The La Scala Chamber Orchestra from Italy performs at the Eastern Quadrangle of Victoria Memorial on Friday evening. The Italian Embassy Cultural Centre in New Delhi and the consulate general of Italy in Calcutta organised the concert to celebrate the 70th year of bilateral relations between India and Italy.
The chamber orchestra was founded in 1982 by musicians of Teatro alla Scala di Milano. The group performed for more than an hour, playing the music of Italian masters Vivaldi, Paganini, Rossini and Verdi.
"The concert was a runaway hit with music lovers in Calcutta. We had expected some 300 people but more than 500 turned up," Jayanta Sengupta, secretary and curator of Victoria Memorial, said. This was the group's first performance in India. The orchestra has performed in New York, Washington, Paris, Moscow and Warsaw, among other cities.
Picture by Bishwarup Dutta