Hi! My name is Jashandeep. I am a 22-year-old conductor from Punjab, India, currently based in London. I am self-taught in most senses when it comes to music. Growing up outside of the western classical culture, I never got into it, learned about it, or felt familiar with it. Two years ago, in February 2024, I ended up going to see an orchestra perform live for the first time; it was the RPO at the Royal Festival Hall (Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony conducted by Vasily Petrenko) and it changed my life. I decided to be a conductor—I just felt a pull. Also added to that was the fact that I had never seen a conductor who looked like me—a turban-wearing Sikh. We just never ventured into that side of the music world. I spent the time after that getting myself up to par, speaking to people, and studying, and fast forward two years—I started my own orchestra, and we did our first concert in February 2026.

I had the idea in fall 2025—without any money and without any network. Then the most amazing thing happened. From the lovely community in Notting Hill, where I live and work, we raised enough money to cover all my costs for a concert, and with some miracle I cannot explain, more than 70 absolute strangers came to join my orchestra. And the concert was a BLAST!!! Best night of my life! We performed some gorgeous works from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

And we have got the love for it! We don't want to stop at that. There is so much music we are all so passionate about at Holland Park Sinfonia that we want to perform and record in the studio. We want to take this orchestra to the bigger stage. We want to bring back the magic of the old sound—the studio orchestras in the old films, musicals, theater, and Broadway—in addition to the gorgeous romantic tone of the composers of the late 19th century into the 20th century.

But as a young ensemble, without any funding, we cannot do that ourselves. Putting on these concerts costs a lot of money, and we have to make a strong portfolio full of performances and other things to be able to successfully try to apply for arts funding.

So we would love to get help from anyone who can.

Each concert can cost between 2500 and 3000, or even more depending on situations. Our February concert cost £2740, and that is without paying any musicians, who all played voluntarily. And I want to pay them, because that's the right thing to do. But something like that can cost a good few thousand more, taking the total to maybe 7-10K, even 15-20K if done properly according to union rates, which I am not able to do with my own little money—working on the side in hospitality while spending most of my time studying and learning and needing to use most of it to pay my rent and costs in London. I make some money back in ticket sales, but I'm barely making the cost back, really. It is not sustainable.

I have got left just about enough money in my funds to cover the costs of the next concert on the 19th June, when we are performing at St. Peter's Church again, playing Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony (Full circle moment for me!!)

I am determined to put my everything into this project, whatever energy and time and resources I have. It's my baby, you could say. And I would love any help, small or big, in helping me and my orchestra achieve our ambitious dreams.

If you would like to see us at work to see how serious we are, please come to our concert on 19th June and see for yourselves. These incredible musicians—who put so much passion and work into my little project. They inspire me. To think that there are so many young people who want to get together and create something as beautiful as music—that's what gets me up in the morning!!!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/holland-park-sinfonia-rachmaninoff-barber-puccini-tickets-1987207048777?aff=oddtdtcreator