Long time residents of the area recall the Tyagaraja aradhana observed at their home here every year where musicians and music lovers got together for a day filled with music, music and music all around.

Over the past 2 years, Denver-based musician violinist Priya Hariharan (disciple of Lalgudi Jayaraman) has been taking the initiative to elevate the festival to a next level by organizing the 'Rocky Mountain Sri Tyagaraja Utsavam'. The day-long event typically starts with rendering of Pancharatna Kritis followed by individual homage by artistes and their students from the area.

This year, the aradhana was observed on Sunday March 8, 2009, at Douglas County Fairgrounds Kirk Hall, in Castle Rock, CO in a big way. There were around 75 performers with more than 300 people participating in this event that included seasoned artistes and aspiring young learners.

The program started at 10:00 am with the traditional 'Chetulaara' played on violin by Priya Hariharan and on the veena by Gayatri Krishnamurthy (there are no flute artistes in the Denver area).

Notable artistes Priya Hariharan, V K Arun Kumar (senior disciple of 'Sangita Kala Acharya' Seetha Rajan), Chayadevi Ramayanam, Gayatri Krishnamurthy, Gowri Nandakumar (disciple of D K Nagarajan), Meera Ganesan, Pramod Kuppa, Matangi Venkat,Vani Iyer, Vijayashree Venkatesh,.Kanchi Mahalingam ably supported by Sriram Srinivasan, Venkat Subramanian, Ravi Mahalingam on the mridangam and Raja Venkatraman on tabla, along with senior disciples of the local artistes rendered 'Sri Ganapathi', 'Gurulekha', followed by the Pancharathna kritis 'Jagadaananda Kaaraka' (Naata), 'Dudukugala' (Gaula), 'Sadhinchene' (Arabhi), 'Kanakana ruchira' (Varali) and finally 'Endaro Mahanubhavulu' (Sri).

The whole show was well-coordinated and led by Priya and Arun and kept the audience engaged. The percussion artistes enhanced the performance extremely well.

Instrumental fusion by Priya Hariharan (Violin), Gayatri Krishnamurthy (Veena), Charlie Parker (Cello), Anthony Salvo (Western Violin), Justin Kephart (Guitar), Sriram Srinivasan (Mridangam) & John Thomas (Tabla) and rendering 'Nidhichala' in Kalyani raga was impressive.

The artistes presented a wide range of kritis.

Senior musicians presented kritis Kotinadulu (Todi), Evarani (Devaamritavarshini), Evarikai (Devamanohari), Rama Bhakti (Suddha Bangala), Etavunara (Kalyani), Upacharamulanu (Bhairavi), Mokshamu galada (Saramati), Tulasidala (Mayamalavagowlai), Paramathmudu (Vagadeeshwari), Terateeyagaraada (Gowlipantu), Ragasudhaa rasa (Andolika), Pakkala nilabadi (Kharaharapriya) while the young learners presented Nannu palimpa (Mohanam), Ramakatha (Madhyamavati), Nee daya raada (Vasantabhairavi) and the even younger aspiring students presented Sri Rama Sri Rama (Sahana), Raghunandana (Kedaragowlai), Raminchuvaarevarura, Sri Gananaatham (Kanakangi), etc.

There were also violin students who presented Ninnu neranamminaanura (Pantuvaraali), Dayarani (Mohanam), Anuraagamule (Saraswati). Long time residents of Chennai who have been to the Tyagaraja Aradhana events in Chennai felt as if they were back home!

Special mention needs to made of performances by Justin Kephart 'Brovabharama' (Bahudari) on his guitar and Charlie Parker 'Niravathi sukada' (Ravichandrika) on his cello. The bhavam brought into the Kritis on the western instruments was amazing!

The program ended with a group rendition of Geetharthamu, followed by Mangalam by the senior artistes.

All the vocalists were given the mridangam support by Sriram Srinivasan, Ravi Mahalingam, Swaminathan, Venkat Subramanian on Mridangam, as also aspiring instrumentalists Arun Chandra (Mridangam), Rohan Nandakumar (Tabla) and Bijoy Devarajan (Tabla).

The 9-hour program was well compered by the duo Aarthi Ramesh and Sarmishta Ramesh, with occasional explanation of the krithis, short introduction about the artists along with some historical perspective of the festival and interspersed with anecdotes from Sri Tyagaraja's life.

The event was very well organized by Priya Hariharan with the help of several dedicated volunteers. Great care was taken to serve the rasikas with lunch boxes and tea. All participants were awarded a certificate of appreciation.