A nine-day dance festival is organised by Saraswathi Educational Cultural and Charitable Trust from May 1 to 9.
The festival, 'Vasant Utsav' to be held at Sri Kapali temple will feature many well-known Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancers as well as young upcoming artistes.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Ariyakudi Music Foundation jointly hold a monthly programme in music under 'Horizon' project in Chennai.
This month's programme will feature violinist Dr. M. Narmada on April 26.
At 6.30 pm

For all those who use their voice in their profession, like musicians, teachers and discourse artistes here is a structured academic course on Voice Conservation and Care.
University of Madras, Department of Indian Music, Sri Ramachandra University, Department of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, Porur, Chennai and University Industry Community Interaction Centre (UICIC) come together to launch this three month's weekend course.

The course will be launched at a function organised on the ocassion of World Voice Day on April 22 at the Music Academy Mini Hall, Chennai.At 6.30 pm.

An audio CD on 'Music Therapy' will also be released on the ocassion.
Dr. Prakash Boominathan, Reader, Dept. of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, Sri Ramachandra University, will present a lecture on Caring for Your Voice - Help for Voice Professionals
Dr. Col. A. Ravikumar, Professor and Head, Dept. of ENT- Head & Neck Surgery, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai will give Tips on Care of Voice.

This will be followed by an interactive session with the audience to know more on voice care.

Lasya, an arts organisation based in Mumbai, celebrates Yatra, a festival of choreographies on April 28 and 29, 2008. This is for the sixth consecutive year the festival is held.

"The festival celebrates the relation of the dancer and the stage - ranga. We sincerely hope to revel in the universality of our art from across boundaries and bring people together in peace and friendship with a common language: Dance," say the organisers.

On April 28, Bhanusinghar Padavali, based on Ravindra Sangeet
By Nivedita Mukherji and her dance troupe in Odissi style will be presented. This will be followed by Anand Lahiri, a bouquet of classical pure dance presentations (Nritta) in two classical dance styles of Kathak and Bharatanatyam by Rajashree Shirke, Vaibhav Arekar and the Lasya troupe and Marathi Lok-gram Kala Melawa, a Tribal and Folk art presentation by the Lok Kala Academy of the Mumbai University - Prof. Prakash Khandge.

On April 29. Nritya Umang, a dance presentation by Rani Karna and her troupe (Kolkata), in the Kathak style will be presented followed by 'The Collage' Ek Yathaarth - a Kathak and Bharatanatyam presentation in the genre of thematic contemporary idioms by Lasya. Concept and choreography by Rajashree Shirke and Vaibhav Arekar.

Naadabrahmam, a Chennai based music journal will be presenting the Tamil New Year and Sri Rama Navami Festival in New Delhi from April 20 to 27, 2008

Music concerts are scheduled to be held on all evenings duringthis period.

Venue: Sree Subha Siddhi Vinayaka Mandir, Pocket 4, Mayur Vihar Phase I, Delhi - 110 091.

The schedule of concerts is:

Natya Vriksha school of dance and India International Centre, New Delhi will jointly organise World Dance Day celebrations on April 26 and 27 at IIC Auditorium, 40,Lodi Estate, New Delhi - 110 005.

The schedule of events is:

April 26 : 5 pm - 'Your face, My eye, Your mudra, My Lens' an interface with Avinash Pasricha, master lensman of Indian dance
6.30 pm - Bharatanatyam by Geeta Chandran

April 27 : 5 pm - The Maestro and the Diva - Photographer Ram Dhamija will show photographs of two dance legends Bala Saraswathy and Shambhu Maharaj and will speak on his interactions with them.
6.30 pm - Kathak by Saswati Sen

An ardent rasika of veteran vocalist M. D. Ramanathan hosts a day to remember the artiste every year at Tripunithura in Kerala.

R. K. Moorthy, a school teacher now retired referred by his as 'devotee' of MDR is not a man with the means yet he stoutly refuses sponsorship or other contributions, says C.R.R. Varma who is also an organiser of arts events.

Moorthy insists that every year the concerts should be confined to exclusive MDR pieces, as M.D. Ramanathan was also a Vaggeyakara, apart from chaste musician.
He used the mudra or signature 'Varadadasa' for his compositions.

This year vocalist S. Sowmya will present an exclusive concert of MDR's compositions. Sowmya's guru S. Ramanathan and MDR learnt from the same teacher - 'Tiger' Varadachari.
Sowmya will be accompanied on the violin by S. R. Vinu and Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam

"All devotees of MDR should also be indebted to her for searching, locating and preserving the 'forgotten' notebooks containing the invaluable pieces in MDR's own handwriting," Varma says,

The MDR day will be celebrated on April 26, 2008. At Rukmini Kalyanamandapam, Tripunithura.

Chennai based Karpagam Garden Satsangh hosts Sri Ramavami music concerts from April 6 to April 20, 2008.

The concerts will be held at Sri Karpaga Vinayakar temple, 2nd Link Street, Karpagam Gardens, Adyar, Chennai - 20

Vocalists Dr. R. Ganesh, Gayathri Girish, Sriranjani Santhanagopalan, Violinist Meera Sivaramakrishnan, Jalatharangam artiste Anayampatti Ganesan and veena artiste Jayalakshmi Sekhar are among the artistes features in this fest.

A tribute for the vocalist Palghat K. V. Narayanaswamy has been organised on his sixth death anniversary on April 1, 2008 in Chennai.

Ram Narayan, Chairman, Iyal Isai Nataka Manram, will inaugurate the function.
V.R.Lakshmi Narayan, former DGP, M. Murali, MD, Krishna Sweets, Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti, A. Natarajan, former Director, Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai, and Mohan Parasaran, Additional Solicitor General, Supreme Court, will pay tribute

The homage will be followed by a vocal recital by N. Vijay Siva

The Carnatic music trinity Thyagaraja, Shyama Sastri and Muthuswamy Dikshitar were all born in the town Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu. Their birthdays also fall around the same time between March and May.

Every year Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peeta Karnataka Sangeetha Seva Trust is celebrating the birth anniversaries of the three composers who have greatly contributed to Carnatic music.

The first in the celebration is Dikshitar Jayanthi, which falls on April 9, 2008 this year. The celebration begin with Nadaswaram at 8 am followed by Navavarana Pooja. During this puja, vocalist and guru Seetha Rajan and her disciples will render the Kamalamba Navavarana kritis.
On the same day evening Seetha Rajan will present an exclusive Dikshitar kriti concert at 8 pm.

Shyama Sastri and Thyagaraja's birth anniversaries fall on May 6 and 10, 2008 respectively. At that time, a six day music festival will be held.

The music magazine Mudhra will be conducting a one day seminar on 'Fine Arts - its social and cultural impact' on March 30, 2008 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.

At Hotel Sabari Inn, T.Nagar. Chennai - 17
The seminar is being conducted in association with Lions Club International District 324 A1, will be inaugurated by the Tamil theatre artiste S.Ve.Shekhar.
The sessions to follow include - music, dance and theatre : their form and relevance to society by Dr.S.A.K.Durga, Meenakshi Chittaranjan and Gnani, Media and Fine arts (B.R.Kumar), Fine arts and temples ( B.M.Sundaram), Fine arts in educational institutions ( Dr.Pakkirisami Bharathi), Rare fine art forms (K.Kesavasamy), Teaching fine arts to children (Dr.R.Kausalya), Fine arts in cultural institutions (Mudhra Bhaskar). The seminar will be co-ordinated by musician Dr.Radha Bhaskar.

Admission is by prior registration only. For more details, contact 'Mudhra' Bhaskar on mobile phone nos at Chennai - 9840072821/ 28220453