Shortlisted in two categories of next week's Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, Jasdeep Singh Degun has released a new single, Lament

Leeds-based sitarist and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun has been shortlisted in two categories of the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards (which are announced on 5 March), for Best Instrumentalist and Best Large-Scale Composition (for Orpheus his cross-genre Monteverdi piece with Opera North). Ahead of this, he has released a new single, Lament, a new arrangement of one of the pieces from Orpheus.

Originally sung by the chorus and orchestra lamenting the death of Eurydice, Lament is based on a the raag Sindhi Bhairavi - usually sung/played in a more semi-classical style such as thumri or ghazal - that deals "with topics of spiritual and romantic love and may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and the beauty of love in spite of that pain."

For the new single, Jasdeep has stripped back Lament for chamber ensemble, featuring a new string arrangement by cellist Ian Burdge. Jasdeep is joined by Sally Herbert (violin), Simeon Walker (piano), Ian Burdge (cello), and Harkiret Bahra (tabla). Lament is available for streaming.

The accompanying video (director of photography: Adam Lyons) is available on YouTube.