Meet Rakhi Singh — the time-travelling violinist bringing together baroque and techno

The first time I saw Rakhi Singh, she was barefoot, playing the violin at the Purcell Room on London’s Southbank. Singh was leading Manchester Collective, the flexible group of classical musicians she co-founded, in a concert of Oliver Leith, Caroline Shaw and Shostakovich. The Shaw was transfixing, the Shostakovich fearsome and Singh, who spoke to the audience before each piece, in gentle command. It would have been much riskier being barefoot at the outset of Manchester Collective’s existence. Founded in 2016 with her friend Adam Szabo, the group put on concerts in artists’ spaces, clubs and warehouses, “cold and dark and damp”, says Singh when we meet in south-east London. “I remember some of the early shows playing with my coat and hat on. I couldn’t wear a scarf because you can’t really when you’re a violinist. I had as many layers of clothes on as I could.” The strategy was partly a necessity — no polished venue would take a brand-new ensemble — but also a choice to enable creati

The first time I saw Rakhi Singh, she was barefoot, playing the violin at the Purcell Room on London’s Southbank. Singh was leading Manchester Collective, the flexible group of classical musicians she co-founded, in a concert of Oliver Leith, Caroline Shaw and Shostakovich. The Shaw was transfixing, the Shostakovich fearsome and Singh, who spoke to the audience before each piece, in gentle command. It would have been much riskier being barefoot at the outset of Manchester Collective’s existence. Founded in 2016 with her friend Adam Szabo, the group put on concerts in artists’ spaces, clubs and