Official Website: http://www.aakashmittal.com/wind-ensemble-project.html

Be part of the commissioning of a dynamic new grade 1 work for wind band. Aakash Mittal is the Brooklyn based composer of Samay Raga for Wind Ensemble, a grade 5 work that is currently having successful premieres all over the world by college and professional bands. Aakash will draw from his studies of music in South Asia and his work as a composer of contemporary music in New York City to write his second work for wind band, a grade 1 composition titled "Three Songs of Bengal".  

Three Songs of Bengal will be a celebration of a unique South Asian culture. The piece will be an arrangement of three songs from the region of West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. The music will range from the lilting melodies of Rabindranath Tagore to the percussive grooves of the Baul tradition. Within the concert band, raga melodies will weave through rhythms of the bangla dhol evoking the sounds of Bengali festivals and informal adha gatherings. This piece will contribute works by three Bengali composers to the wind ensemble literature. The work will be of a similar length and difficulty level to "A Prehistoric Suite" by Paul & Teresa Jennings.

Payment for participating ensembles is only (US)$75! Consortium members will receive the following: a pdf copy of the parts and score with the right to reproduce for the consortium member ensemble, the name of the commissioning ensemble and director in each copy of the score, exclusive performance rights until January 30th, 2020, and the right to claim a "Regional Premiere" performance with their ensemble. Payment of the full $75 is due no later than September 10th, 2019 in order to receive parts and score by September 15th, 2019.

The world premiere of the new work will be given by the Grand Street Campus High Schools' Bands (Jeff W. Ball, Sondra Braeutigam, Jasmine Britt) on December 12th, 2019 in Brooklyn, NY. However, consortium members are welcome to give their regional premieres at any time after the receipt of parts.

Consortium members can send a check for $75 to Aakash directly at:

Aakash Mittal
222 Parkville Ave
Apt. 3B
Brooklyn, NY 11230

Or send $75 to Aakash's Paypal  - his Paypal email is aakashmittalmusic@gmail.com 

Participants will receive a consortium contract to sign. If you have not paid the consortium fee you will receive an invoice and link for online payment.

Aakash writes the following about this work:
While living in West Bengal with the goal of studying Hindustani Raga Music, I regularly experienced the vast repertoire of Bengali composers and songwriters. As a person of Punjabi-Euro origin the music of Bengal utilized instruments, sounds, and song forms I had never encountered. During my stay I played saxophone along side Baul singers in Tanmoy Bose's band Taal Tantra. I listened to the poetry and songs of Tagore at chai stands, on concert stages, and on rooftops. These experiences struck me as an important testament to the plurality of South Asia's cultural landscape. As a followup to my first wind ensemble piece, Samay Raga, Three Songs of Bengal will be a reflection on the music I encountered within Bengali communities. Each movement will be an instrumental arrangement of a traditional Bangla (Bengali) song for concert band. The piece will begin with a song composed by Rabindranath Tagore, the polymathic artist, poet, playwright, composer, and activist who was an important figure in the Bengal Renaissance. The work will continue with a Bangla lullaby and conclude with the ecstatic sound of the folkloric Baul tradition.