Chiragh – The South Asian Symphony Orchestra

Nirupama Rao is a former Indian Foreign Service officer. She retired as Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, the senior most position in the Foreign Service, being the second woman to occupy the post (2009-2011). She was the first woman spokesperson (2001-02) of the Indian foreign office. She served as India’s first woman High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Sri Lanka (2004-2006) and to the People’s Republic of China (2006-2009). She was Ambassador of India to the United States from 2011 to 2013. In retirement she has been a Senior Visiting Fellow in International and Public Affairs at the Watson Institute at Brown University where she has taught an undergraduate seniors course on “India in the World” and George Ball Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is currently working on a book entitled “Tell it on the Mountain: India and China, 1949 to 1962”. Ambassador Rao was a Fellow at the India-China Institute of The New School, New York in 2016 and a Public Policy Fellow at The Wilson Center, Washington D.C. in 2017. She was a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow from 2015-2016 and a Practitioner-in-Residence at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy in 2017. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and a Councillor on the World Refugee Council. She has an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (2012) from Pondicherry University, India. She is a staunch believer in the power of social media as an advocacy platform for policy and currently has over 1.4 million followers on Twitter. In 2016, she received the Vanitha Ratna Award from the Government of Kerala. She also received the Fellowship of Peace Award of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Center in Washington D.C in 2018.

Ambassador Rao is a Founder-Trustee of The South Asian Symphony Foundation a not-for-profit Trust which is dedicated to promoting mutual understanding in South Asia through the creation of a South Asian Symphony Orchestra.

Alvin Arumugam is the Music Director of the Musicians’ Initiative and resident conductor at several award winning wind orchestras in Singapore. He holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, National University of Singapore. 

Beginning his musical journey at the age of thirteen as a percussionist in the Yu Hua Secondary School Concert Band, Alvin Arumugam joined the Singapore Wind Symphony two years later. At a mere 17 years old, he formed and conducted the Catholic Junior College Symphonic Band whilst pursuing his A’ levels. Upon graduation, Alvin went on to serve in the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band as its Concertmaster. Under the tutelage of Mr. Jin Ta, the Principal Flute of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, he obtained a Diploma from the Associate Board of the Royal Schools of Music in flute performance. 

Alvin is the current resident conductor of the Clementi Town Secondary School, Saint Margaret’s Secondary School, Chung Cheng (Yishun) School and Anglo-Chinese Junior College Symphonic Bands. His bands have been constantly lauded for their outstanding performances in Singapore. Internationally, his musical direction has also steered the Anderson Junior College Symphonic Band to attain the 2nd prize in the open division of the 2nd Australian Yamaha National Band Competition in 2008. 2014 has also seen the Presbyterian High School Band and Anglo-Chinese Junior College Band being awarded with the overall Champion in the 1st and Open Division of the Singapore International Band Festival respectively under his baton. 

Several notable conductors such as Jorma Panula, Neil Varon, Douglas Bostock, Mark heron, Darrell Ang and Andrew Litton have also mentored Alvin in several master classes and festivals. In 2017, Alvin was selected as one of two conductors to represent Singapore at the International Conductors’ Competition at the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Netherlands. In 2016 Alvin founded the Musicians’ Initiative (formerly known as The Young Musicians’ Foundation Orchestra). MI has grown to become one of Singapore’s finest orchestras.