Brum strikes up the band for Bollywood

It may be best known for its recordings of Mahler and Stravinsky, but the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has enlisted the help of a Bollywood legend to broaden its repertoire.

In a fortnight's time, the multimillionaire composer AR Rahman will take the baton for two successive nights of themes from the Indian film industry, including many of his own works.

The CBSO, which achieved international status during the tenure of conductor Sir Simon Rattle, is determined to find new audiences closer to home, by persuading Indian and Pakistani audiences into its Symphony Hall headquarters.

Tickets for the 2,200-seat auditorium are already selling fast among the city's south Asian population and, according to the orchestra's chief executive, Stephen Maddock, the Bollywood nights promise to pull in the largest ever non-white audience for a mainstream British orchestra.

Rahman is best known to western music fans as the composer of Bombay Dreams, the West End musical.

But to his south Asian followers he is a cult figure who, at the age of 38, has already sold nearly 200m albums and worked on more than 50 films, including the Oscar-nominated Lagaan.

He recently agreed to score the stage musical version of Lord of the Rings, which is due to open next year.

Mr Maddock said the orchestra was setting out to attract non-traditional audiences. Birmingham expected to have a non-white majority by 2010, making it one of the most multicultural cities in Britain. Yet the CBSO's core following was still largely from middle-class areas of the city.

"We have a responsibility to provide a range of musical activities," he said. "Our audiences are much less extensively white than you might expect, but it is true to say that right across the world classical music tends to appeal to a predominantly white audience."

The Bollywood initiative forms part of a year long-series of Classic Asia concerts at Symphony Hall.

Rahman took his first rehearsal with the orchestra last week. Although he trained at Trinity College of Music in London and regularly hosts television song and dance shows, he declared himself nervous at the prospect of his first orchestral engagement on such a scale.

Known as "king of Indian pop", he has been able to span a range of genres, mixing classical forms with western rhythms and an electronic sound.

Piali Ray, the Indian dancer and choreographer whose Sampad dance company will perform with the CBSO later in the year, praised Birmingham for creating an environment in which community arts could flourish.

Sampad broke new ground with its recent collaboration with the city's Royal Ballet. Birmingham also hosts Samyo, effectively the national youth orchestra for south Asian music.

"There are large sections of the Asian community who are very interested in the arts, but sometimes haven't felt welcomed. Or maybe they don't even know there are things that will interest them," she said. "This is really heartening."

The fact that most tickets had already gone showed lessons had been learned on both sides. "The orchestra can see the value of reaching out, while Asian communities are learning about advance booking and turning up on time."