Scottish orchestra to play for children during India tour

Municipal school children here will get a slice of western classical music with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (SSO) scheduled to play exclusively for them.
The 76-member orchestra, one of the largest to visit the country, is on its debut three-city tour in March and April with concerts, educational workshops and exchanges between music students of India and Scotland.
"It is a huge honour and privilege to share our music with new audiences in India," Gavin Reid, Director BBC SSO told PTI in an interview.
Prior to the concerts in Siri Fort in Delhi on April 1-2, the orchestra has lined up concerts in Chennai on March 29 and will then proceed to Mumbai on April 6.

The India visit is the centrepiece of the orchestra's activities leading to upcoming 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and is being organised by the British Council and the Royal Conservatorie of Scotland.
In Delhi there will be a one-hour-long concert for over 3600 children mostly from the Navyug schools of the NDMC.

"While children from public and private schools have the opportunity to go abroad and attend concerts, this is a first time that municipal school students will get the chance to listen to western style symphony concerts," Sanjeev Bharghava of NGO Seher said.
The Delhi leg is organised in collaboration with Seher. In Chennai they are collaborating with Academy award winning composer A R Rahman's K M Music Conservatory and in Mumbai with international composer Zubin Mehta's NGO, the Mehli Mehta Foundation.

"Rahman and his students had performed with the BBC SSO in Glasgow in January this year and as part of an exchange programme students from the conservatorie of Scotland will collaborate with them at Chennai," Reid said.
Music education expert Paul Rissmann, who Reid said has spent his life working with children and introducing them to different styles of music, will conduct presentations.
"Paul is a terrific young Scot and he is used to mostly working with young children. He will be using projectors and on screen presentations to visually illustrate and engage audiences," Reid said.
This, he said, would be particularly helpful to introduce children who have less or no initiation to the world of western music.