The SSO hosts guest composer Naresh Sohal in a program of North American premieres of Sohal's The Songs of Five Rivers (with coloratura soprano Nikki Einfield) and Christopher Rouse's Jagannath, a work based in Hindu mythology. Sohal's music is dominated by a wonderful sense of color, whether in small chamber pieces or major works for large forces. They have been performed around the globe by some of the most outstanding musicians and performers of our time, including Zubin Mehta and the London Symphony Orchestra, and Sir Andrew Daivs and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1989, Sohal received the Indian government's Padma Shri award for services to Western music. Jagannath (or Jagannatha) was not a primary diety, but he nonetheless was worshipped by various cults over the years. He is a symbol of incredible power, often pictured atop an immense wagon beneath whose wheels his followers would throw themselves to be crushed to death as a sign of their obeisance. The English word "juggernaut" is derived from his name.