Mysore/Mysuru: The following music concerts will be held at Sri Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha on JLB Road this weekend:

Dec. 6 – 6 pm: Vid. Sai Vighnesh, Varaharoopam (Kantara)-fame vocalist from Chennai, will be presenting a vocal concert for an endowment programme in memory of Shanta Narasimham.

Sponsored by Seetha Vatsalchari, Vid. Sai Vighnesh will be supported by Vid. B.K. Raghu on violin, Vid. Tumkur B. Ravishankar on mridanga and Vid. R. Srinidhi Koundinya on ghata.

Born on Nov. 20, 1996, Sai Vignesh Ramakrishna is an accomplished Karnatak musician, playback singer and Founder of the Almighty Animal Care Trust.

He gained public attention from the reality show Airtel Super Singer 4, later achieving mainstream success with hit songs like ‘Kurumugil…’ (Sita Ramam) and ‘Varaharoopam…’ (Kantara). He is an All India Radio ‘A’ grade artiste and has performed with music legends such as Ilaiyaraaja, Shankar Mahadevan, etc.

B.Com graduate and currently pursuing an MA in Music at Madras University, he was trained in Karnatak music by Cuddalore T.R. Vasudevan.

In 2021, Sai Vignesh co-founded an Indo-Classical Contemporary Fusion band called ‘Gandiva’ alongside dancer-choreographer Kavya Muralidaran. He has performed globally with Solo Classical singing and with his troupe ‘Gandiva’ to perform fusions.

Dec. 7 – 6 pm: Lalitha V. Murthy Memorial Programme sponsored by Dr. Prathibha Periera, Smt. Padma Satish & Smt.Monika Venkatesha Murthy.

Disciples of Raghuleela School of Music will be presenting Light Music directed by Sunitha Chandrakumar, an extraordinary musician who is a worthy feather in the cultural crown of Mysuru.

She is a great example of how a woman can succeed in this male-dominated music industry, especially in the aspects of music composition. To her credit, she has around 10 marvellous music albums composed by herself and sung by some of the big shots of Indian Music Industry like Shreya Ghoshal, S.P. Balasubramanyam, Vijay Prakash, Praveen Godkhindi and many others.

Born in Mysuru, Sunitha grew up in an environment filled with music and dance. As a kid, she learnt Karnatak music under Vijayalakshmi and Bharatanatyam under Vishnudas. In her own words , “Only after I met Mysore Ananthaswamy in Bengaluru, my interests in lyrics started growing. I started feeling that I could play more with words only through light music and not classical.”

Sunitha got married in 1992 to Chandrakumar, a business person and came back to Mysuru to lead her family life. Got an opportunity to learn under H.R. Leelavathi for the next ten years.

Once in the absence of Leelavati, for an Akashvani Programme, Sunitha took initiative to compose the tune. Sunitha then started composing music  and very soon her interests got tuned up and she also started teaching music through her very own ‘Raghuleela School of Music.’

She on behalf of her music school started producing many thematic live programmes. Her very first such programme was ‘Janapada Sirigandha.’

Dec. 8 – 6 pm: Rangarajan Iyengar Birthday Memorial Concert sponsored by Iyengar Bros., USA, DVS Acharya Memorial sponsored by Leela Acharya & S.R. Kumuda.

Vid. Mattur A. Kartik will present a vocal concert, accompanied by Vid. Viswajit Mattur on violin, Vid. Pranav Subrahmanya on mridanga and Vid. Kartik Pranav on morching.         

Musical journey of Kartik began under the guidance of his father, Karnataka Kalashri Vid. M.S. Anantha Narayana, a distinguished disciple of Padma Shri Vid. H.R. Keshavamurthy. He further honed the skills under Karnataka Kalashri Vid. Hosahalli G. Anantha, Vid. N. Srinath and Padma Shri Vid. Dr. R.N. Taranathan.

Having achieved distinction in Junior and first class in Senior Examinations conducted                                by the Government of Karnataka, currently he is pursuing advanced training in Karnatak music under Sangeeta Kalarathna Vid. Bangalore S. Shankar and Gana Kala Bhushana   Vidu. Dr. R.N. Srilatha.

A B-grade artiste of All India Radio, he had the privilege of performing at many prestigious Sabhas. He holds an M.Tech degree and is currently pursuing Ph.D while serving as an Assistant Professor at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering.