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Program:
Johannes Brahms: Klavierstücke, Opus 118
Alexander N. Scriabin: Selected Preludes, Op. 11
Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp Minor (Sonata-Fantasy), Andante
Notes:
Mira T. Sundara Rajan is an Indo-Canadian pianist who has trained with leading musicians and teachers, including Wolfram Linnebach, Raymond Fisher, Jane Coop, Jacinthe Couture, and Marc Durand. She has performed widely, and her playing has been described by Deepa Alexander of The Hindu as “much better than …perfect.”
Mira’s pursuit of music is informed by the Indian aesthetic concept of “rasa”: the quest for the “essence, juice, taste, water, blood, elixir, beauty, [or] sentiment” of musical experience. Her ongoing “Scriabin Project” is dedicated to the works of Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915), the cosmopolitan Russian composer whose unique compositions from the early twentieth century were informed by his knowledge of Indian mysticism. The Scriabin Project offers a unique opportunity to interpret, perform, and record a selection of Scriabin’s key piano works, while also exploring the stories, history, and characters behind them.
Sonic innovation, harmonic focus, and melodic originality help to make Scriabin’s compositions an ideal bridge between West and East. They suggest the possibility of a re-unified conception of Indo-European classical music based on deep affinities between these two apparently disparate worlds.
Mira is also a writer, scholar, and advocate for artists’ rights. Her work has shaped the law protecting artists in India and informed policy on artists’ rights in Western and Eastern Europe, the UK, Korea, Japan, and the United States. Her latest book is a new edition of writing in English by Indian National Poet C. Subramania Bharati, also Mira’s great-grandfather, a poet and composer of modern classical songs in the Carnatic tradition of South India.