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composition

Flowing Borders : for Indian cello, sitar and 8 cellos / Saskia Rao-de Haas & Shubhendra Rao

Publisher's number: 24940
Genre: Orchestra
Subgenre: Cello
Scoring: indian cello sitar 8vc
Remarks: Commissioned by the Cello Biennale.
Number of players: 10
Year of composition: 2026
Status: fully digitized (real-time delivery)

Author(s):
Rao de Haas, Saskia (Composer)
Description:
Flowing Borders is a new work for eight cellos, sitar and Indian cello, composed by Saskia Rao-de Haas and Pandit Shubhendra Rao, based on the final movement of their orchestral work Song of Water. The music unfolds as a dialogue between the two soloists – Indian cello and sitar – and the eight voices of the Cello Octet Amsterdam, a river that branches and reunites. Rooted in the raga tradition yet shaped by Western compositional forms, the piece dissolves the boundaries between East and West, improvisation and notation, the ancient and the contemporary. In the spirit of Shifting Borders, it asks what happens when eight Western cellos enter into conversation with the Hindustani melodic world. This world premiere at the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam 2026 marks a new chapter in the ongoing dialogue between two of music’s great rivers.

Saskia Rao-de Haas

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