Renowned artists set to perform in 66th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav

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Pune, November 22, 2018 : Renowned artists coming from different traditions of music from all over the country are all set to perform in 66th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav.

This year, the festival will be held in between December 12 to 16 at new venue at Maharashtriya Mandal Krida Sankul, Mukund Nagar near Swargate. The artist line up for the festival was announced by Shrinivas Joshi, Executive President of the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal during a Press Conference held in Pune today.

B. R. Mehta, Vice President, Finolex, Vishal Gokhale, Managing Director, Gokhale Constructions, Abhay Kele, CEO, Prithvi Edifice, Chandrakant Kudal of Asha Publicity and Shirish Deshpande, CEO, Buldana Urban were present among the dignitaries.

The 66th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav will have performances of 31 renowned artists that include veterans as well as promising young artists. The timing for the 1st day (Wednesday, December 12) of the festival would be from 3:00pm to 10:00pm, while for 2nd (Thursday, December 13) & 3rd day (Friday, December 14) would be from 4:00pm to 10:00pm. On the 4th day (Saturday, December 15), the festival will be conducted from 3pm to 12am with the approval from the concerned Government authorities. On the 5th day (Sunday, December 16) of the festival would run from 12pm to 10:00pm.

This year, the festival is supported by Finolex, Shree Dhootpapeshwar Ltd., PnN & Sons, Union Bank, Nanded City, Buldana Urban, Gokhale Constructions, Prithvi Edifice, Suhana Masale, Asha Publicity and Indian Magic Eye.

Shrinivas Joshi said, ‘‘This year, there is excitement about new venue of the festival. This festival has always maintained its sanctity and at the same time tried to explore new things. Puneites and music lovers always welcome and applaud this effort of ours and we are sure that we’ll get the same huge response this year.’’

Detailed flow of the festival-

Day 1 (Wednesday, December 12) –
The first performance of day 1 (Wednesday, December 12) of the 66th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav will be Shehnai recital by Kalyan Apar, a Shehnai player from Aurangabad. This will be followed by vocalist Ravindra Parchure who got the musical guidance from renowned vocalist of Gwalior-Agra Gharana Pt. Arun Kashalkar and also from a vocal classical maestro from Gwalior Manohar Bhagwat. Basant Kabra, one of the eldest disciple of late Sitar player and musician Annapurna Devi will be performing Sarod on the same day. He will be followed by vocalist Prasad Khaprde, who is senior disciple of Rashid Khan of Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana. The first day will end with the enchanting performance of renowned vocalist Begum Parveen Sulatana of Patiyala Gharana.

Day 2 (Thursday, December 13) –
The second day of the festival will mark the recital by vocalist Dr. Rita Dev, who is vocalist of Banaras Gharana and a disciple of late vocalist Girija Devi. She will be followed by a young vocalist from Pune, Saurabh Salunke who is son and disciple of Pt. Prakashsinh Salunke. After that, Rahul Sharma, son and disciple of Santoor maestro Pt. Shivkumar Sharma will mesmerize the audience. The second day of the festival will end with the performance of veteran vocalist Pt. Ajay Pohankar.

Day 3 (Friday, December 14) –
Third day of the festival will start with the performance of Aparna Panshikar, who is young vocalist of Gwalior-Jaipur Gharana and disciple of Bhaskarbuva Joshi and her mother Meera Panshikar. She will be followed by Ragi Balwant Singh who represents the classical vocal tradition of Punjab. Followed by a violin performance of father-son duo Milind Raikar and Yadnesh Raikar. This day will be concluded by a mesmerizing performance of veteran vocalist Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar.

Day 4 (Saturday, December 15) –
The fourth day will be unfolded by the performance of young vocalist Dattatray Velankar who is disciple of Pt. Vinayak Torvi of Gwalior-Kirana Gharana. Next performance will see appearance of classical singer Sawani Shende after many years. She will be followed by renowned flute player Vivek Sonar, who is disciple of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. Followed by Shriniwas Joshi, vocalist of Kirana Gharanaand son of Bharatratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Veteran singer Devki Pandit will perform on the same day. She will be followed by vocalist from Indore Pt. Goswami Gokulotsav Maharaj.This day will end with the sitar performance of Ustad Shahid Parvez who belongs to Imdadkhani Gharana.

Day 5 (Sunday, December 16) –
The fifth day will start with the performance of famous Kirana Gharana vocalists- brothers Arshad Ali and Amjad Ali who are disciples of Ustad Mashkur Ali Khan and Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan. They will be followed by vocalist sisters Apoorva Gokhale and Pallavi Joshi who are granddaughters of Pt. Gajananbuva Joshi. In the next performance, Veena player Nirmala Rajshekhar and Violin player Indradeep Ghosh will perform together. This will be Hindustani-Carnatic Jugalbandi. They will be followed by veteran vocalist Sanjeev Abhyankar, who is disciple of Pt. Jasraj of Mewati Gharana. After that, Prateek Chaudhari will present a Sitar performance. He is son and disciple of renowned Sitar player Debu Chaudhari. He will be followed by legendary Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj and his disciple Shashwati Sen.

As per the tradition, the festival will end with the divine performance by veteran vocalist Dr. Prabha Atre of Kirana Gharana.

The artists who will be performing for the very first time in Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav are –
Ravindra Parchure, Basant Kabra, Dr. Rita Dev, Saurabh Salunke, Aparna Panshikar, Ragi Balwant Singh, Milind Raikar and Yadnesh Raikar, Dattatray Velankar, Vivek Sonar, Nirmala Rajshekhar, Indradeep Ghosh and Prateek Chaudhari.

Details about the tickets
Season ticket for chair will cost Rs. 4000/- & Rs.3000/-. The season ticket of Indian seating will cost Rs.500/-. The daily ticket for Indian seating category would be Rs.200/-. Daily tickets can be purchased in advance and can be used for any day of the festival. Daily tickets are also available for chair, which will cost Rs. 800/-

Tickets will be made available from December 4 from 9am at Behere Ambewale, Shanipar, Shirish Traders (Bodhani), near Kamala Nehru Park, Navdikar Musicals, Opp. Yashwantrao Chavan theatre & Abhiruchi Foods, Aranyeshwar, Sahakarnagar. The online ticket booking will also start on December 4 from 9am on www.esawai.com.