SINGAPORE – For over two decades, Esplanade’s Kalaa Utsavam – Indian Festival of Arts has celebrated the evolving spirit of Indian arts in Singapore.

The 2025 edition, which runs from Nov 21 to 30, includes two major concerts that exemplify this with unexpected and unique music collaborations.

Cosmic Dissolution, an Esplanade commission, features Singaporean Vedic metal band Rudra playing their first concert with a full orchestra in a team-up with home-grown classical orchestra Resound Collective. It takes place at Esplanade Concert Hall on Nov 29.

Samudra – An Ocean Of Musical Traditions, by Indian classical music ensemble SwaRhythm Singapore, includes original compositions that blend Indian, Chinese, Malay and Western influences. Co-produced with Esplanade, it takes place at Esplanade Concert Hall on Nov 21.

The Straits Times speaks to the composers and musicians behind Cosmic Dissolution and Samudra to find out more.

Rudra, one of the most accomplished bands in the Singapore metal scene, are no strangers to stretching the limits of the genre.

In the 2021 edition of Kalaa Utsavam, the quartet performed with three classical Indian musicians – singer Aditi Gopinathan, flautist Raghavendran Rajasekaran and mridangam percussion player Viknash Balakirshnan – in a gig that showcased updated and rearranged versions of Rudra songs.

In 2024, the band performed live with puppeteers in three languages – Sanskrit, Chinese and English – in a collaboration with The Finger Players for a show that is part of the Esplanade’s Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts.

For Cosmic Dissolution, the band will cross off something that has been on their wish list: Perform with a full classical orchestra.

Lead singer and bass player Kathir, 51, says the concert is an opportunity to create something unprecedented, especially for an extreme metal band in Asia. “It is a challenge as well as an opportunity because there’s no reference for us to learn from, ...