{"id":124816,"date":"2026-06-03T12:46:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=124816"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:46:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:46:27","slug":"interview-composer-sound-designer-debashis-sinha-talks-about-the-hobbit-at-the-stratford-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/06\/03\/interview-composer-sound-designer-debashis-sinha-talks-about-the-hobbit-at-the-stratford-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Composer &#038; Sound Designer Debashis Sinha Talks About The Hobbit At The Stratford Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_124819\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124819\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-124819 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-10.jpg\" alt=\"L: Composer &amp; sound designer Debashis Sinha (Photo: Andreas Lammers); L-R: Richard Lee as Bilbo Baggins and Tim Campbell as Gandalf, The Hobbit. Stratford Theatre Festival 2026 (Photo: Dariane Sanche)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-10.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-10-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-10-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-10-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-124819\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L: Composer &amp; sound designer Debashis Sinha (Photo: Andreas Lammers); L-R: Richard Lee as Bilbo Baggins and Tim Campbell as Gandalf, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026 (Photo: Dariane Sanche)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Hobbit is, of course, a classic story of the J.R.R. Tolkien world, and it\u2019s also a new play that\u2019s taking the stage at this year\u2019s Stratford Festival. Based on Tolkien\u2019s book, the new family-friendly play was adapted by <strong>Kim Selody<\/strong> and directed by <strong>Pablo Felices-Luna<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The Hobbit began previews on April 21, with opening day on May 30 at the Avon Theatre.<\/p>\n<p>Longtime Stratford artist Debashis Sinha is responsible for the music and sound design for the epic fantasy. In his tenth season now at the Festival, Sinha has previously worked on Serving Elizabeth as composer, along with Romeo and Juliet, Casey and Diana, Women of the Fur Trade, The Crucible, Treasure Island, The Changeling, Breath of Kings as both composer and sound designer, and Anne of Green Gables, Wedding Band, Death and the King&#8217;s Horseman, Mother&#8217;s Daughter, The Aeneid as sound designer alone.<\/p>\n<p>LV caught up with Sinha to talk about his work on the project.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1N5IRV7RmQA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>The Hobbit\u00ae<\/h2>\n<p>Licensed by Middle-earth Enterprises, the new play stays true to Tolkien\u2019s original story, unlike the many liberties taken in the film adaptation. Middle-earth is still a magical place filled with not only Hobbits, but also Dwarves, Elves, Wizards, Goblins, and, of course, Dragons.<\/p>\n<p>As Bilbo Baggins is talked into joining the Dwarves\u2019 crusade to reclaim their home under the Lonely Mountain, many adventures ensue. The production features staged battles and magic effects that use water-based haze and special lighting, along with other staging to recreate the many environments in the story, from the pastoral shire to the Dragon Smaug\u2019s inner mountain lair.<\/p>\n<h2>Debashis Sinha<\/h2>\n<p>Debashis Sinha\u2019s work spans multiple genres and media, including solo and ensemble audiovisual performance projects on the concert stage to composition and sound design, and experiments in electronic and electroacoustic music and technology that include research into machine learning and sound.<\/p>\n<p>The second generation South Asian Canadian trained with master drummers in a range of global music traditions. A fascination with technology and electronic music led him to add those fields to his creative repertoire.<\/p>\n<p>As a composer and sound designer, he\u2019s worked with a number of theatre companies outside The Stratford Festival, including Soulpepper and Why Not Theatre, among others, and has a longstanding artistic relationship with choreographer Peggy Baker. In 2024, Sinha was named as a finalist for the Siminovitch Prize. As a composer for media, he was awarded the Louis Applebaum Composers Award in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>He has appeared as a solo artist at the Sound Symposium, ORF Kunstradio, Deutschlandradio Kultur, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Madrid Abierto, MUTEK, the Guelph Jazz Festival, Radio National Espana, and the International Symposium on Electronic Art, among others.<\/p>\n<p>Sinha is a dedicated educator, and has led sound design intensives, asynchronous video courses and guest lectured at the undergraduate, graduate, high school and community levels across Canada and internationally. He is currently an associate professor at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_124820\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124820\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-124820 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-1.jpg\" alt=\"Members of the company, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026 (Photo: David Hou) Ensemble performers stand onstage around a round doorway set.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-124820\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the company, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026 (Photo: David Hou)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Debashis Sinha: The Interview<\/h3>\n<p>Debashis Sinha\u2019s musical career began on stage, but quickly developed into multiple other pursuits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started as a performing musician, a stage musician exploring many different cultures of music when I moved to Toronto,\u201d Sinha explains. \u201cIt became apparent to me that the end goal of playing music wasn&#8217;t really enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While performing on stage has its own rewards, Debashis was looking for a greater kind of engagement. \u201cThat drive led me into all these different places,\u201d he says. \u201cI wasn&#8217;t content with practising my instruments and getting really good at them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Curiosity also played a role. \u201cI ended up doing a lot of different things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When it came to sound design, he saw an opportunity. There weren\u2019t so many sound designers in the city when he moved to Toronto. The tech was prohibitively expensive at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was also kind of a nerd and really interested in technology,\u201d he laughs. \u201cThat was kind of way for me to investigate many different kinds of interests at once.<\/p>\n<h3>The Hobbit<\/h3>\n<p>His involvement in The Hobbit likely came about as a referral. In his tenth year now at The Stratford Festival, Sinha knows that Head of Design <strong>Michael Walton<\/strong> is often consulted by the various directors of different projects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs far as I know, I think Michael suggested me to Pablo,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes, directors have you in mind right at the outset,\u201d he adds. \u201cIn Stratford, there are a lot of designers kicking around in the stable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the entire production, naturally, the spectre of the enormously successful LoTR and The Hobbit film franchises looms large in the public perception of the story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s an interesting challenge. Last year I sound designed Anne of Green Gables, and of course that&#8217;s another story that people are very attached to,\u201d Sinha says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose kinds of shows are tricky. They can be tricky, but for The Hobbit in particular, from the outset, we were aware that there was so much [iconic] material out there,\u201d Debashis. \u201cThat was something we did talk about it to make sure that we didn&#8217;t talk about it,\u201d he says. The production team proceeded with only the new play in mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing that I love about theatre is that every play has a script, and the script exists outside of time and place; it&#8217;s a document that anyone can open up,\u201d he says. \u201cEach time you make a story, the only way for the story to be good, is for it to be the story that you\u2019re telling now,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a way, I&#8217;m aware of The Hobbit and the general outlines of the story, but it wasn&#8217;t a huge part of [&#8230;] the mythology that drove me as a young person. I was a little bit insulated form that energy. You have to accept that you\u2019re telling the story in the here and now.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The Hobbit: Music &amp; Sound<\/h3>\n<p>The play isn\u2019t a musical per se, with a caveat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe characters do sing songs, because Tolkien wrote the songs and the music.\u201d Sinha composed melodies and music for each of the songs the characters sing.<\/p>\n<p>Other than the songs, there is music that occurs intermittently throughout the story. \u201cThere&#8217;s incidental and transitional music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sound design for The Hobbit involves a range of sound effects and other tricks to help establish the varied environments depicted in the story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is one of the more dense shows that I&#8217;ve done,\u201d Debashis says. After an initial script reading, and then a meeting with director <strong>Pablo Felices-Luna<\/strong>, he already had a plan in mind. \u201cI said, what I hear a lot is Middle-earth \u2014 the birds, the sounds, the mountain.\u201d He looked to create a sense of being in nature, in Tolkien\u2019s world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really important to me. In the end, it didn&#8217;t end up being a huge sound gesture for each scene. It&#8217;s really just hints \u2014 almost subliminal in a way. I like to work that way,\u201d he explains, \u201cAural environments I made to point to the fact that we&#8217;re in this place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It can involve something as subtle as a background sound, such as birds chirping in a forest, that stops at a certain point in the scene. \u201cLittle tricks\u201d as he calls them, such as that, serve to underscore the significance of what follows.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was important to me to let Middle-earth be a character.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_124821\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124821\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-124821\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-3.jpg\" alt=\"L-R: Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Old Took, Heidi Damayo, Tim Campbell as Smaug and Richard Lee as Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit. Stratford Theatre Festival 2026 (Photo: David Hou) A large dragon figure stands atop gold treasure inside a circular stage set.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-3.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-3-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/The-Hobbit-Stratford-3-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-124821\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L-R: Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Old Took, Heidi Damayo, Tim Campbell as Smaug and Richard Lee as Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit. Stratford Festival 2026 (Photo: David Hou)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Musical Style<\/h3>\n<p>As with his own work, the music crosses a range of styles and genres.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s pretty eclectic,\u201d he says. \u201cThe work I do tends to be pretty eclectic \u2014 not genre driven. The first song, with the Dwarves clinking their glasses, it&#8217;s kind of a big chaotic samba party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Dwarves also sing a song while bobbing down the river. \u201cIt&#8217;s more of a reggaeton thing,\u201d he says. At other points, the music is lush and epic in scope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s more about capturing the energy of the scene,\u201d Sinha explains. \u201cI tend to work instinctively. I have a lot of interests that I like to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s one of the great advantages of writing music for theatre \u2014 you can end up writing in just about any genre or style.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s really a lot of fun. There&#8217;s different ways of corralling all those ideas to make sure they&#8217;re a cohesive whole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Dwarf songs came together pretty quickly. \u201cI wrote all the songs in the play in one morning,\u201d he says. It took him a little by surprise. \u201cI&#8217;m not a trained musician. I&#8217;m not a songwriter. I was kind of concerned,\u201d Debashis explains. Early on a sunny Sunday morning in the spring, he headed to his garden. \u201cI took my baritone ukelele to the shed and said, let&#8217;s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The Joys of Theatre<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cI think the thing that I like about working in theatre, and that has kept my theatre practice going for a couple of decades now, is the community that develops,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was really a sense of a shared experience that I really value. Every day becomes more and more valuable in the world that we\u2019re in,\u201d Sinha adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe power of making theatre is that you have to be pretty analog,\u201d he laughs. \u201cThe frame for me to engage with all those electronics is really about all those things that I value about working in the theatre process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Theatre is a communal process. There are meetings where different ideas are proposed to the team \u2014 it\u2019s all part of that shared experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey&#8217;re all kind of foundational to everything that I do,\u201d he says. \u201cFoundational to making and witnessing and being part of theatre in general. Theatre has taught me a lot about the way I want to be in the world,\u201d Debashis explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking on The Hobbit was all of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Show Details<\/h2>\n<p>The Hobbit plays at The Avon Theatre in Stratford <strong>until October 23, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find show details and tickets [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stratfordfestival.ca\/WhatsOn\/PlaysAndEvents\/Production\/The-Hobbit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a;\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? Have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/masthead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>news tip<\/u><\/a>? Need to know the best <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>events<\/u><\/a> happening this weekend? Send us a <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"mailto:anya@ludwig-van.com?subject=Let's%20chat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em><u>note<\/u>.<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast!local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid=S3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid%3DS3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1695737525351000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0QTqKRwRJQFGK3KoJYigxX\">HERE<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Based on Tolkien\u2019s book, Stratford&#8217;s new family-friendly play was adapted by Kim Selody and directed by Pablo Felices-Luna, with music by Debashis Sinha. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":124819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42533,18,41496,29,42517,62,63],"tags":[42967,3149,39739,42968],"yst_prominent_words":[9239,6616,21268,10171,21256],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-10.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-wta","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124816"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124822,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124816\/revisions\/124822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124816"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=124816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}