Param Vir

An award-winning composer of opera and instrumental works, Param Vir’s music fuses Western tradition and Eastern aesthetics. Born in Delhi, he grew up in a household suffused with the sounds of Indian classical music and began composition lessons at the age of 14 with Hans Joachim Koellreuter. By the time he was 17 years old, he had already composed several short pieces using the 12-tone tecynique. In 1983 he moved to England to pursue his studies with Peter Maxwell Davies at Dartington and later with Oliver Knussen at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has a particular affinity for dramatic genres and amongst his most performed works are the operatic double bill SNATCHED BY THE GODS & BROKEN STRINGS, commissioned by Henze for the Munich Biennale, and the full length opera ION which premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival. Among his concert works, Horse Tooth White Rock, The Theatre of Magical Beings and Hayagriva each draw their inspiration from ancient mythologies, while the vast orchestral canvas of Between Earth and Sky evokes the disorientating beauty of the sculpture of Anish Kapoor. Recent works include a much-acclaimed BBC Proms commission Cave of Luminous Mind and Raga Fields for sarod and large ensemble commissioned and toured by BCMG, Fulcrum Point New Music Projects (Chicago) and Klangforum Wien (Vienna). NMC released a portrait CD Wheeling Past the Stars in 2021 and his opera double bill was released on Metier in 2024 performed by London Sinfonietta and conducted by Markus Stenz.  

 

Stand 2025