Games baton relay to carry on despite doubts Delhi can host leg
Violinist and James MacMillan to perform with BBC symphony
COMMONWEALTH Games organisers insist the Queen’s Baton Relay will go ahead next week, despite claims Delhi is unable to host its leg of the event.
The former hosts will be the first international stop as the relay takes an 118,000 mile tour of all 71 Commonwealth nations following its departure from London on Wednesday.
The baton is due to arrive next Friday before leaving on October 14, with Delhi also hosting celebrations for the Hindu festival of Dussehra.
In India, it is being claimed Vijay Kumar Malhotra, acting president of the Indian Olympic Association, has contacted Glasgow 2014 organisers to request the relay be postponed.
Mr Malhotra is reported to have said it is difficult to organise the leg due to the Hindu festivities.
His colleague Tarlochan Singh, vice-president of the IOA, told a website: “The organising committee wanted the Baton relay in India on Dussehra day. It was not possible for us to organise on that day as there are celebrations everywhere. That is their fault. They should have discussed it with us.”
Officials in Glasgow say they are “proactively engaged” with organisations such as the IOA, the British High Commission and international charity partner Unicef when developing the relay’s schedule for India.
A spokesman said: “This three-day programme has been developed over many months. We continue to actively collaborate with the IOA, the British High Commission and Unicef to ensure all plans are in place.”
Meanwhile, Glasgow 2014 organisers are creating a special opportunity for sports fans who did not secure Games tickets in the application phase to buy them in an exclusive on sale window from October 21 to 26.
It said that before tickets go on public sale, they will be offered an “exclusive” opportunity to buy any remaining public tickets on a first-come-first served basis from the official website.
It follows concerns that many people had seen their applications turned down for the sporting event that begins on July 23 next year.
TWO major Scottish figures in the classical world will tour India next year with one of the country’s leading orchestras.
Violinist Nicola Benedetti and composer James MacMillan will join the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) on their first tour of the subcontinent as part of a series of events leading up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Benedetti will be the soloist and MacMillan the conductor for the three public concerts in Chennai on March 29, New Delhi on April 2 and Mumbai on April 6.
As well as the concerts, they will join the BBC SSO and students in each of the cities for schools concerts and workshops.
Benedetti said: “This will be my very first trip to India and I am so excited. It’s a highlight of my coming year because as well as playing some wonderful concerts, the orchestra and I will be staying in each of the cities for a few days, giving workshops and getting involved with local communities.
“This is an element of music- making I have dedicated so much time to, and I’m thrilled to be joining other organisations equally serious about exposing this music to all parts of a community, not just to the folk who can afford to attend the concerts.”
Next year, the BBC SSO and the Royal Conservatoire will collaborate again to celebrate the music of Indian composer AR Rahman as part of the Celtic Connections festival. Rahman, once voted one of Time magazine’s most influential people, and students from his KM Music Conservatory in Chennai will join RCS students and members of the BBC SSO for an evening of his music on January 30 at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall.
Gavin Reid, director of the BBC SSO, said: “We are thrilled to be celebrating the Commonwealth Games with such an exciting and ambitious programme of events celebrating the wonderful musical cultures of Scotland and India.
“With Nicola Benedetti, James MacMillan, Paul Rissmann and students from the Royal Conservatoire, the BBC presents some of the very best of Scottish contemporary music-making on an international stage, while with AR Rahman we welcome to Glasgow one of the most gifted artistic figures in the world today.”
The BBC SSO’s Commonwealth Games celebrations launch on October 11 with a free concert for schools which will be streamed live to pupils around the world on the Commonwealth Class website.
Commonwealth Day 2014 in March next year will be marked with a concert in Glasgow’s City Halls at which MacMillan will conduct his own work, The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, as part of a programme celebrating composers with Glasgow ties. It will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
John Wallace, principal of the RCS, said: “The tour of India is the most incredible opportunity for our students, and is enabling them to experience first-hand the interface between the West and one of the world’s most dynamic cultures.”