A clear night sky and a pre-winter nip in the air provided the perfect setting for the third edition of the Western Classical Music Concerts at Victoria Memorial Hall’s Eastern Quadrangle, organised by Alliance Française du Bengale. The concert series kicked off on November 11, with French pianist Kim Barbier showcasing her recital, Shadow & Light, to a mesmerised audience
Photographs by Soumyajit Dey
The evening began with a welcome address by Alliance Française du Bengale’s executive director Nicolas Facino. ‘Over the past two editions of this concert series, we have seen the transformative power of music, and its ability to unite people from different backgrounds. We promise to take things up a notch with this edition, and today is the first in a series of five concerts!’
The evening was cherished by guests from around the world. Deputy consul-general of Japan Matsutaro Yamasaki and Australian consul-general Hugh Boylan were in the audience. ‘I was thrilled to attend such a fantastic concert, made even more beautiful by this wonderful venue,’ said Boylan. Yamasaki added: ‘The notes of the piano really spoke to me, and Alliance Française deserves credit for bringing Kolkata closer to Western classical music’
Samarendra Kumar, secretary and curator of Victoria Memorial Hall, promised that bigger things were in store. “This is just the start, with four more concerts set to draw visitors to Victoria Memorial this winter. To have Western classical music playing against the backdrop of one of the most iconic Indian cultural spaces is poetry’
