AR Rahman’s historic debut Royal Albert Hall performance with Rushil Ranjan
We are just two days away from cultural history…
🎵 AR Rahman x Rushil Ranjan and Abi Sampa concerts April 24-26
🎵 AR Rahman first ever live debut performance in the main hall at the Royal Albert Hall (RAH)
🎵 First ever large scale full orchestral live show in the UK
🎵 First ever performance as RAH Associate Artists – Rushil Ranjan and Abi Sampa main hall
🎵 World premiere for their joint ‘Rangreza’ with new work from vocalist Abi Sampa
🎵 Hit Bollywood film music – Roja (1992 – debut film score for legendary Indian film director Mani Ratnam), Rockstar, Guru, Jodhaa Akbar
🎵 Aakash Odedra’s award-winning dance ‘Songs of the Bulbul’ –
🎵 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Melvin Tay and AR Rahman’s Sunshine Orchestra will also be performing…
🎵 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Melvin Tay and AR Rahman’s Sunshine Orchestra will also be part of historic debut concert
🎵 Soloists Sarthak Kalyani, Janan Sathiendran also part of concert line-up
🎵 Rangreza goes to Toronto, Canada next (in May – see listings below)
🎵 Ranjan sets the scene in Instagram posts (see below)
DOUBLE OSCAR-WINNING AR Rahman makes his historic Royal Albert Hall (RAH) debut live concert performance alongside RAH Associate artists Rushil Ranjan and Abi Sampa this weekend.
The couple with Ranjan – composing and playing the piano and with Sampa singing vocals – will also be joined by dancer Aakash Odedra (‘Songs of the Bulbul’), The Sunshine Orchestra – which AR Rahman created – and conductor Melvin Tay who first conducted the couple’s The Orchestral Qawwali Project for their main hall debut in 2024.
They are all performing ‘Rangreza’ for the first time – it literally means ‘colours’ or ‘colourist’ and is representative of the way the trio will blend traditions and musical concepts into something new and different from anything that has gone before in the Royal Albert Hall or outside it.
Soloists Janan Sathiendran (percussion) and Sarthak Kalyani (a longtime Rahman collaborator, composer and singer) will also perform.
Sathiendran is one of the key members of the Orchestral Qawwali Project which first brought Ranjan and Sampa to the Royal Albert Hall in May 2024. (See more in our interview with Ranjan below). They brought their style of Qawwali – a centuries old practice of singing Urdu/Persian poetry – to the RAH and added hitherto revolutionary elements – such as dance. Previously Qawwali was just music.
On the night, the performers will reprise tracks from some of the Maestro of Madras’ (Chennai) most famous film tracks from such films as ‘Roja’, ‘Rockstar’ (2011). ‘Guru’ (2007); ‘Songs of the Bulbul’ (Ranjan composition for Odedra dance 2024); and ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ (2008).
Rahman is best known for his string of Bollywood and Hollywood hits and broke through in the West with ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and the song ‘Jai Ho’ – he won two Academy awards in 2009 for the blockbuster film starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto.
Rahman began his career in the Tamil film industry, scoring his first film ‘Roja’ for one of India’s greatest contemporary auteurs, Mani Ratnam. The pair enjoyed a hugely successful collaboration in the 1990s and beyond and tracks from their hugely successful collaboration will be played on the evening.
“’Rangreza‘ means colourist colourist’, someone who brings unexpected tones together, and in Sufi tradition, a vision of the Divine as the ultimate artist colouring the universe with its blessings.
“It reflects both the artistry and the spirituality of this collaboration, as Rahman and Ranjan weave Western and Indian traditions into a vivid musical palette that reaches towards the natural and the divine,” says the RAH website on Rangreza.
Earlier when the concerts were first announced last year, Rahman said: “The Royal Albert Hall is a place where history and music converge, and it is an honour to share my work on such a revered stage.
“This occasion is made even more special by the premiere of a new co-commissioned piece, created in collaboration with the wonderfully talented Rushil Ranjan.
“I am also deeply excited to see my music reimagined for orchestra, bringing fresh colours, textures, and emotions to sounds that have been part of my journey.
“To stand in this legendary hall with new beginnings and timeless memories intertwined is truly humbling and inspiring.”
Expect to see many famous faces in the audience – as one of the world’s greatest musical figures comes to a stage like no other on earth.
Ranjan (London) – https://www.instagram.com/stories/rushilmusic/3880716511669465714?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=MWNtbDNhNG03eHc2Ng==
Ranjan – (Toronto) – https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDU1MjA4ODg1NDIzNjkz?story_media_id=3832496239284078245_253165463&igsh=bHpsOHA5aXZzM3E5
Listing
AR Rahman x Rushil Ranjan & Abi Sampa, Royal Albert Hall Friday to Sunday (April 24-26)
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP (7.30pm & 2.30pm Sunday)
Final Tickets (London): AR Rahman X Rushil Ranjan | Royal Albert Hall
Friday May 15 AR Rahman x Rushil Ranjan – 1 Front St E, Toronto Ontario M5E 1B2
Tickets: A. R. Rahman and Rushil Ranjan Toronto Tickets – Fri, May 15, 2026
