The York River Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Newport University Orchestra and The Hampton University Chamber Orchestra perform in a side-by-side concert with world renowned sitar virtuoso Alif Laila. The concert will feature a number of selections including Elgar's Crown of India Suite and ending with a final plea for peace with Elgar's "Nimrod" from his Enigma Variations. 

Alif Laila is one of the few internationally performing female sitar players in the world. She was trained in Indian classical music through sitar in Dhaka, Bangladesh by Mir Qasem Khan, nephew of legendary maestro, Allauddin Khan. During her final years of training, she attended the College of Fine Arts in Dhaka, where she graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree and received several awards for her watercolor painting. In 1988, she moved to the United States. She was fortunate to continue her study of Indian classical in sitar with teachers, Partha Chatterjee, Krishna Bhatt and Kushal Das. Laila has performed internationally and in the U.S. at venues including The Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, Shakespeare Theatre and Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.