Music in the Museum: June

Playing Raga Bageshri on Alto flute with tabla accompaniment will be Audrey Milheres, who is an enthusiastic and committed flautist with more than 15 years of experience in teaching the flute. 

Currently the Director of Music at the London Youth Conservatoire, Audrey Milhères trained as a flautist at Bordeaux Conservatoire, graduating from the specialised cycle with distinction, while also studying for a Masters in Music at Bordeaux University, followed by a 2nd Masters in Cultural Engineering. Audrey subsequently enrolled for a music performance Masters at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama/City University. Audrey is a founding member of the contemporary music ensemble ‘The Octandre Ensemble’, and has performed at venues and festivals including LSO St Luke, St John’s Smith Square, JW3, BBC Radio 3, The Coronet Theatre, and Villa Concordia Bamberg.

Raga Bageshri for Alto Flute and Tabla is from a series of works commissioned by The Arts Council England and gives a western trained musician the opportunity to experienced South Asian classical music in a performance situation. The piece is structure in the classical form of Alap (slow unmetered section), Japtal (ten beat rhythmic cycle) and Teental (16 beat rhythmic cycle).

Playing the Bansuri (Indian flute) and Dilruba will be Kiran Sodhi-Kalsi-Ghatoure, who will perform a set of three ragas journeying from fearless-carefree strength in Dhnaasree (A-tuned bansuri), to ever-searching longing in Sorath (D-tuned dilruba), ending with heroic fulfilment in Kaliyaan (E-tuned bansuri). Kiran’s style bounces between ambient & kinetic, with each raag channelling an embodied mood that unravels emotionally from every feeling expressed.

Kirab is a versatile instrumentalist, composer, producer, and multi-disciplinary artist with particular interests in Indian classical music and electronic hip-hop. Their work includes collaborations with prestigious arts organisations, wellness clubs and festivals; blending diverse musical genres whilst exploring Kiran’s queer, cross-spiritual, Punjabi-diasporic identity; notably with their co-founded sound collective db0 Also active as a yoga and ayurvedic instructor, Kiran likes to combine his passions through offerings of sound yoga. Prior to their music career, Kiran worked in videography and photography, and interdisciplinary work remains key to their practice. Accompanied by tabla.