“I was pleasantly surprised when the judges announced my name as the ‘Kalavanta 2014’ winner,” was 18-year-old violinist Apoorva Krishna’s reaction after receiving the first National Carnatic Youth Festival award for her violin solo at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja here on Wednesday.
She described her experience as “rewarding” as the event was judged by stalwarts N.S. Krishnamurthy, M.S. Sheela and mridangist A.V. Anand.
Apoorva was tutored by violinists Anuradha Sridhar in the U.S. and Srimati Brahmanandam in India.
Music apart, this R.V. College student, who scored 92 per cent in her pre-university college examinations, wants to study Business Management.
The competition was conducted under the aegis of the Karnataka Fine Arts Council (KFAC) and, in all, 45 people took part under various categories.
N.C. Bharadwaj (mridangam) from Chennai bagged the ‘Kalavanta’ for percussion, while Bangalore’s Vittal Rangan bagged the ‘Kalavanta’ for best violin accompaniment.