Kicking off the new year with a special showcase in New York, accompanied by Nitin Mitta.
After playing to packed houses at London’s leading concert halls; Barbican and Southbank Centre, the celebrated UK-based sitar virtuoso Roopa Panesar plays a very special show in New York. Since her NY debut at the Women’s Voices Festival in 2014, and playing Lincoln Center a few years later she’s held a love for the city’s audience.
‘Panesar’s fingering is exact, mathematical, rising into a dreamy crescendo as her effort to manipulate her instrument grows’ (★★★★★ BuzzMag.co.uk)
Born in London and being raised in Leicester afforded Roopa Panesar the opportunity to learn sitar from an early age. At the age of seven, Roopa’s lifelong journey with renowned educationalist and leading UK musician Ustad Dharambir Singh ji MBE started, and she was quickly recognized as a talent for the future. She remains with her musical guru to this day.
‘One of the most important musicians to have emerged in the British Asian diaspora over the past few years. She expresses a profound sense of calmness laced with an inexplicable exhilaration.’ (★★★★ Songlines)
Known for her deeply expressive style and genre-crossing collaborations, Roopa Panesar brings the timeless beauty of the sitar to life in a performance that blends tradition with innovation.
‘Staggering dexterity.’ (The Guardian)
She has collaborated with artists such as Mercury Prize winner Talvin Singh and the Belgian Symphony Orchestra, and her musical journey has taken her to stages around the world – as well as projects ranging from BBC broadcasts to film soundtracks and royal commemorations.
Roopa is accompanied for this concert by New York-based tabla virtuoso Nitin Mitta.
Nitin is one of the most accomplished and distinctive tabla players of his generation, with a reputation for technical virtuosity, spontaneity, clarity of tone, and sensitivity to melodic nuances. He has performed worldwide with some of leading Hindustani classical musicians, including Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and with such important Carnatic musicians as Lalgudi G.J.R Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi.
“Masterful percussion, which flows like water” (allaboutjazz.com)
Mitta has also collaborated with GRAMMY-nominated pianist Vijay Iyer and electric guitarist R. Prasanna, as well as with vocalist Kiran Ahluwahlia, exploring jazz with Indian music. Another collaboration with R. Prasanna can be heard on the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning documentary Smile Pinky.
Born in Hyderabad in 1975, Nitin was blessed with raw talent and he gave his first solo tabla performance at the age of ten. During his studies he won many accolades, including first prize in the All India Competition held in Calcutta.
After moving to the United States in 2002, Nitin received a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on Arts. He was a member of the faculty at the Learn Quest Academy of Music in Waltham, MA . He has performed at several prominent venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Carnegie Hall, the UCLA Royce Hall, the Indian consulate in New York, and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
He currently lives in New York City, where he teaches, performs, records music, and conducts tabla workshops.