As a resident of Boston, what I look forward to the most every year is the annual music conference organized by the LearnQuest academy of music based in Waltham, MA. Celebrating its tenth conference this year, a team of dedicated conference committee members headed by Dr. Pradeep Shukla and several dedicated student and adult volunteers  led Indian Classical music lovers on an amazing musical journey over the Easter holiday weekend – April 3, 4 and 5. Several reputed practitioners of classical music from the North Indian Hindustani and South Indian Carnatic traditions presented recitals in vocal and instrumental music. 

The 2015 conference began with two kick-off  events. The first one, a Hindustani Baithak on March 7th, featured melodious vocal and sitar recitals by Smt. Swati Panda and Dr. Jawwad Noor accompanied by Harshal Tole and Pranav Ghatraju on tabla respectively. Additionally, Shri Ramachandra Joshi provided able accompaniment on harmonium for the vocal recital. The second, a Carnatic Kutcheri concert on March 14th, featured talented and accompalished vocalists Uma Sankar and Bhuvana Ganesh accompanied respectively on violin by with KVS Vinay and Surya Sundararajan and on mridangam by  Siva Ponnudarai and Ullas Rao. On March 29, in a collaboration with World Music, CrashArts, LearnQuest conference featured a cross-cultural fusion by master percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, flautist Rakesh Chaurasia and six talented Celtic artists. Together, the team collaborated to create a performance that charmed audiences with its universal appeal.

For the next four days, March 30 – April 2, music lovers were treated to educational lecture demonstrations by acclaimed Sarodist and MIT Senior lecturer Dr. George Ruckert on Modal Improvisation, Berklee College professor Dr. Rekha Menon on the topic of “Coloring of Rasas”, New England Conservatory professor Jerry Leake on World Percussion and again Dr. George Ruckert on the musical instruments of India. All the speakers were extremely knowledgeable about their topics and articulate communicators. 

The finale event of the conference began at the Regis College Fine Arts Center in Weston, MA on Friday evening April 3rd with spectacular vocal performances by the Malladi brothers (Carnatic style) and Smt. Indrani Mukherjee (Hindustani style).  While a Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi in Charukesi by Malladi brothers enthralled the audience, Smt. Indrani Mukherjee impressed with her beautiful voice and range of expertise across classical khyal and semi-classical genres such as tappa, taraana, chaiti and dadra.

The second day featured masterly recitals by Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar, an energetic Carnatic instrumental ensemble Laya-Vinyasa by young artists from the New England area and Washington DC area (Mridangam - Pravin Sitaram & Tarun Bangalore, Kanjira - Sriram Ramesh, Violin - Kamalakiran Vinjamuri, Ghatam - Sowmiya J Narayanan and Tabla - Amit Kavthekar), Hindustani Sarod-Sitar jugalbandi by the young Gupta brothers, scintillating Carnatic vocal concert by the young star vocalist Shri Abhishek Raghuram, a Dhrupad concert by Gundecha brothers accompanied by their students, Virginia Nicoli on silver flute and Igino Brunoli on saxophone. The evening ended with a recital on Carnatic flute by well known flautist Shashank Subramanyam.  A booklet by Shuchita Rao featuring Dhrupad compositions notated in English for the benefit of non-Hindi literate students of Dhrupad was released by the Gundecha brothers prior to their concert.  The well-respected Mridangam player from Boston area, Dr. Pravin Sitaram said “I heard the Gundecha brothers for the first time at the LearnQuest conference and just loved the ambiance they created. It was magical and probably one of the strongest memories I will have of the LearnQuest festival.”

The third and final day of the festival began with a Hindustani vocal recital by Shri Dattatreya Velankar, a LearnQuest faculty member. He treated listeners to khyals in morning raga Mian ki Todi followed by khyals in Hindol and Hindol Bahaar. He concluded with a lively Marathi abhang and a devotional song composed by Purandara Dasa in Kannada. Dhrupad ang alaap in Raga Brindaavani Saarang by Shri Rupak Kulkarni created a peaceful serene ambience with tabla accompaniment by Shri Hindole Majumdar and pakhwaj accompaniment by Shri Akhilesh Gundecha. Dr. S.  Sowmya gave a brilliant Carnatic vocal recital in the early evening followed by two audio-visual presentations meant as homage to two great artists who passed away recently. A tribute to the late Mandolin U. Srinivas was made by Smt. Durga Krishnan and to the late Kathak dance maestro Pandit Chitresh Das was made by Chhandika dance school director Gretchen Hayden and Shri Upendra Mishra of India New England News. The evening concluded with a resonant sitar concert by Ustad Nishat Khan and a mesmerizing Carnatic saxophone concert by Shri Kadri Gopalnath.

Music is a powerful medium and at this tenth annual conference, listeners experienced a range of emotions from sadness and grief to peace and joy. The abundance of ragas and talas presented by top-notch performers, the depth of bhaava presented through the medium of voice and the sounds of a great variety of instruments helped re-connect an enthusiastic and receptive audience to its roots, heritage and traditions.  Ethnic Indian saris from weavers in Bengal, hand- made costume jewelry, music shop featuring music in audio, video and DVD formats, delicious meals by Masala art and Udupi recreated the magical experience of being in India.  To put this conference together a number of generous host families and dedicated volunteers came forward to help conference committee members to realize their dream and mission. Kudos to LearnQuest for organizing a memorable conference.