The Orchestral Qawwali Project Digital Programme

Melvin Tay  

Melvin Tay is a versatile Singaporean conductor based in Manchester. He regularly collaborates with a wide range of ensembles, spanning diverse musical genres. These include the BBC and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Northern Ballet Sinfonia, London Voices, National Youth Choir of Great Britain, and Orchestral Qawwali Project (OQP), among others. He was awarded the Special Prize at the second International Conducting Competition in Brescia. He is currently Music Director of Northern Film Orchestra (NFO) and Westmorland Orchestra and is the Artistic Director of Leeds Haydn Players.

He has conducted numerous premieres, including the recording of Rushil Ranjan’s music for the Aakash Odedra Company’s production of Songs of the Bulbul, which was premiered at Edinburgh Festival to critical acclaim, and the world premiere of Shikwa – the first-ever symphonic interpretation of Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s legendary Urdu poem - with Manchester Camerata at Bradford Literature Festival. 

His work with the BBC Philharmonic includes recordings for BBC Radio 3, Blue Peter, and a new musical by Theo Jamieson and Simon Pitts for BBC World Service. As a regular conductor for OQP performing at venues across the world, he plays a pivotal role in bridging the two musical worlds of Qawwali and Western classical music. 

With NFO, he has led the UK premiere of Michael Shapiro’s Frankenstein alongside the 1931 film and conducted sessions for composers such as Dom Jones, Louie Taylor and Jeff Nang.

On the opera stage, he made his Singapore debut conducting a double bill of Menotti’s The Telephone and his own 65-minute chamber arrangement of Puccini’s La bohème. 

In addition to his conducting work, Melvin Tay is a Tutor in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music and its Junior school. He has also led conducting workshops for the Royal Air Force Band Service and the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company. 

Rushil Ranjan  

Rushil Ranjan is a critically acclaimed and award-winning composer, arranger and producer. His work in bridging classical art forms from around the world has earned him a reputation as one of the most distinctive and exciting musical voices today.

He currently holds the position of Associate Artist at the Royal Albert Hall and Artistic Partner at Manchester Camerata. He has written for concert, award-winning dance productions and BAFTA-nominated TV and film projects. 

He began his orchestral career in 2020, and rose to prominence as the co-founder and composer of the Orchestral Qawwali Project. Created in collaboration with Abi Sampa, the project reframes the spiritual rapture of Sufi music through Rushil Ranjan’s rich orchestral scores. He has gone on to direct and produce an acclaimed series of sold-out shows of the project at the Camden Roundhouse, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Al Wasl Plaza, Dubai, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and, most recently, the Royal Albert Hall. 

His work is also frequently commissioned and performed by leading ensembles, including the CBSO, Manchester Camerata and A R Rahman’s  Firdaus Orchestra. He never received any formal training, but his self-taught approach to classical composition and his ability to integrate Indian classical and Sufi influences has blurred the lines between genres and brought new audiences to orchestral ensembles and venues. 

He often writes for dance, including, most recently, the score for Aakash Odedra’s Songs of the Bulbul. It was premiered at the Edinburgh Festival to critical acclaim, going on to win the coveted ‘Best International Show’ award. 

As a composer for film and TV, Rushil Ranjan has built up an impressive list of credits and accolades, having scored award-winning films for Netflix, ITV, Film 4 and the BFI.  His music has also served as the soundtrack for a number of brand campaigns. 

Abi Sampa 

Abi Sampa is a multi-instrumentalist, Qawwal and Veena virtuoso who has become a genre shattering focal point within contemporary Sufi and fusion music. Her ability to mix different styles and her command of both Western and Indian classical music has garnered praise from all corners of the music industry. 

She is an Associate of the Royal Albert Hall, and was born in London to Sri Lankan Tamil parents. Reflecting the multicultural nature of the city in which she grew up, Abi Sampa went on to explore and absorb a myriad of different musical styles and genres, all of which ended up forming the building blocks of her unique vocal and instrumental style.

She is also the lead vocalist of the Orchestral Qawwali Project – one of very few women to ever front a qawwali troupe; she has stunned sold-out audiences across continents with her groundbreaking vocal style and ability to unite huge classical ensembles and orchestras in song. 

She has collaborated with numerous leading figures in the industry, including Nitin Sawhney, A R Rahman and the band Engine-Earz, as well as frequently performing with leading orchestras, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. 

Abi Sampa is a pioneer across genres, and her remarkable vocal prowess and style are emblematic of a new and global interpretation of Qawwali and Indian classical music.

London Voices 

Founded in 1973 by Terry Edwards, London Voices is directed by conductor and composer Ben Parry. The choir has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the USA, including Aldeburgh, Beijing, Berlin, Birmingham, Munich, Jordan, Lucerne, New York, St Denis, Shanghai and in Turkey. It can range from a small vocal consort to a choir of more than 100 singers, performing repertoire from Renaissance polyphony to avant-garde contemporary music. 

The ensemble has collaborated with many distinguished composers and conductors, including John Adams, Luciano Berio, Semyon Bychkov, Jessica Cottis, Jessica Curry, Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Jurowski, György Ligeti, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Georg Solti. The choir participated in the world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht, staged by Birmingham Opera in 2012. 

London Voices has also sung on hundreds of movie, TV and computer game soundtracks, participated in many choral and operatic recordings and collaborated with a distinguished roll-call of musicians, including Gary Barlow, Andrea Bocelli, Coldplay, Dave Brubeck, Renée Fleming, Sir Paul McCartney, Sam Smith, Sting, Sir Bryn Terfel and Roger Waters.