Date: October 4, 2014
Venue: St. Peter’s Church (NY)
Review by Dawoud Kringle
HarmoNYom in collaboration with Robert Browning Associates kicked off its Women’s Voices Festival at St. Peter’s Church with the New York debut of London based sitarist Roopa Panesar.
Panesar began training at the age of seven under sitar maestro Ustad Dharambir Singh. She also studied under Pandit Arvind Parikh, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Ustad Bahauddin Dagar, Ustad Siraj Khan and Pt. Ajoy Chakroborty. As well as being deeply rooted in the classical tradition, Roopa has collaborated with musicians from different genres such as Talvin Singh, Laura Wright and Dirk Brosse to name a few. Roopa has toured extensively in the UK, Europe and USA, and released her debut album Khoj in 2011. She also teaches the sitar, and is involved in numerous projects to inspire and educate the next generation of Indian classical musicians.
