Legendary Sitarist Ravi Shankar and Daughter Anoushka Shankar Return to Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall October 17

Baltimore, Md. (September 4, 2007) - Dubbed "the godfather of world music" by friend, pupil and Beatle George Harrison, the legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar returns to the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for a one-night engagement Wednesday, October 17. Joining the maestro is his daughter and protégée, 26-year-old sitarist Anoushka Shankar, herself a highly regarded performer and the only person in the world ever trained solely by Mr. Shankar. The program will feature traditional Indian classical music as well as Ravi Shankar's own compositions. See below for complete program information.

A renowned virtuoso, Ravi Shankar has performed throughout the world for eight decades. In addition to his mastery of the sitar, he is a writer and teacher, and his compositions for orchestra and for film have won him high praise, including a Grammy Award and Oscar nominations for the film score to Gandhi. Anoushka Shankar has followed in her father's footsteps, first collaborating with him on the 1994 CD In Celebration when she was just 13. The first woman and youngest person, at age 17, ever awarded the House of Commons Shield by the British Parliament, Ms. Shankar has gone on to launch her own successful career in performance, composition and recording. In addition to their independent projects, father and daughter tour together each year.

Ravi Shankar is widely credited for bringing Indian classical music to the attention of the world in the 1960s. Originally a means of spiritual meditation dating back 2,000 years to ancient Hindu scripture, the art form combines melodies and rhythms into distinct modes, called ragas, each of which is associated with a specific mood and season. Performing on traditional instruments, including the sitar and tabla (drum), musicians improvise within ragas, with an aesthetic intent of conveying the performer's inner spirit.

Ravi Shankar, sitar
Legendary virtuoso sitarist, composer, teacher and writer Ravi Shankar is India's most esteemed musical ambassador and a singular phenomenon, whose artistry crosses all cultural and musical boundaries. A student of the illustrious guru "Baba" Ustad Allaudin Khan, Mr. Shankar was already one of the brightest stars in India before coming to international attention in the 1960s. Since then, he has been the foremost pioneer in disseminating India's rich classical music tradition to the West.

A prolific and sought-after composer, Ravi Shankar has written numerous works for Western collaborations, in addition to his many traditional ragas and talas. His Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra was commissioned and premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra under André Previn. A second sitar concerto, Raga-Mala (A Garland of Ragas), was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta in 1980.

Ravi Shankar has composed extensively for film and ballet. His scores for Satyajit Ray's acclaimed Apu trilogy raised film music to a new standard of excellence, and he was nominated for both a Grammy and Oscar for his original score to Gandhi, the Academy Award-winning classic by Sir Richard Attenborough. Mr. Shankar's extensive discography of more than 60 albums includes Angel Records' 1996 release In Celebration, a lavishly documented four-CD retrospective of his greatest recordings issued in honor of his 75th birthday.

Mr. Shankar continues to tour each season all over the world with regular visits to Europe and the Far East. He is the author of three books: My Music, My Life (in English), Rag Anurag (in Bengali), and Raga Mala (in English), an autobiography that was released in 1999.

Anoushka Shankar, sitar
Anoushka Shankar has shown herself to be a unique artist with tremendous talent and understanding of the great musical tradition of India. She is the only artist in the world to be trained completely by her father, Ravi Shankar, the legendary sitar virtuoso and composer. She has been playing and studying the sitar with him since she was nine, and at age 13 she made her performing debut in New Delhi, India. That same year, Anoushka entered the recording studio for the first time to play on her father's recording, In Celebration. Shortly thereafter she signed an exclusive record contract with Angel/EMI. In the autumn of 1998, her first solo recording, Anoushka, was released to tremendous critical acclaim.

Anoushka spent her formative years in London, where she was born in 1981. By the time she was seven she was also living partly in New Delhi, India, where she still spends half the year performing and helping to take care of the Ravi Shankar Centre.

Anoushka now spends much of the year giving solo performances in Europe, America and Asia, and continues touring the world with her father's ensemble. Anoushka is also championing her father's Concerto No. 1 for Sitar and Orchestra. After a year's sabbatical in 2004, Anoushka has returned to the concert stage and has also grown as a composer. She scored the music for a short film titled Ancient Marks, and released her fourth solo album, Rise, which features several of her new compositions, played by her and many notable instrumentalists from India and the West. Her newest recording, Breathing Under Water, will be released in August 2007.

COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION
Meyerhoff Event: Ravi Shankar with Anoushka Shankar
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 7:30 p.m.-Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Ravi Shankar, sitar
Anoushka Shankar, sitar
Tanmoy Bose, tabla
Ravichandra Kulur, flute

Concert program to be announced from stage.

Please note the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will not appear in this performance.

Special anniversary pricing for the 2007-2008 season at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is made possible by generous underwriting from the PNC Foundation.

Tickets for this concert range from $31-$81 and are available beginning August 23 through the BSO Ticket Office, 410.783.8000 or www.BSOmusic.org.