South Asian music has long had a special place in the heart of the former journalist. «Outside the Western world, the Indian musical tradition is probably the most prominent», he says, adding that he was already enthusiastically following artists such as Vijay Iyer long before starting his position at the Philharmonie: «I’ve always thought, how can we include it in our programme?». Herein lies the spark that would eventually lead to the creation of the Echoes of India series: at the meeting between an organisation-wide drive to embrace a culture of storytelling across departments, and an artistic planner’s personal passion.

In 2024, things started to take a more decisive turn. As Anoushka Shankar begins work on the final installment of her Chapters trilogy and prepares to celebrate her 30th career anniversary in 2026, Mr Sassetti and his team enter discussions to invite her to Luxembourg. Then, another idea comes to mind: «A few years back, we had done Shiraz by Frank Osten [Bavarian filmmaker behind some of India earliest blockbusters, editor’s note] and it was such a beautiful project. I started to wonder if we could do another». Osten’s 1929 A Throw of Dice quickly became an obvious choice. Vijay Iyer, Anoushka Shankar, a ciné-concert… «When I realised that we had three projects that could become concrete, the possibility of a series became real. And then, an official conversation began», Mr Sassetti remembers, meaning that both the Head of the Artistic Planning Division, Matthew Studdert-Kennedy, and the Philharmonie’s General Director Stephan Gehmacher agreed to endorse his vision of a thematic cycle dedicated to Indian music, and to support the search for even more artists.

But planning a thematic cycle isn’t just about booking the right musician(s), at the right time. In some cases, it involves rolling up one’s sleeves and actually working hand in hand with the artists to shape the final project. «A Throw of Dice was probably the most complex one», Francisco Sassetti recalls. «Nishat Khan had accompanied the film once before but in a completely different setting, in Delhi». What had been originally thought as a semi-improvised sitar accompaniment to Frank Osten’s rendition of the Mahabharata gradually evolved into a greater undertaking bringing together members of the Luxembourg Philharmonic and traditional Indian instrumentalists around the same stage – and the same score. A conductor was eventually brought in and was essential in putting all the elements of the project together. As Mr Sassetti explains: «We actually had to produce the final result, that is, to integrate the necessary technical elements so the conductor could guide the musicians. This isn’t something we would normally do, so it took quite a lot of work behind the scenes!».

Rites of Spring didn’t come as a «ready product» either. Though Vijay Iyer’s music for the film-documentary Rhade Rahde: Rites of Holi had been at the back of Francisco Sassetti’s mind for many years, integrating it into a concert programme always seemed difficult: «It’s only a half hour piece, and Vijay is better known as a jazz musician than as a composer». Until the idea of pairing it with Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring came about. «That’s the beauty of being the Philharmonie Luxembourg, and of having an orchestra with an open mind», Mr Sassetti explains with a smile. «When I suggested putting the two pieces together to Stephan [Gehmacher] and Matthew [Studdert-Kennedy], they said yes right away!». In fact, though they differ vastly in terms of orchestration, Vijay Iyer based his piece on the same structure and core idea as Stravinsky’s Rite. For all its audacity, the decision to bring them together appeared therefore as a conceptually sound.