I am delighted to be on the road this autumn, winter, and spring for premieres, concerts, lectures, rehearsals, workshops, and research! During this time, I'll be traveling to the West and East coasts of the US, to the UK, and to South Asia. Several of the events are open to the public – I'd love to see you in person at these various sites! Here is the plan:

Part 1: Autumn 2024

PORTLAND, OREGON :

I'm thrilled to be at Reed College for their co-commissioned premiere of Whose Names Are Unknown, my new work for choir, strings, and piano. Whose Names Are Unknown takes its title from its source text, a riveting novel by Sanora Babb. The piece is about climate catastrophe during the Dust Bowl, workers' rights & resistance during the Great Depression, and how we can learn from this period in American history to confront the crises of today. I'm at Reed College all week visiting classes and rehearsals, along with visiting nearby Lewis & Clark College. My residency culminates in the premiere's concert on Friday, November 8, 7:30 PM, Kaul Auditorium, conducted by Dr. Shohei Kobayashi. The concert is free, no tickets required! There will be a post-concert Q&A with me.

Curious about this piece? Click to hear the first of the two premieres, performed by the University of South Carolina (conducted by Dr. Jabarie Glass).

BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA:

From Portland, I'll be traveling to the Bay Area for a special event – the 2024 Carrom World Cup, held in Milpitas, CA. A lot of the tournament, which begins with the opening ceremony on Monday, November 11, is open to the public; check out the link above for the full schedule. Carrom is a tabletop sport played with the goal of pocketing game-pieces into the four corners of the board. I often describe it to people new to the sport as "pool with checkers." Instead of striking balls with pool cues, players use their fingers to flick the checker-like coins into pockets. For those of us who grew up playing casually at home, we typically regard Carrom as a family-oriented game. But serious players know that Carrom is a sport with regulation footwear, referees, and rules.

Thanks to the United States Carrom Association, I have had the honor of writing music for this year's World Cup with players from nearly 20 countries. To make these compositions, I recorded the sounds of carrom being played live during the U.S. Open in D.C. last year. There is so much music in these natural carrom sounds. This music will be used to set the mood and tone of competition events and broadcasts. We're delighted to also be releasing it online soon – stay tuned.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA:

Before heading East, I'm making a very short (one-day) stop in LA for a special project relating to Sanora Babb's life and work. Babb authored the text of the piece that we're premiering in Portland, Whose Names Are Unknown. I'm honored to be part of the efforts to disseminate her work publicly; I can't wait to share more about this LA project in due course...

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY:

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Princeton University Glee Club, one of the oldest collegiate choirs in the US. The choir has a spectacular weekend planned to mark their anniversary, including a concert celebrating the past, present, and future of the choir on Saturday, November 16, at 5 PM, Richardson Auditorium. For this concert, I have written a new work called MORE TO LIVE FOR, a call to live unselfishly for a better future for humankind.

The work will be performed by Glee Club members past and present. This concert – and new work – is particularly special to me because I am an alumnus of the choir. So, I get to reunite with college choir friends to perform this piece.

The text of the piece is primarily an English translation of Baruch Spinoza by award-winning translator C. Luke Soucy, a fellow alumnus of Princeton – and, incredibly, my co-chorister in high school. Choirs really are the most special place...

After the Spinoza/Soucy brilliance, MORE TO LIVE FOR concludes with a few simple lines from me:

All thrones will tumble

and what's left

is you and I.

You, who I must care for

so that there's more to live for

Part 2: Winter 2024 and Spring 2025

LONDON, UK:

I'm very excited to be heading to the UK for the premiere of To ask is to listen, a new work for the explosive forces of The Hermes Experiment with Abel Selaocoe. For the past few years, I've been envisioning a collaboration between these outstanding artists, and now, it's finally happening! The project has been commissioned by the Wigmore Hall, with me as one of their "Voices of Today" composers. This piece centers improvisation as the meeting ground for different sound worlds and vernaculars. The title of my new work, To ask is to listen, is a reference to “kEl" (கேள்) in Tamil. This word root relates to hearing or listening, but in colloquial Tamil, “kElvi" (கேள்வி) means question. My thesis is that in group improvisation, these two acts – asking, listening – are equated.

Our concert is on Saturday, November 23, at 1 PM in Wigmore Hall. With these performing artists, it's sure to be a special one.

While in London, I plan to catch many other concerts and events, including this Vox Urbane performance of my pieces Green Fingers and The Change We Need. If you're busy that evening, fear not: this particular concert is also happening on 24 November and 27 November.

SOUTH ASIA

From London, I'll be traveling to South Asia for a long-term research project. I'll be primarily in Chennai, India and traveling around from there. In recent years, my India trips have had to be short (due to the schedule of a traveling musician!) so, I'm extra excited to be there for an extended period of time with opportunities for learning and immersion.

WARWICK, UK:

After my time in South Asia, I'll be heading back to the UK, this time to the University of Warwick, where I'll be in residence for a week working with the students and local community. The culmination of this project will be the mounting of my large-scale work Sarojini at the University. I'm thrilled for this concert (Sunday, March, 9, 2025) – I'm looking forward to sharing more details in the coming months.

HOME:

Following this 4-month period of one-way tickets, it'll be nice to be home for a short time! We are mounting exciting new projects in the Twin Cities and Rochester, Minnesota... stay tuned :)

You can keep track of these concerts and more on the Events Page. I hope to spend time with as many people as possible in these different cities and places. As we head into an interesting week here in the U.S.A., I'm reminded that few things are as important as community and belonging.

Leaving you with a few words again from MORE TO LIVE FOR:

See you on the road,

Shruthi