Natyasampada Pratishthan, founded by the great actor of Marathi theatre, Prabhakar Panshikar, initiated Gaanasaraswati Mahotsav in 2013. The mahotsav, which starts from February 1, acknowledges and celebrates the exceptional contribution of the late Kishori Amonkar to the field of Indian classical music.
This year’s mahotsav boasts of a line-up that has veteran and talented young artists. The festival to be held at Mahalaxmi Lawns, near Rajaram Bridge, Karvenagar, will commence on Friday, February 1 with a Carnatic vocal recital by S Aishwarya and S Saundarya, great granddaughters of legendary vocalist Bharat Ratna M S Subbulakshmi. Violinist Dr Sangeeta Shankar and her daughter Nandini Shankar will be featured next. This session will conclude with a vocal recital by Devki Pandit.
The second day of the festival (Feb 2) will begin with a vocal performance by Ankita Joshi and Rutuja Lad. Next will be a flute recital by Debopriya and Suchismita Chatterjee. The session will conclude with a vocal recital by veteran vocalist Ajay Pohankar. He will be accompanied by his son Abhijit on the keyboard.
The morning session on February 3 will begin at 9 am with a sarod performance by Abhishek Borkar. His performance will be followed by vocalist Srinivas Joshi’s recital. The session will be concluded with a special concert ‘Vaikunthanayaka’, in which vocalists Pt Raghunandan Panshikar, Pt Anand Bhate and Pt Sanjeev Abhyankar will perform together. The evening session will start with a Bharatnatyam performance by Kshitija Bhave. Later, noted vocalist Jayteerth Mevundi will take the stage. The festival will conclude with the surbahar and sitar recital by Budhaditya Mukherjee.
The event will also include felicitations of senior artists. Pt Sharad Sathe, senior vocalist of Gwalior gharana will be felicitated with the prestigious ‘Gaanatapaswini Mogubai Kurdikar Puraskar’. Raya Korgaonkar (harmonium) and Dayanidhesh Kossambe (tabla) from Goa will be honoured with the ‘Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar Sangatkar Puraskar’ for their contribution in the field of accompaniment. Abhishek Borkar will be felicitated with the ‘Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar Yuva Puraskar’ instituted this year.
Donation passes for this event will be available at www.bookmyshow.com and www.kyazoonga.com, as also at Navdikar Musicals (Kothrud), Shirish Traders (opposite Kamla Nehru Park), Balgandharva Rangmandir, Tilak Smarak Mandir, and CityPride Theatre (Kothrud). The Bharatiya Baithak tickets are limited in number.