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Shirish Korde is celebrated for “integrating and synthesizing music of diverse cultures into breathtaking works of complex expressive layers” Musical America. He is among “a few contemporary composers who have been deeply touched by music of non-Western cultures, Jazz, and computer technology and who has created a powerful and communicative compositional language” Computer Music Journal. His distinctive music has been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe. Shirish Korde’s compositions are characterized by a life-long search for a personal musical language, which is characterized by the influences of diverse musical traditions ranging from the throat singers of Tuva, and Vedic chanting of India, to the shimmering colors of the Balinese Gamelan.

His close collaborations with musicians from diverse musical traditions are a hallmark of his distinctive voice.  The recent violin concerto, Svara-Yantra, a collaboration with virtuoso violinist, Joanna Kurkowicz, and master tabla player, Samir Chatterjee, was premiered in Katowice, Poland by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2005.  A reviewer called Svara-Yantra “a haunting work, richly imbued with Indian colors and musical tradition, which offers something unique and powerful with all manner of exotic and imaginative texture and color from both soloist and orchestra.“

Svara-Yantra was performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington at the Asia Pacific Festival in New Zealand in February 2007, and the Koszalin Philharmonic in Poland in June 2007.  This work was recently released on the Chandos label (www.chandos.net) as an mp3 and is available as a CD on Amazon.com and Neuma Records (neumarecords.com). Nesting Cranes, for flute and string orchestra, was premiered in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Music NOW series by flutist, Jennifer Gunn, under the direction of Ludovic Morlot, in April of 2007. A song cycle based on the life of Phoolan Devi, India’s Bandit Queen, which combines the classical traditions of North and South India with contemporary musical techniques was premiered by Da Capo Chamber Players at Merkin Hall, New York in June 2006.

In the 2007-8 season, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra gave the U.S. Premiere of Svara-Yantra.  There were several performances throughout Massachusetts under the direction of Ben Zander, featuring violinist Joanna Kurkowicz and tabla master Samir Chatterjee.  In May 2008, the Boston Musica Viva presented the world premiere of Songs of Ecstasy featuring Zorana Sadiq, soprano, chamber ensemble and Indian classical dancer, Wendy Jehlen, at Tsai Performance Center at Boston University.  The Da Capo Chamber Players of New York played Korde’s commissioned work, Blue Topeng 2, for chamber ensemble and Balinese Gamelan soloists in a series of concerts in the spring of 2008 in New York.   Peggy Pierson and Windsor Music will premiere a new oboe quartet in their series in Lexington, MA in the spring of 2009.