Talented tabla player earns performance with Boston Pops

Congratulations to Dilzafer Singh ’25, whose talent on the tabla is taking him to world-class performance venues on both U.S. coasts this spring and summer. 

On June 4, Dilzafer and clarinetist Alexander Newman ’25 performed with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in Boston, reward for his winning the 2024 Fidelity Investments Young Artists Competition. 

“Symphony Hall has such a rich legacy of music, and specifically western classical music,” Dilzafer said before the concert. “Contributing this new and distinct tradition to that legacy is a really exciting prospect.”

The tabla is an Indian percussion instrument, featuring two drums—bass on the left, treble on the right—played together. As a Sikh, Dilzafer was introduced to the religion’s strong musical tradition at an early age. And, while he began performing around age 4, he didn’t start formal training until a few years later, putting him behind his classmates in early development. That soon changed.

“I’d say it only took me about six months to catch up with all of my peers,” said Dilzafer. “My teacher told me that I had the potential to pursue this further, maybe professionally, and gave me his blessings to go see another teacher.”

While the clarinet might seem an odd choice to accompany Indian percussion, as friends and music FSA (Faculty Sponsored Activity) partners who had known each other since attending the GRACE (GRoton Accelerate Challenge Enrich) summer program two years, both Dilzafer and Alexander saw the potential right away. Dilzafer said the chance to blend his music with a more traditional western instrument, while at the same time breaking out of the “world music” stereotype, was something he couldn’t pass up. 

“I knew this could be a very exciting collaboration, playing a very classical Western instrument like the clarinet and combining that with tabla,” he explained. “There’s also this kind of notion where a lot of Eastern music is grouped into this category of world music. And part of this was an effort to dispel this notion of world music as a singular category and show how it’s not just eastern music and western music. We can combine those two. A really special part of that collaboration was the fact that we’re taking a North Indian instrument and pairing that with a western instrument that is playing a South Indian Raga. We have elements of the north and the south, but also the east and the west. So it was a very exciting collaboration.” 

Alexander said this creative open-mindedness is something he experienced with Dilzafer from day one.

 

“He always enters the room with a spirit of collaboration and curiosity,” he said. “Every time I’m with him, I’m always learning something new.”

In July, Dilzafer will travel to southern California for the invitation-only Festival of Tabla, one of the largest Indian music festivals in the world, to perform alongside some of the best Indian musicians alive. 

“It’s a very cool opportunity, but it’s also nerve wracking to play in front of this many experienced musicians and share the stage with these grand maestros,” said Dilzafer. “I’ve done a lot of events here in the Boston area, but this is the creme la creme when it comes to traditional tabla festivals. It is definitely a step out of my comfort zone.”

Dilzafer credits the support he’s received on the Circle—especially from the Music Department and department head Mary Ann Lanier—with allowing him to continue his studies and further explore collaboration with other student musicians. 

“The support has been really great and I’m very grateful for Dr. Lanier’s support, as well as that of [Director of Jazz Ensembles] Kenji Kikuchi and all the members of the music faculty here,” he said. “The school has been really supportive, and I also feel a sense of gratitude when giving back to the community through performances.”