A Celebration of Indian Classical Music:
LearnQuest announces its Sixth Annual Music Conference

The LearnQuest annual music conference is one of USA’s foremost Indian classical music event offering a spectacular array of performers from both the Hindustani (North Indian) and Carnatic (South Indian) classical traditions. In tandem with the tradition of Sangeet Sammelans (music festivals) embedded in the Indian classical music tradition, this multi-day music festival creates a musical platform in North America by providing a vibrant musical experience ranging from vocal to instrumental performances.

Over the past five years, the LearnQuest music conferences have showcased maestros such as T. M. Krishna, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Aruna Sairam, Grammy winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Ustad Rashid Khan, the Gundecha Brothers, Prabha Athre, mandolin maestro, U. Srinivas and Ustad Shahid Parvez, to name just a few. This year, the conference will be featuring over forty renowned musicians as well as music educators of Indian classical music from India and the USA featuring collaborations with Western music performers. Some of the distinguished artists performing this year are Hindustani musicians, Sanjeev Abhyankar (vocal), Partha Bose (sitar), Shounak Abhisheki (vocal), Sarwar Hussain (sarangi), Manjiri Asnare Kelkar (vocal), Abhijit Banerjee (tabla), and Carnatic musicians, Ganesh-Kumaresh (violin duo), V.K. Raman (flute), Thanjavur T.R.Govindarajan (thavil), Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam), Shashikiran & Kiranavali (vocal), Ganesh (chitra veena), Roopa Mahadevan (vocal), Tara Anand (violin), Richard Wolf (veena) and David Nelson (mridangam). 

Promising to be a memorable experience for novice explorers and aficionados, the LearnQuest music conference 2011 will be presenting a unique series of Jugalbandi concerts of various styles. The exciting line of performances will include the acclaimed Carnatic violin duo, Ganesh-Kumaresh, a Hindustani instrumental jugalbandi by Indrajit Bannerjee (sitar) and Snehashis Majumdar (mandolin), Carnatic-Western fusion music led by Bruno Raberg, Hindustani percussion ensemble, Madhya-Laya, led by Akhilesh Gundecha (pakhawaj), and Carnatic-Hindustani jugalbandi by V.K. Raman (flute) and Anupama Bhagwat (sitar).

Also this year, the LearnQuest music conference will have three Special Events. On January 24, 2011, the world of music mourned the loss of the legendary Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, an unparalleled maestro of Hindustani vocal music as well as a cultural icon of India. LearnQuest humbly seeks to pay a tribute to his memory by screening a rare and exceptional concert by Panditji at the 1975 Sawai Gandharva Festival, Pune.

On the event of the 150^th birth year of the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, there will be a presentation of the confluence between Indian classical music and Rabindra Sangeet. A short introduction by Dr. Sugato Bose (history professor at Harvard University) will be followed by a musical demonstration by Pandit Sandip Ghosh (Hindustani vocal), Anirban Dasgupta (sarod), and Rabindra Sangeet vocalists, Sujata Bhattacharya and Sumit Nag.

The Special Events segment will also include a lecture-demonstration by the eminent Dr. Kannikeswaran who will discuss and compare vocal genres of Hindustani Dhrupad and Carnatic compositions by Muthuswamy Dikshidar, one of the much revered trinity of the Carnatic Music tradition.

Celebrating its sixth year, the LearnQuest annual music conference 2011 continues to present exponents as well as rising stars of Indian classical music from both Hindustani and Carnatic traditions under the same musical umbrella providing an invaluable opportunity for music enthusiasts and connoisseurs across borders to explore the rich heritage of Indian classical music.

(For this year's music conference, LearnQuest gratefully acknowledges the support of its corporate sponsors - Infosys Technologies and Sunshine Infrawell Pvt. Ltd. Sunshine is a real estate company based in Delhi, which has introduced in India an innovative and unique concept in housing - Re-configurable Apartments. Please visit www.sunshinehelios.com for more information.)

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