For the Indians in North America, the Easter weekend is special. A long holiday at the beginning of
the summer is also the time for celebrating the Carnatic music composer Sadguru Thayagraja in the USA.
The Cleveland Thayagaraja Utsavam is celebrated at this time of the year, annually.
This year the festival is celebrated form March 22 to 30.
Over 45 concerts will be held at this festival. There will also be a series of lectures, workshops and demonstrations by senior artistes.
A special music programme ‘Golden Voice and Silken Strings’ featuring senior vocalist R. K. Shrikantan with N. Ravikiran on the chitravina will be held on March 23 at 9 am
On the same day evebning at 7 p, ‘Tradition of the Tanjore Quartet’, a special Bharatanatyam program featuring senior dancer Rhadha, Narthaki Nataraj, and Roja Kannan is scheduled.
‘Margam – Journey’, featuring senior dancers Kalanidhi Narayanan and Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy with dancers participating in the dance workshop will be held on the concluding day, March 30 at 9 am.
From last year, the aradhana committee is working on another project titled ‘Sustaining Sampradaya’ an effort to teach music through reputed gurus from India. The participants at this programme will perform at the inaugural concert of the Utsavam.
This year kritis from Prahlada Bhaktha Vijayam, a dance drama composed by Thyagaraja and Kamalamba Navavaranams are being taught by gurus like Suguna Varadachari, Nirmala Sundararajan, Jayalakshmi Santhanam, P. S. Narayanaswamy and R. K. Srikantan.
The complete schedule of the Cleveland aradhana celebrations are available at http://www.aradhana.org/schedule.html
For more details contact the Aradhana Committee at 3447, Granton Avenue, Cleveland OH - 44111
Contact in India V. V. Sundaram Phone - (044) 2491 4103
