Anoushka Shankar with OMM

“…she put personal expression into songs following the scales of ancient ragas, which can only be mastered through years of rigorous practice.” – The Sunday Times Review 

The Shankar house, a respite from a world where Anoushka grew up under the public’s intense gaze, was seldom a silent place. Musicians were a permanent presence—learning, rehearsing, improvising, or simply playing musical games around the dinner table. Anoushka began studying the sitar and Indian classical music from the age of 9 under the intensive tutelage of her father, Pandit Ravi Shankar: a master of the instrument, and a figure without whom 20th century music would quite simply not have been what it was. After making her professional debut at 13, she began touring worldwide alongside her father, then embarked on a successful touring career when she was 18, becoming known for her virtuosic yet emotional playing style, unusual instrumentation, and precise rhythmic interplay. Having discovered electronic music as a teenager before later immersing herself in the Goan psychedelic trance scene, she found parallels with the meditative, introspective qualities of Indian classical music in the ecstatic release of the dancefloor—using different colours to paint the same picture.

“Intriguingly beautiful… A mercurial sound indeed” – DJ Mag

As a two-year-old Manu Delago began what would become a very musically-inclined life as he sat behind his first drum kit and started playing for various bands as a young teenager.

He has also collaborated with various genre-leading artists. He appeared as a guest on two albums of psy-trance producers Shpongle and performed on various occasions. In 2011, he recorded for Björk's Biophilia album and has since been her touring drummer, playing four world tours with the Icelandic singer. In 2013, he started performing and writing music with the sitar-player Anoushka Shankar. For his work on her album Land of Gold, Manu Delago earned a Grammy nomination.

Joshua has conducted the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Beethoven Bonn Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra amongst others. He has studied with various eminent conductors—James DePreist, Charles Dutoit, David Zinman and Kurt Masur.

Joshua is at home with symphonic, operatic, ballet works and also equally adept with music for film and multimedia. Presently Principal Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Director of the Asia Virtuosi, he has served successful stints as Resident Conductor of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (China) Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

“We are the music makers. And we are the dreamers of dreams.” – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, Ode 

The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) is a Singapore-based symphony orchestra established in 2008, comprising over 140 highly trained volunteer musicians. Although many have chosen careers outside of music, its musicians are dedicated to the high standards of music-making and community work which OMM stands for. Under the mentorship of Chan Tze Law, a leading Singaporean conductor, and Vice-Dean of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, OMM has become an integral part of Singapore’s classical music scene and has gained international repute.