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WAJAHAT  KHAN

SAROD MAESTRO

Composer

Ustad Wajahat Khan is an accomplished composer and has led numerous successful world music collaborations in Indian classical, jazz, flamenco, rock, Western classical music and Opera. He has written and performed pioneering orchestral and chamber scores for Western classical as well as Indian instruments, working with renowned soloists and ensembles, including 3 sarod concertos and an award winning quintet for sarod and string quartet.



Wajahat Khan Quintet - sarod and string quartet

This extraordinary collaboration of Indian and Western Classical music is composed and performed by Wajahat Khan. The highly acclaimed work was premiered at a sold out Wigmore Hall in London to a standing ovation with one of the UK's leading international ensembles, Medici Quartet. It has since been performed with several renowned international quartets such as the Carducci String Quartet of UK and the Ciurlionis Quartet. Wajahat Khan has performed this work at prestigious venues and festivals including the Megaron (Athens), Sage Gateshead (UK) and the festivals of Bath (UK), Vilnius (Lithuania), Geneva (Switzerland) and Istanbul (Turkey). The recording release has also received rave reviews globally.



Wajahat Khan Sarod Concerto

Wajahat Khan has expanded the repertoire of the sarod into Western classical orchestras with 3 sarod concertos, for symphony/chamber/string orchestras and ensembles, receiving worldwide acclaim. In 1991 he performed the world premiere of his 1st sarod concerto in Kassell in the presence of the German President. Since then he has collaborated and performed with leading international orchestras such as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (Cape Town), KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra (Durban), London Sinfonietta, and premiered his 3rd sarod-concerto to a standing ovation with the Halle Symphony Orchestra for the 150th year celebration of The Halle, at the prestigious Bridgewater Hall in (Manchester).



Wajahat Khan and his Indian Classical Chamber Orchestra

Launched at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall in London for the 50th anniversary of India's Independence, Wajahat Khan created for the first time, an ensemble comprised solely of all the traditional instruments and percussion that are at the forefront of North Indian classical music scene today - sarod, sitar, surbahar, sarangi, santoor, shehnai, bansuri, pakhawaj and tabla, played by some of the leading soloists of the UK.  Subsequent performances have included the prestigious Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the UK.




Other collaborations

Wajahat Khan continues to work as a composer and performer globally. His most unique and celebrated family ensemble lead by his legendary father and three world renowned brothers comprising the '50 Fingers of Imrat Khan and sons' has mesmerized audiences all over the world.  He has toured his own world music ensemble, which includes the renowned flamenco/jazz guitarist Eduardo Niebla, on several occasions in Europe and UK; has performed with respected musicians in other genres as well, such as the Japanese shakuhachi maestro Yoshikazu Iwamoto and composed/recorded for the BRIT Award winning rock band Kula Shaker. He has also composed, performed and toured a unique opera called Queens of Govan with the Scottish Opera. More recently his duet performances and tours with the great Indian shehnai virtuoso Ustad Ali Ahmad Khan have been memorable. Their CD was the first sarod and shehnai duet ever recorded - another of Wajahat Khan's innovations to the sarod and Indian classical music.



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