Keeping alive the tradition of patronage for fine arts, the city-based Visakha Music and Dance Academy (VMDA) is to honour carnatic exponent Madhurai T. N. Seshagopalan with ‘Nada Vidya Bharati’ title.
The title would be conferred on the maestro at the inaugural of the seven-day festival of music, dance and drama being organised by VMDA at Kalabharati auditorium here on Saturday.
He would be presented a golden lotus worth Rs. 2 lakh, a citation and a cash award of Rs 1 lakh, founder president of VMDA C. S. N. Raju said here on Sunday.
The carnatic exponent will give a recital after the awards function.
The other days audience would be treated to performances by exponents such as Meeta Pandit (Hindustani vocal), Abhishek Raghuram (carnatic vocal), R. A. Ramamani (carnatic vocal) and Annavarapu Ramaswamy (carnatic violin).
Kuchipudi ballet ‘Nartanasala’ would be staged by Vedantam Ramalinga Sastry and his team.
On the final day, on August 15, a classic drama which has not been played for decades – Tulasi Jalandhara – would be staged by Achanta Balaji Naidu of Vijayawada.
Incidentally, Balaji Naidu’s father Achanta Venkataratnam Naidu was famous for his performance in Tulasi Jalandhara. The drama had been discontinued and is being revived for the VMDA festival, Mr. Raju said.
Director of Narayana IAS Academy and scholar C. Vijaya Raghavacharyulu would be the honoured guest and Sivanandamurty of Anandavanam, Bhimili, would be the chief guest on the inaugural day, VMDA trustee and secretary G. R. K. Prasad said.
Season tickets for all seven days performance and tickets for each day’s performances would be available at the Kalabharati Auditorium.
