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News and Reviews

PRESS REVIEWS
ZANE DALAL – CONDUCTOR
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF INDIA – UK TOUR 2019

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Zane Dalal conducted the first in a series of UK concerts to maximum effect, with a programme ranging from fizzing Berlioz to a concerto for tabla and orchestra

"Dalal opened with a fizzing performance of Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, which provided an opportunity to appreciate the quality of the orchestra’s woodwind playing and the fierce solidity of its brass. And every section of the SOI received an even more searching examination in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. There was no doubting the character of the principal clarinet and bassoon, or the rich depth of the string tone, the latter led by the solo violin of Adelina Hasani. Nor was there doubting Dalal’s ability to use it all to maximum effect."
Andrew Clements – The Guardian

The week in classical: Symphony Orchestra of India/ Dalal; Vienna Philharmonic/ Fischer; the Sixteen

"Many top soloists, and conductor Zane Dalal … leading this tour, have worked with the SOI already, boosting standards and confidence."
"Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture made an exuberant opening, and the choice of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Arabian Nights fantasy, Scheherazade, Op 35, had obvious occidental-oriental logic. Brass and woodwind showed their strengths."
Fiona Maddocks – The Observer – The Week in Classical

"This unique musical twinning … saw Hussain bring out a tremendous array of colour from his paired drums, his subtle hemiolas perfectly entwining around Dalal’s measured beat and the orchestra’s steady tactus"
"Opening the programme with Berlioz’s overture Le Carnaval Romain, The orchestra played with a springy, youthful feel. Dalal’s beat was crisp and clear..."
"“... performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Conducting here was ...subtle and stylish, Dalal carefully teasing at the shifts in tempi and pulling out the nuances of the work. In a performance which could rival some of Europe’s major orchestras, the SOI wove a vivid tapestry evocative of Scheherazade’s tales, with soaring woodwind, punchy brass and warm strings. This is clearly an orchestra that’s going places."
Miranda Heggie – The Arts Desk

"...the orchestra’s performance of Scheherazade, ...the joy of this performance was the quartet of woodwind principals, ... Clarinets kicked up their heels – and lifted their bells – in the opening Sea and Sinbad's Ship episode, ... Dalal’s Scheherazade was stately..."
Mark Pullinger – Bachtrack

"...the conductor was the elegant, clear-beating and obviously assiduous rehearser Zane Dalal (I would love to hear him conduct The Rite of Spring). He framed Peshkar with a brilliant Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture and a stirring Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade. ... the whole concept worked well as chamber-music played on a huge symphonic canvas. The encore could not have been more topical and politically appropriate: The Magnificent Seven."
Christopher Morley – Midlands Classical Music Making

A Persuasive UK Debut from India’s first-ever symphony orchestra.
Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

"...this is a serious outfit with a rich, grainy sound and some striking individual players among the woodwind in particular. Under its associate music director, British-born conductor… Zane Dalal, the orchestra launched with a performance of Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture that whirled along at a startling pace."

"...the performance after the interval of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade was an opportunity for those solo players to shine…it was a full blooded and stirring rendition."
Ivan Hewett – The Daily Telegraph ★★★★ Four Star Review
Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

February 2019

Hrishi K with Zane Dalal

Click here to listen to the interview

April 2017

"Stepping into another conductor’s shoes can be a thankless task, but for the second and third performances (of Puccini’s La Bohème) the SOI’s associate music director Zane Dalal took up the baton and held everything together with complete fluency. Having retained Rizzi’s tempos on February 9th, he broadened things a little on February 11 to accommodate two changes of cast.

...these performances captured the enduring freshness of Puccini’s opera…truer to the spirit of the piece…than many a grander production."

John Allison – OPERA NOW – April 2017

September 2016

Comments and Responses following a live performance of
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
Symphony Orchestra of India
Zane Dalal – Associate Music Director and Conductor
22 September, 2016

Click here to read comments and responses

  • India at Victoria Hall:
    Zakir Hussain's Tabla with Honours

    English Translation
  • LE TEMPS
    India invests in the classics


    English Translation
  • ST. GALLER TAGBLATT
    Tablas Conquer the St. Gallen Tonhalle

    English Translation
  • Zürcher Unterländer
    The Orchestra from the other Music Continent

    English Translation
  • ...spirited performance of Smetana’s "Bartered Bride,"...

    ...The applause at the end of the second half reached almost the same level of enthusiasm. Zane Dalal shaped Béla Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" with extreme care, true to the sensuous and serene beauty, which makes this masterwork of the 20th century an 'experience'.

    ...a standing ovation, quite uncharacteristic for St. Gallen

    ...The Symphony Orchestra of India concert under Zane Dalal Friday evening was indeed pure enjoyment.

    Rolf App - St.Gallen Tagblatter

  • Zane Dalal...impressive stature and a solid musical background

    ...the Geneva audience warmly manifested their pleasure at listening to an orchestra so disciplined, so committed and so full of energy and enthusiasm.

    ...the musicians ...under the baton of Zane Dalal…displayed a vitality and a mastery which would have won the unreserved approval of Bartok and Smetana.

    Peshkar by Zakir Hussain... the audience was lost in admiration by the virtuosity of the musician and composer

    Sylvie Bonier – Le Temps, Genève

  • The orchestra is currently on tour in Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich, St. Gallen), and on Tuesday it demonstrated its level impressively in the Tonhalle with the understated and masterful conductor Zane Dalal –

    Herbert Büttiker - Zürcher Unterländer

  • Smetana's overture to "The Bartered Bride" and Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" are veritable examination pieces to test orchestral virtuosity. It begins with the vivacissimo fugue in the violins of the Smetana, and carries on throughout all the orchestra sections in the Bartok. The wind instruments are presented one after the other in the second movement ("Presentando le coppie"). It alternates between expressive melodies ("Elegia") and laughter ("Intermezzo"), subtle colours, and solemn brass, as well as fine technical prowess in the strings in the presto finale: Nothing is left out in this piece, and the large Symphony Orchestra of India left nothing out.

    Herbert Büttiker - Zürichseezeitung

January 2015
An Evening with Zane Dalal - Literary Society of Bombay

September 2014
Zane Dalal was appointed Associate
Music Director of the Symphony
Orchestra of India

March 2014
Press review from concert in Almaty, Kazakhstan

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