National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA)

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is a cultural institution devoted to presenting and preserving music, dance, theatre, film, literature and photography. Inaugurated in 1969, it was the first multi-venue, multi-genre cultural centre in South Asia and was conceived by JRD Tata and Dr. Jamshed Bhabha. The NCPA operates five theatres alongside galleries, libraries and reception spaces, and programmes Indian classical music, Western classical music, dance, theatre, film and photography through the year. In 2006 it established the Symphony Orchestra of India, the country's first and only professional orchestra, brought about by NCPA Chairman Khushroo N. Suntook with violinist Marat Bisengaliev as Music Director. Its education work includes the SOI Music Academy for young instrumentalists, the SOI Lecture Series on Western music, Dhrupad training sessions, the Nritya Parichay dance programme for school children and the Citi NCPA Scholarship for Young Musicians. The institution has represented India in the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres since 2007 and is associated with the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National School of Drama and the International Music Council.