As we prepare to jump back into action after the summer break, we’re excited to announce the return of the awesome MEHFIL-e-ROSE HILL! Celebrating a new season of incredible South Asian classical music, they get things started with the magnificent sound of the sarod!
William Rees Hofmann is an expert sarod player, and he will be accompanied by master tabla player, Yousuf Ali Khan. Keeping you calm as your summer break ends – get your tickets asap to make sure you don’t miss out! Read more below about these extraordinary artists 👇
William Rees Hofmann
Hofmann is a multi-instrumentalist specialising in the Indian Sarod, the Afghan Rubab, and the viola. On the sarod he represents the musical lineage of the Maihar Gharana, having studied for the past 19 years under the tutelage of Satyam Rai (son of Pt. Vasant Rai) in Gujarat, India. He has also inherited the musical lineage of Ustad Nabi Gol of Kabul as a student of the eminent rubab player and ethnomusicologist Dr John Baily since 2013.
Originally classically trained in viola, Hofmann earned a BA in Hindustani Vocal Music from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Gujarat, and also holds an MMus degree in Sarod and Rubab Performance and PhD in Music from SOAS. William is the co-director, alongside Fakhroddin Ghaffari (daf/tombak), of Ensemble Khusrawi, an Indo-Persian musical ensemble. He has performed internationally both solo and with Ensemble Khusrawi, including at the Gwalior Tansen Samaroh, Jaipur Literature Festival, Pushkar Sacred Festival, Panorama Punjab, Ziro Festival, and Muzaffar Ali’s Jahān-e-Khusrau, amongst others. In the UK, he has brought his knowledge of Hindustani and Afghan classical music to the Southbank Centre, Sage Gateshead, the Spitalfields Music Festival with the Oxford Philharmonic, and the Edinburgh Fringe, as well as run workshops on the classical music of Kabul.
In 2021 he received a Divergence Commission from the UK-based ZeroClassikal Project to compose, perform, and record a full-length work for sarod and viola. In 2022-23 Dr Hofmann was an American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Performing Arts Fellow based in Gujarat and New Delhi, turning his PhD research on early Sufi song text collections into a performance, recording, and lecture/demonstration with Ensemble Khusrawi and the eminent Afghan classical vocalist Ustad Mustafa Faizi. With Ensemble Khusrawi, and working alongside renowned musicians Mir Mukhtiyar Ali (vocals), Pouria Akhavass (vocals, setar, and ghaychak), Murad Ali (sarangi), Fakhroddin Ghaffari (tombak and daf), and Ishaan Ghosh (tabla), he recently recorded a concert-length repertoire of pieces based on medieval Sufi poetry in early Hindi and Persian, due for release in early 2027.
Yousuf Ali Khan
Born in Comilla, Bangladesh, the birthplace of many distinguished exponents of Indian Classical Music! Because of his exceptional feeling for rhythm, Yousuf’s teacher, Ustad Adil Hussain had him concentrate on the Tabla. His keen interest led him to leave home and study in Kolkata from Pandit Anil Bhattecherjee of Lucknow Gharawana. Yousuf’s principle study of classical Tabla was Guru Pandit Shankar Gosh of Purab Gharawana in Kolkata, under a Government Scholarship of India. In 1984 he joined the faculty of the Leicestershire School of music in Leicester. Yousuf has given performances with distinguished artists in many places in the UK and in other countries including USA, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Russia, China, Australia, India and Bangladesh. He has performed with well known artists of Sitar, Sarod, Santoor, with Singers of classical, traditional and folk music and with dancers of different schools.