‘Gaanasaraswati Mahotsav 2020’ to commence on the 7th February in Pune
Pune, January 24, 2020 : Natyasampada Pratishthan founded by the legendary Actor-Producer from Marathi theatre, late Prabhakar Panshikar, commenced a melodious endeavor, ‘Gaanasaraswati Mahotsav’, a Classical Music festival in 2013. This event acknowledges and celebrates the exceptional contribution of late Kishori Amonkar in the field of Indian classical music, the great Vocalist of Jaipur Atrauli Gharana, known by the respected title ‘GaanaSaraswati’.
This year’s Gaanasaraswati Mahotsav will take place from February 7th to February 9th at Mahalaxmi Lawns, near Rajaram Bridge, Pune. This grand three-day festival of Indian classical music will feature a beautiful blend of veteran artists and talented young artistes. HARMAN, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics co. Ltd. focused on connected technologies and solutions for automotive, consumer & enterprise markets, has been associated with this event as the title sponsor since the event’s inception. Fleetguard has been the event’s Foundation Partner since the beginning. This year’s event is also co-sponsored by Lupin, Soujanya Colors, Bank of Maharashtra, Indo Schöttle, Zacco, Jai Kajal, Belwalkar Housing and others.
The festival will commence on Friday, 7th February at 5.00 PM with a vocal recital by Pandit Uday Bhawalkar, leading exponent of Dhrupad Gayki. He will be followed by senior Sitarist Pt. Kushal Das from Kolkata. This session will end with a vocal recital by Vidushi Shruti Sadolikar-Katkar, the senior artiste of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana.
The second day of the festival, Saturday, 8th February, will begin at 5.00 PM with a performance by Taal Yogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar and his group – Taal Yatra. They will be followed by Manjusha Patil of Gwalior and Jaipur Gharana. The session will conclude with the vocal recital by the veteran vocalist Pt. Venkatesh Kumar, renowned artist belonging to Gwalior and Kirana Gharana.
The morning session of the third day of the festival will begin at 9.00 AM on Sunday, 9th February. The session will start with a vocal performance by Arshad Ali. He will be followed by vocalist Bhargavi Venkatram, who is a reputed Carnatic classical artist. The session will conclude with a unique performance, ‘Unsung Kishori Tai’, in which Pt. Raghunandan Panshikar and Vidushi Devki Pandit will together present different and unheard compositions of Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar. This performance has a special focus on Ghazals showing Kishoritai’s versatile creativity.
The evening and the last session of the event will begin at 5:00 PM on Sunday, 9th February, which will start with a vocal performance by Sawani Shende-Sathye. She will be followed by the young and famous Kathak dancer Vishal Krishna. The festival will end with a classical performance of Pt. Raghunandan Panshikar. Rahul Solapurkar will be compering the entire event of this year.
The event will also include special felicitations. Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, veteran vocalist of Gwalior and Kirana Gharana will be felicitated with the prestigious ‘Gaanatapaswini Mogubai Kurdikar Puraskar’. Pandit Yogesh Samsi (Tabla) will be honored with the ‘Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar Sangatkar Puraskar’ for his contribution in the field of accompaniment, solo performance and teaching.
Arshad Ali will be felicitated with the ‘Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar Yuva Puraskar’ instituted last year. This particular award is supported by Belvalkar Kala Manch.
