A musical concert ‘The Cosmos Project’— featuring musicians with Shani Diluka on piano, Sahana Banerjee on sitar, and Prabhu Edouard on tabla was held on 29 October 2018 at Goethe-Institut Dhaka, organised jointly by Alliance Française de Dhaka and Goethe-Institut Dhaka.

There is a genuine historical link between Beethoven and Indian culture: fascinated by the translation of the mystical Indian texts, the Upanishads, published in Germany in 1816, Beethoven immersed himself in these texts and even wrote a Brahmanic Indian poem to put to music!

This relationship has never been explored in concert or recording. To pay tribute to Beethoven and to contemplate the spiritual relationship between Beethoven and India, The Cosmos Project attempts to render that unique relationship with Shani Diluka on piano, Sahana Banerjee on sitar, and Prabhu Edouard on tabla — three of the most accomplished musicians in their respective fields. It is in a unique project of dialogue between East and West, through the largest Beethovenian pages in the piano and Eastern spirituality that connects them to the ‘cosmos’ both.

French pianist Shani Diluka has worked with great conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Vladimir Fedosseïev, GáborTakács-Nagy, to name a few, and was invited by some of the most prestigious orchestras as a soloist. Patrick Rucker, in Gramophone, wrote, ‘Shani Diluka is a pianist whose playing throws open the doors to hitherto unimagined chambers within the realm of understatement.’

Indian sitarist Sahana Banerjee, The Hindu reported her as one of India’s most accomplished sitar players, hails from Pune, the bastion of Hindustani classical music. She descends from a long line of eminent classical musicians who belongs to the illustrious Rampur Senia Gharana of Mian Tansen. Franco-Indian percussionist Prabhu Edouard has accompanied — from Hariprasad Chaurasia and Vincent Ségalto NguyênLê—some of the most skilled musicians in the world. Télérama described him as an ‘amazing percussionist’ and rated his album ‘Kôlam’ very highly.