Anita is a British Asian Conductor, Composer, Organist and Soprano from the East Riding of Yorkshire, who was commissed by zerOclassikal to composed a full length piece as part of EXTRAPOLATE, premiering at Exeter College Chapel in Oxford in March 2025.

Anita has studied western classical music with a range of world class mentors, and received Hindustani classical training. She is a graduate of the University of Cambridge where she held an organ scholarship, and has performed internationally on the instrument, including presentations of South Asian classical styles. She has recently written pieces for the BBC Singers and Multitude of Voyces. Anita is committed to furthering inclusive practices in the music industry through her work on the boards of national arts charities including the National Centre for Early Music, and with her own ensemble The Swan Consort.

What's your vision for EXTRAPOLATE?

I will be composing ‘Ādi: An Organ Symphony’, with the support of zerOclassikal. This multi-movement work for solo organ will trace a variety of ragas, talas, and textures, exploring the diverse colours and unique capacities of the organ through south Asian classical styles. I have been improvising raga based pieces on my main instrument, the organ, for a few years now. The theme extrapolate really inspired me to expand my vision for how this could contribute to the repertoire of the organ going forward, and to bring South Asian classical styles 2 a greater range of performers.

The next extrapolation, which is somewhat more ambitious, extrapolates the concept of the ragamalika into the form of the organ Symphony. Just as a ragamallika moves through different ragas, exploring various taals and Tempi, the organ Symphony is a romantic form that moves through a range of tonality's, textures, and moods, before returning to the home key. It's important to me that the Ragmallika Organ Symphony should also include opportunities for extemporisation, making space for skilled improvisers to expand appan the music in their own unique styles.

What makes your composition unique?

This rgan Symphony will push South Asian Classical into a multi-dimensional form. The solo musician will provide drone, harmony, complex textures, and rhythmic impetus, as well as the melodic core. The organ is relatively unique in being able to produce a variety of sounds, almost like an acoustic synthesiser, and thus the final piece will be symphonic not just in structure but in the diversity of colours that will be used to paint and adorn the ragas as they appear. I am also hopeful it will bring South Asian classical into new settings, such as church services and organ recitals in civic halls, if taken up by other performers. This would also result in a push within those contexts to incorporate a new way of structuring, experiencing, and conceptualising musical elements, and I hope it would also give rise to considerations about who we expect to see on the organ bench in these grand spaces.