Saili Oak

Musically, Esmail interweaves the Western-leaning sound of the chorus (albeit with some Indian turns of harmonic phrase and glissandi) with the pivotal sound of a frequent collaborator, bedazzling Indian vocalist Saili Oak, along with tabla player Abhiman Kaushal as a foil for regular Master Chorale percussionist Theresa Dimond. The Indian musicians heeded the highly disciplined but also naturally improvisatory call of their lineage, seamlessly winding through the structured “paper music” nature of the chorus.

Saili gave an opening performance at the 'Mahesh Kale Live’ concert in San Diego, organized by Spica Global Arts

Saili has lent her vocals to the tracks ‘Samay’ and ‘To Zion’ on Trevor Hall’s album ’KALA’. Above is a still from a live performance of ‘Samay’ with Trevor Hall at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in CO

Reena Esmail & Saili Oak co-hosted the release event of their album ‘Beyond’ at the Rosebud Coffee in Pasadena, CA. Saili performed some of the pieces from the album with Salastina Music Society and the concert was followed by a social hour.

A program of contemporary song featuring the 2019 Sorel Commission “My Sister’s Voice”, a three movement 'double concerto' for soprano & Hindustani singer with piano & string quartet by Reena Esmail featuring Salli Oak and Robin Steitz.

Songs for Hindustani Vocalist, Soprano and Sinfonietta is a product of the Tucker’s growing fascination with Indian Classical singing. She began working with acclaimed vocalist Saili Oak in 2016, and couldn’t wait for the opportunity to create a big project with her. Three Songs would not have been possible without her guidance, open-mindedness and long, long phone calls. The project, premiere at the University of Texas Austin in 2018, and Saili’s residency of singing workshops were generously funded by the Richard E. Rainwater Award for American Music and the South Asia Institute of the University of Texas.

Tonality presented a piece composed by composer, Reena Esmail, "This Love Between Us" (Movement VI) at the "Put Your Guns Down" Reprise Concert at First Congregational Church on January 7th, 2018. This piece is also featured on Tonality’s album ‘Sing About It’ to be released on February 1, 2019.

Artistic Director of Salastina Music Society write about how the chamber music is a beautiful, cogent, living metaphor for human relationships at their best.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), in collaboration with Four Larks, presents SESSION, an innovative performance experience curated by composer and LACO Artist Educator Derrick Spiva Jr and designed to explore classical music’s cutting-edge sounds and challenge traditional concert-going expectations…. Acclaimed Hindustani vocalist Saili Oak demonstrates her tremendous versatility, performing in Hindustani classical style on Spiva’s and Esmail’s works and in Finnish on Brown’s.

A still from a hindustani music concert in Mumbai on Feb 15, 2019

The court is an immersive experience centered around live classical Indian music in the most intimate of settings. Curated to facilitate a deep experience for everyone present, the artists draw their inspiration from the meditative silence of the audiences attention.