Musician Anoushka Shankar returns to Sydney Opera House after a hiatus

Every year since 1977, Sydney – the Australian city known for the famous harbour front Sydney Opera House – has been ringing in the New Year with the month-long Sydney Festival, which steers city-wide celebration of art bursting into the summer calendar with a variety of programs.

This year, one of the highlights was the return of popular ‘sitar’ player Anoushka Shankar to the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House.

Musician and composer Shankar, with nine Grammy nominations to her name, played to a packed hall, along with her fellow musicians; their music revealing a dynamic neoclassical approach to Indian music.

Shankar studied sitar under the instruction of her father – late maestro Ravi Shankar – and has been giving public performances from 13 years of age.

Melding music styles has been one of her popular styles, from incorporating electronic music on Rise and Breathing Underwater to the flamenco meets raga 2011 album, Traveller.

Shankar’s first Australian tour in 2008 was a sold out.

Back in Sydney after her 2018 standout shows, this time she presented new material from mini-album Chapter I: Forever, For Now, alongside reinterpreted gems from her previous releases.

Shankar led the soiree with London instrumentalists- clarinettist Arun Ghosh, drummer-composer Sarathy Korwar, Carnatic percussionist Pirashanna Thevararajah and bassist Tom Farmer - all  talented solo artists in their own right,

The performance combined contemporary music which drew deeply from Indian classical roots and the lived experience of a global diaspora. 

Her ultimate piece for the evening titled ‘Reunion’ was well received by the audience.