Celebrating 30 years presents Sri Thyagaraja Aradhana 2016 March 19, 2016 Hindu Temple of Delaware 760 Yorklyn Road, Hockessin DE Thyagaraja Aradhana Souvenir & Spring 2016 SRUTI Notes Table of Contents From the President’s Desk ......................................................................... Balaji Raghothaman ............... 1 From the Publications & Outreach Committee ........................................ Lakshmi Radhakrishnan ...... .3 Connect with SRUTI.................................................................................................................................. 3 Thyagaraja Aradhana - Origins and Significance ..................................... M.M.Subramanian ................ 4 From the Marketing Committee ................................................................ Sreenivas Rao Donthineni ..... 5 From the Resources Committee ................................................................ Shankar Muthuswami ........... 6 Treasurer Report ........................................................................................ Santi Kanumalla .................... 6 Aradhana Program - March 19, 2016 .......................................................................................................... 7 About the Artists ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Sruti Youth Group (SYG) - Call for Participation ...................................... Uma Sivakumar ..................... 8 Thyagaraja’s Dilemma ............................................................................... Prabhakar Chitrapu ............... 8 SRUTI presents Sikkil Gurucharan & Anil Srinivasan ............................................................................. 12 SRUTI and Annenberg Center Live present Saayujya ............................................................................. 13 SRUTI presents Sanjay Subrahmanyan .................................................................................................... 14 SRUTI presents T.N.Krishnan, Viji Krishnan & Sriram Krishnan .......................................................... 15 Listen to a podcast from John Schafer at WNYC, featuring a discussion with Priyadarsini Govind and TM Krishna about their upcoming event, Saayujya (the Merging) Board of Directors From the President’s Desk President Balaji Raghothaman Dear Rasikas, President-Elect Nari Narayanan Absence makes the heart grow fonder. We all await the first resonant tambura drone Treasurer of the season, the first deafening hush of the audience before the first burst of song, Santi Kanumalla the first ta din gi na tom of the mrdangam. Secretary Srikant Raghavachari Warm greetings to you on behalf of the 2016 Sruti Board of Directors. As we pass Directors the milestone of 30 years since our founding, it is a good time to reminisce on the Shankar Muthuswami Lakshmi Radhakrishnan long road we have traveled as an organization. We are now legitimately considered Sreenivas Rao Donthineni one of the premiere presences in the arts scene in Philadelphia, not to mention one Uma Sivakumar Srinivasan Raghavan of the bulwarks of the Indian cultural milieu. Among similar organizations in the USA, as well as among the touring artists, we have built up a reputation of quality, Committees efficiency, and hospitality. We have found that our hard-won reputation opens many Resources & Development new doors for us and allows us to aim higher. The current board feels very much Shankar Muthuswami (Chair) Renuka Adiraju like Isaac Newton felt, seeing further by standing on the shoulders of giants. We can Nari Narayanan all be justifiably proud of these achievements, made possible by countless dedicated Rajee Padmanabhan Pitchumani Sivakumar people contributing in various capacities including board members, volunteers, Raji Venkatesan music teachers and supporters. Publications & Outreach Lakshmi Radhakrishnan (Chair) I would like to thank the previous board, under the excellent leadership of Santi Prabhakar Chitrapu Kanumalla, for a magnificent 2015 season. It included a diverse mix of Srikant Raghavachari Shashikala Tanjore performances, and a previously unmatched level of outreach activities. Apart from that, the successful introduction of the Bala Bhavam series, was in my mind, a big Marketing & Publicity Sreenivas Rao Donthineni (Chair) highlight of the year, and it is a much appreciated feature that we hope to continue. Harish Bevinahally Bheem Bhat Nari Narayanan The 2016 Board of Directors contains a good mixture of veteran hands and some Kapila Ratnam Ranjini Shridhar excellent new additions. Nari Narayanan has transitioned from his prior role as Uma Sivakumar marketing director to be the President-Elect. Santi Kanumalla, the 2015 President, has taken on the new role of Treasurer and we welcome her continued and invaluable Established in 1986, SRUTI is dedicated contribution to Sruti. Uma Sivakumar and Srikant Raghavachari continue in their to bringing Indian Classical Music and Dance to communities in the Delaware roles as Director 1 and Secretary respectively and Lakshmi Radhakrishnan is the Valley. SRUTI is a registered tax-exempt not-for-profit organization under IRS director of Publications. Shankar Muthuswami as Director of Resources and section 501(c)(3). Development, Rao Donthineni as Marketing Director, and Srini Raghavan as Tax ID: 23-2454367 Director 2 are the new additions to the board. I am grateful to have such an extremely talented and hardworking board. ~ 1 ~ This year, we have a schedule packed with several outstanding concerts. We start with the Thyagaraja Aradhana on March 19th, for which the Utsava Sampradaya Kritis and Pancharatna Kritis will be rendered by groups led by Dinakar Subramanian and Kiranavali Vidyasankar respectively. Amrutha Venkatesh will provide our afternoon concert for the day. We will also have community singing slots throughout the day as per our tradition. The spring will continue with an unusual combination of Sikkil Gurucharan vocal with Anil Srinivasan on the piano, on April 16th. Next we come to the flagship event of the year - the performance of ‘Saayujya – The Merging’ by TM Krishna and Priyadarsini Govind at the Annenberg Center on April 30th. This Pew Center grant-funded concert will be preceded during the week by music and dance invitation-only workshops, to be held at the Curtis Institute and the University of the Arts. You may have already seen the related podcast (QR code on first page) on the website saayujya.sruti.org created especially for this event. Immediately following Saayujya is the great newly minted Sangita Kalanidhi Sanjay Subrahmanyan, on May 7th. Our spring season will close with another fantastic concert, a family violin trio by Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. T.N. Krishnan, Viji Krishnan and Sriram Krishnan, accompanied by Sangita Kalanidhi Sri Trichy Sankaran. Our fall is also packed with great offerings. Vijay Siva will enthrall us with his voice on Oct 1st. We have Oscar nominee Bombay Jayashri on Oct 15th. And we will dip into a delectable pool of Hindustani music, with a sarangi concert by Harsh Narayan, grandson of Pandit Ram Narayan who is credited with bringing and popularizing sarangi into the classical fold. Our fall calendar is still evolving, and you may see some additions. This year also happens to be the birth centenary of Bharat Ratna Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi. We are working on an exciting event in the fall to commemorate the occasion, involving Shri R.K. Shriramkumar the pre-eminent violinist. We will provide you with the details as soon as we are able to finalize them. We also plan to continue the Bala Bhavam series, and feature our local talent in vocal, instrumental and dance. Again, stay tuned for the final details. We have received very positive comments regarding our lineup for this year. Such quality also comes with cost. We have made the rather difficult decision to raise our individual concert ticket prices. However, our sponsorship fees remain unchanged. We urge all the annual and life membership who have not purchased sponsorships to do so and support the organization. We have a premium Concert Patron category of $2000, which the patron can designate to the concert of his/her choice. Sruti will recognize the patron(s) on stage and in our publicity material. I request people who are interested in this category to contact me directly. Please join us for an exciting and enriching journey. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any issue, please do not hesitate to contact me or any other member of the board. We are here to serve you and ensure the highest level of Sruti experience to the best of our ability. Sincerely, Balaji Raghothaman, President On behalf of the Board of Directors ~ 2 ~ From the Publications & Outreach Committee Dear Sruti Supporters & Music Enthusiasts, The Publications & Outreach committee welcomes you to the 30th annual Tyagaraja Aradhana celebrations and is pleased to present the first Sruti publication of 2016. This year we have combined the Spring Sruti notes and the Aradhana souvenir into this one publication. In addition to the notes from the various committees, you can also read about the exciting spring and fall Sruti concert calendar. To celebrate Sruti’s 30th year, we have included an article that was published in the first Aradhana souvenir by one of the founding members. Today’s day-long event traditionally marks the beginning of Sruti's spring concert series