GRAMMY® AND ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER A.R. RAHMAN’S THE FLYING LOTUS RELEASED TODAY ON KM MUSIQ RECORD LABEL

Conductor Ricardo Averbach led the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Symphony Chorale and Seattle Girls’ Choir Prime Voci ensemble in the world premiere of The Flying Lotus commissioned by the Seattle Symphony

Seattle Symphony Assistant Concertmaster Simon James featured as soloist

Worldwide Release: October 6, 2017

Seattle, WA – Grammy® and Academy Award®-winning composer A.R. Rahman releases a recording of the world premiere of The Flying Lotus on October 6, 2017. Commissioned by the Seattle Symphony and recorded live in concert, The Flying Lotus is Rahman’s first composition solely for orchestra and features Seattle Symphony’s Second Assistant Concertmaster Simon James as the violin soloist.

“The Flying Lotus is a musical impression of where India was and where it’s going,” says Rahman in an interview with The Seattle Times. “India is very progressive now. People are in such a very strong kind of mood. I thought I should capture musically those feelings of elation and also helplessness in a way. How can you say that musically, and also with a sense of pride in it? It’s hard to explain in words, but I thought music could communicate those emotions.”
 

The Flying Lotus was commissioned for the Seattle Symphony’s ninth annual Celebrate Asia concert, held on May 12, 2017. This cultural celebration is now a signature event in Seattle, presented in partnership with local Asian leaders from the region’s Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese communities.

RECORDING DETAILS
Ricardo Averbach, conductor
Simon James, violin
Seattle Symphony Chorale
Seattle Girls’ Choir
Seattle Symphony

A.R. Rahman
The Flying Lotus

The Flying Lotus was recorded on May 12, 2017 in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington.

A.R. Rahman’s The Flying Lotus was commissioned and premiered by the Seattle Symphony and generously underwritten by Parul and Gary Houlahan, Vishwa and Vandana Prasad, Satya and Rao Ramala, Noreen and Kabir Shahani, and Vijay and Sita Vashee.

Digital downloads and streaming are available through iTunes and Apple Music.

ABOUT A.R. RAHMAN

A two-time winner and five-time nominee of the Academy Award, A.R. Rahman is popularly known as the man who has redefined contemporary Indian music. Rahman, according to a BBC estimate, has sold more than 150 million copies of his work comprising of music from more than 100 film soundtracks and albums across over half a dozen languages, including landmark scores such as Roja, Bombay, Dil Se, Taal, Lagaan, Vandemataram,  Jodhaa Akbar, Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours and countless more.

Rahman pursued music as a career at a very young age and after assisting leading musicians in India went on to compose jingles and scores for popular Indian television features. He also obtained a degree in western classical music from the Trinity College of Music, London and set up his own in-house studio called Panchathan Record-Inn at Chennai. In 1991 noted filmmaker Mani Ratnam offered Rahman a movie called Roja which was a runaway success and brought nationwide fame and acclaim to the composer. The movie also won Rahman the Indian National Award for the best music composer, the first time ever by a debutant. Since then Rahman has gone on to win the National Award three more times, the most ever by any music composer.

In 1997, to commemorate 50 years of Indian Independence, Sony Music signed up Rahman as its first artist in South Asia. The result was Vande Mataram, an album that instantly made Indians relate to it and succeeded in rekindling the spirit of patriotism. In 2001 Andrew Lloyd Webber, the well-known composer of musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar invited Rahman to compose for his musical, Bombay Dreams, the first time he would produce a musical he did not compose for. Bombay Dreams opened to packed houses at London’s West End and had an unprecedented run for two years and later premiered in New York. In 2005 Rahman composed the score for the stage production of The Lord of the Rings, one of the most expensive productions mounted on stage.

Rahman’s music led him to be noticed internationally with several of his tracks featured in movies such as The Lord of War, Inside Man and The Accidental Husband. His composition Bombay Theme holds the distinction of being featured in over 50 international compilations. He also scored the music for the Hollywood productions, Elizabeth - The Golden Age, Slumdog Millionaire, Couples Retreat, 127 Hours, People Like Us, the Chinese movie Warriors of Heaven and Earth and more recently The 100 Foot Journey, Million Dollar Arm and Pele.

In 2008 Rahman's work gained global prominence with the extraordinary success of his score for Slumdog Millionaire that won eight Academy Awards, including two for Rahman for Best Score and Best Song. Rahman won over 15 awards for this score including two Grammys, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA. 

Rahman has also been conferred with honorary doctorates from the Trinity College of Music, Aligarh Muslim University, Anna University, Middlesex University and the prestigious Berkley College of Music. He was also named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009.

In 2011 Rahman joined a super band, SuperHeavy, comprised of Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and Dave Stewart. Rahman has collaborated with several other international artistes including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, MIA, Vanessa Mae, the Pussycat Dolls, Sarah Brightman, Dido, Hossam Ramzy, Hans Zimmer and Akon.

Rahman remains one of the few mainstream artists of whose works have been performed live by the likes of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Babelsberg Film Orchestra and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Rahman has expanded his focus to newer horizons like setting up the A.R. Rahman Foundation to help poor and underprivileged children. Rahman has also announced initiatives to establish a tradition in western classical music in India and embarked on an ambitious venture to set up the KM Music Conservatory and the KM Music Symphony Orchestra based out of Chennai, India.

ABOUT THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY

The Seattle Symphony is one of America's leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community engagement programs reach over 65,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received three Grammy Awards, 23 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.

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