As a precursor to the Margazhi music season, Carnatica and Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha will organise 30 concerts over ten days from Sunday.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, vocalist K.N. Shashikiran said entry to the concerts at the Narada Gana Sabha, Alwarpet was free.
The Apollo Bharat Sangeet Utsav – 2013 will feature artists including vocalists M. Balamuralikrishna, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, T.M. Krishna, Nithyasree Mahadevan, S. Sowmya, Vijay Siva, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Gayathri Venkatraghavan, Rajani-Gayatri, Priya Sisters, Malladi Brothers and Trichur Brothers and violinists V.V.Subramaniam and V.V.S. Murari.
He said that Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna would present the inaugural concert. Vocalist Sudha Ragunathan would be presented with the Bharat Seva Puraskar .
After the awards ceremony, she would also join flautist S. Shashank to present Murali Gaanam . Sunday’s events will commence with a Carnatic symphony to be performed by 100 students of Radha Ramji’s TKG Gurukulam, Mr. Shashikiran said.
Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha secretary M. Krishnamurthy said that the award was being presented to Ms. Ragunathan for her service to music and society. “Apart from performing in fund raising vocal concerts, through her Samudhaaya Foundation, which is in its 14 year, she has disbursed Rs. 1.25 crore for various causes,” he explained.
Ms. Ragunathan said that she felt touched to be the first recipient of the award. “Such awards motivate one to take larger strides to give back to society,” she said.
A series of collaborative efforts will be one of the highlights of the Utsav, which is in its 8 edition. The Blue Divine will see the coming together of three genres – Carnatic by vocalist Sikkil Gurucharan, Hindustani by flautist Rakesh Chaurasia and Western classical by pianist Anil Srinivasan.
Suchi Das and Anooradha Sriram will encapsulate ‘Musical India’ with their rendition of ‘Musical Forms of India’, and Subhasree Thanikachalam will present a thematic show – ‘Thyagaraja and Ilayaraja’.
Mr. Shashank and R.V. Sekhar, Managing Director, Lancor Holdings were also present at the press meet.
