Ashwati Parameshwar's arias leave Bengaluru's aficionados spellbound

Bengaluru: The city may have an unexpected star in frequent visitor Ashwati Parameshwar whose recital of art songs and operatic arias at St. Mark’s Cathedral, which was packed to the rafters on Friday evening, saw classical music afficionados came together in unexpected numbers.

Accompanied on the piano by the superb Natallia Kapyllova, Parameshwar's concert had audiences completely enthralled. There was not one false note through the 90 minutes. The young soprano, took us through Schubert's Gretchen am Spinnrade, to Martini's Plaisir d'amour, and Mozart's utterly enchanting Batti Batti taken from the opera Don Giovanni, where she was saucy and contrite and a minx in equal measure.

Ashwati's mastery of several European languages was remarkable, particularly her rendition of the love-lorn plea by the watersprite Rusaika, taken from Mesicku Na Nebi Hluboken in the Russian opera Rusaika.

"It was a very successful concert for us," said Patrick Wilson, one of the International Music & Arts Society's committee members and a long-time lover of opera. Like many in the audience, he too preferred the second half. "It had operas with which I, and many members of the audience were familiar with," he explained.

Despite the fact that her accompanist was replaced just a day before the event, Ashwati remained fazed. "It's very difficult when you're worrying about the other person and if they're keeping up with you," Wilson explained. “Parameshwar wasn't thrown by this at all, which was lovely. She really came into her own.”

The concert was attended by the Who's Who of the city's music circuit, with standing room only at the back. "There were people sitting on the side and watching it on a screen," said Wilson, pleased with the turnout. For a city, once steeped in western classical music, Ashwati Parameswar's voice resonating from St. Marks may well herald the return of a celebrated sound.