly Indian.
- How was the love for India and Indian culture born?
- It is interesting that India is either loved or hated, there is no middle ground. I think that in this matter, people can be divided into two groups, and I consider myself to be in the “love” category, because I always, from the very beginning, liked the country, and especially its people, and, of course, the very philosophy of Buddhism, which I adhere to in life.
I will emphasise – not as religion, but as a philosophy: I adhere to those postulates in which I believe. I think that my meeting with Khushroo Santuk was not at all accidental. As the Indians say, it was karma. And, of course, I am attracted by the most ancient Indian culture. Every trip and flight to India is a flight home.
This country today is my second homeland where I spend most of my life, that is, the longest period of the year I am in Mumbai. And my core work is now devoted to this country.
Of course, it is impossible to compare the potential audience of listeners in Kazakhstan or even in Europe with that in the huge and densely populated India –about 1.3 billion people live there today. To have the only orchestra on this entire territory is a real Klondike.
But we are not limited to activities only in India – the orchestra is now trying to establish itself as one of the most powerful ones in Asia. By the way, we recently toured Switzerland, the UK, and in a year and a half we are planning to tour the UK, Russia and the Middle East. The popularity of the Indian orchestra is growing. In general, both the cultural sector and the entire economy of India are rapidly gaining momentum. According to the forecasts of Indian economists, by the year 2040, India will become the world’s richest country, and I share this point of view.
- Does your work require any investments today? If so, what kind of investment?
- The biggest investment is time. I have already mentioned that what I give the most is myself. And, of course, this applies not only to the orchestra, but also to the Academy (SOI Music Academy). I believe the Academy will leave a bigger mark in history than the orchestra itself. I am convinced it is the Academy that will form the basis for certain musical creative traditions, and it is thanks to the Academy that people will remember my name. English people call it “legacy”. In other words, it is through education that we will leave Western classical music as a heritage for the future generation, and graduates of the Academy will serve as the backbone of this music.
- What projects do you plan to implement in the future?
- There are many projects – and they are intended for many years to come. The Indian orchestra is quite traditional and many of my crazy projects that I implement, for example, in Kazakhstan, of course, will not be received in the same fashion in Mumbai.
Khushroo Santuk and his entourage are cultural pluralists, they are pure classics. They like only the classics, they do not even welcome the music of such composers as Karl William Pamp Jenkins or John Towner Williams, so there are projects I plan to implement in the future but they are more traditional.
The orchestra has strong sponsors and a strong foundation. We can attract the best conductors and soloists. We can show off some names here. I am happy that I can see the rehearsals of these magnificent conductors. This is a real value for me as these are excellent master classes and best music lessons.
- Has the global COVID-19 pandemic changed your plans, and how has the lockdown affected your projects and creative activity in general?
- Musicians who are self-employed and do not have a permanent job, who play in orchestras by invitation, and especially soloists whose concerts were cancelled due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, have certainly been greatly affected. This category of musicians suffered the most from the lockdown in many countries. For me, quarantine is a good opportunity to pause, recover, relax and spend time with my family, because I did not always manage to devote enough time to my wife and children. I have been constantly immersed in creativity and devoted myself to new projects. Because of COVID-19, my projects have been cancelled but I want to emphasise once again that for me personally, this quarantine was even necessary to some extent.
- Is it known that your daughter, Aruhan Galieva, is also interested in art, and not only in music, but also in cinema. Do you support her in this?
- My eldest daughter took a different path – she became an actress, she recently starred in Doctor Who, a popular British TV show, where she played one of the main characters. In many films and in Shakespeare’s Globe, she is often the singing actress. One example is the Anna Karenina film (2017 film adaptation). She is already known, and I think she has a lot to say through her work. And maybe she will become a lot more famous than me.
- Could we say that your children show strong affection for creativity or any kind of art? What do they do?
- My children are half-French. I live in a very beautiful place in France – it is undoubtedly a real cultural desert, it is difficult to find any teachers here, and there are simply no music teachers. At the school, which is not located too close to our home, children are taught flute lessons. They like to attend them, but those are not very high-level lessons. They are also fond of football, horse-riding, fencing – all of that is very well-developed here. I would say that fencing is a French sport. And the love of creativity is expressed mainly through listening. For example, in the car, we only listen to classical music together.
- I wish you more productive projects. We will be waiting for your spectacular shows in Kazakhstan!
- Thank you for the interview. I wish MyBusiness.kz prosperity!
Marat Bisengaliev (born 15 March, 1962, in Almaty, Kazakh SSR) is a famous Kazakh virtuoso violinist (“brilliant violin soloist” – The Times) and conductor.
He is the Honoured worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2000), Professor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, one of the Directors of the Alliance of Asia-Pacific Region Orchestras (AAPRO). Most of the time he lives in the south of France near the Pyrenees, works in the UK and India.
1988 – winner of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig (Germany)
1991 – first place at the International Nicanor Zabaleta Competition in Spain. He also received a special prize for the most virtuosic performance
2000 – Honoured Artist of Kazakhstan
2000 – order of Kurmet (order of Honour) from the government of the Kazakhstan
2000 – the first winner of the independent award of patrons of Kazakhstan – Platinum Tarlan in the category of Music
2010 – named “Kazakhstan’s musical symbol of the decade” by an independent poll
Marat Bisengaliev played with such renowned orchestras as the English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Ulster Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Northern Simfonia, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.
He has performed in world’s most prestigious concert halls: Carnegie Hall (New York), Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Wigmore Hall (London), The Bridgewater Hall (Manchester), Waterfront Hall (Belfast), Sheffield City Hall, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, among others.
The interview was originally published on MyBusiness.kz website in Russian:
https://mybusiness.kz/biznes/marat_bisengaliev_o_sozdanii_orkestra_v_indii_eto_byla_karma/186