Concert at the Amrita Sher-gil Cultural Centre – the Embassy of India in Budapest, Hungary by Indo-European Youth Orchestra
The thrill of performing for the country is unparalleled. The Indo-European Youth Orchestra was invited to perform a concert at the prestigious Amrita Sher-gil Cultural Centre – the Embassy of India in Budapest, Hungary on 13th August 2022 to celebrate the 75th Independence Day of our incredible nation India. We are humbled that the audience thoroughly enjoyed it, this concert was really very special. We wholeheartedly thank H.E. Ambassador Partha Satpathy ji for inviting us for the special occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to share the joy of music with everyone. I also thank the respected HOC Mr. Ramji and everyone at the Embassy for making this happen, they have been very kind and cooperative throughout the event.
Indo-European Youth Orchestra is probably the first Western Classical Chamber/Youth Orchestra from India that performed in Europe. IEYO’s first concert in Europe was held in Budapest at the Danube Palace hall on 18th August 2019.
IEYO brought together an ensemble of young and advanced musicians from different parts of India, including nationalities of India, Hungary, Australia, South Korea and the United States for the second edition of the Grand Budapest Concert this year on 14th August 2022 at the prestigious Festetics Palota in Budapest, Hungar. The ensemble consisted of instrumentalists: ‘1st Violin and 2nd Violin sections, Viola, Cello and Santoor.’
The concert was directed under the baton of internationally known Indian composer and conductor Maestro Michael Makhal (Founder & Director of Music at IEYO). The young and adult musical talents had been selected through auditions from Mumbai, Hyderabad, Vellore, Kolkata, Aizawl and Bengaluru for the concert, which includes Indian, American, Australian and South Korean citizens. Also, one Indian American NRI member was selected from Tallahassee, the United States. This year we had two concerts in Budapest, Hungary. One, at Festetics Place and another at the ASCC, Embassy of India for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Our Indo-European Youth Orchestra (IEYO), an ensemble of its own kind, performed in Budapest with highly talented young and adult musicians. We had father and son Violinists in the ensemble, something very rare to see worldwide. We had young soloists from Hyderabad, students of the Art of Violin Hyderabad. Two wonderful young violinists from Mumbai, students of Troika Music School. There was a wonderful blend of students and professionals both. Our lead Violinist was from Mizoram, a highly skilled player. There were six professional Hungarian guest musicians who played with IEYO in both concerts, making it a true event of upholding friendship and spreading joy through music. Moreover, well-known Kolkata-based Santoor player Debanshu Sen, a student of Ustad Aashish Khan ji was part of the orchestra too in this year’s concerts in Hungary.
The Goal
The primary goal of the Indo-European Chamber/Youth Orchestra is to bring together talented Indian Western Classical musicians from different parts of the World under one terrain and perform concerts collaborating with Western Maestros, students, and performers at prestigious fests and reputed venues in India, Europe and all over the World.
Orchestra’s specialty – the Repertoire
The ensemble not only performs the greats like Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, and Elgar, but it has a unique repertoire that includes Raga-based music precisely written for Western Classical structured orchestra by Maestro Makhal – who already has an admiring and loyal audience for his compositions in the USA, UK, Italy, and India. Maestro Makhal’s latest work for Santoor solo and String Orchestra – ‘Suswagatam’ will have its World premiere in this concert in Budapest. The Orchestra also has a guest composer and arranger from Kolkata Arup Paul, who is known for his western orchestral arrangement of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs, has arranged the famous Tagore Song ‘Jodi tor dak shune keu na ashe’ for this concert.
Formation Story
Indo-European Chamber/Youth Orchestra was first formed by Michael Makhal in 2018. The orchestra was launched at the Hyderabad Autumn International Music Fest Concert on 28th October 2018 under the batons of Maestro Makhal and the co-founders of the fest, ace musicians from Europe Maestro Alessandro Viale (Italian Pianist & Conductor), Rebecca Raimondi (Italian Violinist), Urška Horvat (Slovenian Cellist) along with the ensemble of very talented Indian musicians. The ensemble performed in the grand finale of the 1st Autumn International Music Fest & Masterclasses Hyderabad before a packed audience at the Ravindra Bharathi Auditorium. The Press and Critics both have been very generous in appreciating the orchestra and the performance.
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