After 18 long months, The Bangalore School of Music, with team The Bangalore Men and Capella Bangalore, is getting ready to take centre stage. Making things quite different this time, the choir will be singing non-classical pieces in addition to Broadway and musical songs. Calling it Bangalore Rhapsody, there will be a collection of songs by Queen, The Beatles, Lloyd-Webber and more. There will also be musical pieces from West Side Story, The Lion King, The Man of La Mancha and more. The concert, consisting of solos, duets and choirs, is backed by pianists Rebecca Thomas Colaco and Shantanu Patel, under the baton of Jonas Olsson, conductor of the choirs and head of the vocal department at The BSM.
Continuing with virtual concerts and practices since the pandemic hit last year, the team is really looking forward to finally performing for a live audience. Olsson says, “Working virtually was good and we did get some great results, but it’s time to go back to the old routine now. We’ve been practising in person since September.” From recording in solitude, it’s a welcome change, as Olsson points out. “All this while we had to practice and record individually, imaging what the whole set would sound like. Now, we can make immediate changes which makes the whole mixing process easier. To top it all, it’s so much easier to conduct a concert physically than virtually. But it felt so rustic when we regrouped in September,” says Olsson with a laugh.
Capella Bangalore consists of an all-women 42-member crew, while The Bangalore Men, as the name suggests, comprises 22 male singers. “Even during the pandemic, we have a few new recruits. They were working with us virtually, so this one is going to be their first show with us,” he says, adding that only a couple of them have left to pursue higher studies. “We’re known for singing western classical songs. We love doing it, but since we’re coming back after such a long time, we felt a change in the type of music was the right type of explosive return everyone needs,” Olsson says.
Performers feed off the energy of the audience, and Colaco is thrilled she can do that again. “As a musician, I am thrilled to be able to practice and perform on stage once again. As musicians, we feed off the energy of the audience and that excites us to perform better. It’s amazing to know that both our shows are already sold out — people want live shows once again too, I suppose,” Colaco adds. Bangalore
Rhapsody will be performed on October 30, at the Bangalore International Centre, Domlur, and November 13 at East Cultural Association, Indiranagar. For tickets, log on to bookmyshow.com