Anoushka Shankar delights at the Dresden Music Festival

Sitar player Anoushka Shankar has enriched the Dresden Music Festival with an Indian timbre. The exceptional artist performed a program of pieces from her latest album and older material at the Kulturpalast in the city on the Elbe on Monday evening. She was accompanied by first-class musicians Arun Ghosh (clarinet), Tom Farmer (double bass), Sarathy Korwar (drums) and Ragavendra Prathap (percussion).

After a while, when the sound technology had adapted to the acoustic conditions in the hall, the ensemble's music could be heard in all its beauty. The audience thanked them with a standing ovation and received an encore in the form of a piece that Shankar had recorded with her half-sister Norah Jones - "Traces of You". Arun Ghosh took over the vocals with his clarinet.

Shankar is no stranger to Dresden. During the coronavirus pandemic, she performed the music to the classic film "Shiraz - A Romance of India" ("The Tomb of a Great Love") live on the same stage. The silent film from 1928 by director Franz Osten is a milestone in Indian filmmaking and established the Bollywood tradition. Anoushka Shankar - daughter of sitar legend Ravi Shankar - composed music for the love story surrounding the creation of the Taj Mahal World Heritage Site in 2017.

The Dresden Music Festival is considered the best-known classical music festival in eastern Germany and this year's theme is "Horizons". At 60 concerts, the audience was and is offered a wide range of music. The festival kicked off on May 10 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam under the direction of its future chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä. Rock star Sting was also among the guests. The festival comes to an end on Sunday.