Reaching our seventh anniversary is a profound milestone for us as an institution. In Indian music, we speak of the seven foundational notes — Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni — that form the bedrock of all melodies. In much the same way, these past seven years have been the foundational building blocks of our museum’s journey.

What has remained completely unchanged since day one is our core purpose — being a space for deep musical discovery and keeping our foundational, interactive spirit intact. Our nine thematic galleries and the outdoor kinetic Sound Garden, where visitors physically touch stone and metal to explore the physics of vibration and the science behind music still remain the bedrock of the IME experience. Over the last seven years, we have continuously introduced new community projects, public programs and cutting-edge creative technology to deepen our digital storytelling. This includes taking the museum experience far beyond our physical walls and engaging our community partners through arts-based workshops over the past few years. We have also launched a series of specialised exhibitions that dive deeper into specific facets of Indian music and we’ve brought entirely fresh narratives into our physical space, such as the recent induction of legendary musician Annapurna Devi into our permanent galleries, expanding our curation to bring lesser-known or marginalised musical histories to the absolute forefront.

This concert itself has been a couple of years in the making. L Subramaniam has been a close artiste advisor and friend of the IME for many years. In fact, he is featured in our permanent ‘Colonial Influences’ gallery, where we have a video of him demonstrating the distinct differences in how the violin is played across western and carnatic musical forms. It has been an exhilarating journey of cross-disciplinary coordination working with him and his team. We have artistes coming in from all over India and even Dubai. We actually have a full month of celebrations at the IME. We will also be celebrating our formal Foundation Day weekend at the end of July with curated walkthroughs and a truly historic milestone — our first major artiste induction into the Stars Gallery since our opening. We are deeply honoured to induct L Subramaniam into our permanent exhibition galleries. To round out this milestone month, we are also announcing the inaugural recipients of our WHAM (Women’s History, Art & Music) Research Grant. This heralds an exciting new chapter for the IME as we actively fund and champion fresh, inclusive scholarship in music history.

The concert will be a musical journey, featuring compositions inspired by wester n classical music, Indian classical music and include works based on raga harmony and my Global Fusion concept — bringing together diverse musical traditions through intricate polyrhythms and rich orchestral textures. As the music unfolds, the audience will experience the sounds of different cultures and traditions, almost as though they are travelling the world through music. Each musical tradition has its own unique identity and this concert brings them together into one seamless musical experience. If a person has an opportunity to travel around the world, they can also visualise different parts of the world through this journey. More than presenting different styles of music, the programme celebrates the unity of cultures and the universal language of music.

INR 1,499 onwards. July 11, 7 pm. At MLR Cultural Centre, Whitefield.

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.