Beginning 20 January, audiences in five Indian cities will be treated to a unique musical experience. A team of over a hundred musicians – from the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg and students of the KM Music Conservatory, Chennai – will perform the music of A R Rahman. The musical tour is part of the celebrations for the Year of Germany in India.

The tour also coincides with the centenary celebrations of Studio Babelsberg, the world's oldest film studio based in Germany, and the beginning of the moving picture era in India. The concert tour will open in Mumbai on 20 January, 2012, and will then travel to Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore. The 100-member orchestra will perform some of Rahman's favourites from films such as Bombay, Swades, The Rising, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and others. 

Enlarge image (© www.germany-and-india.com) Commenting on this unique initiative, the Oscar-winning musician said, "I am really excited and grateful for this gesture of the Babelsberg Orchestra for doing this tour in India along with our students and kids from the KM Music Conservatory. I am sure this will be a new experience to Indian score lovers.” 

The Acting Ambassador of Germany to India, Cord Meier-Klodt remarked, "When listening to this merger of two unique musical traditions, we may expect nothing short of the sublime! The German Film Orchestra performing A R Rahman in five Indian metropolises is bound to be a very historic musical event."

The compositions have been specially arranged by Matt Dunkley, a long-time collaborator with Rahman. Dunkley has a rich body of work for Hollywood film composers such as Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard and Clint Mansell. He has also conducted for prestigious orchestras in the UK and other parts of Europe, including the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg in the recent past. This will be the first time he plays Rahman to home audiences.

“I think for myself and the orchestra this tour will be a journey in more than one way," says Dunkley. "Everybody tells me that your first visit to India is a life-changing event, so I'm looking forward to experiencing all that India has to offer. It will be fascinating too to see the reaction of an Indian audience exposed, some for the first time, to the glorious sound of a full symphony orchestra and classical choir performing some of maestro Rahman's beautiful orchestral film music. I feel very honoured to be part of this historic project."

One of the key persons who put together the programme, the director of Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai Marla Stukenberg commented, "The tour of the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg to India in January 2012 pays tribute to the rich cultural collaboration between Germany and India and opens a new chapter in the area of musical relations between the two countries.  I am sure fans of A R Rahman will enjoy this different experience of a classical orchestra from Germany performing to his scores, signifying truly that music has no boundaries."

This collaborative project is presented in India by Lapp India, a leading German cable and connectivity solutions company.