The biennial Udupa Music Festival is breaking with tradition to present a concert this year to celebrate 10 years of bringing together Indian classical music and the performing arts. Helmed by Giridhar Udupa, Sandhya Udupa and Bhargava Halambi, this edition will feature a stellar line-up with the likes of Vidwan L Subramaniam, Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Ustad Fazal Qureshi, Vidwan Anoor R Ananthakrishna Sharma, Pandit Bickram Ghosh, Vidwan Ambi Subramaniam, and others performing.
Talking about the concert, Giridhar Udupa recalls how the festival was conceptualised. “The main reason we started the foundation was to take our art form to places where people had no access to it such as old age homes, orphanages, cancer centres, government schools and the like. Since the people in these places would not be able to attend a concert, we decided to take the music to them and bring them happiness.”
“At the same time, we wanted to educate audiences in a simple way about our instruments and the music we represent. Since in-depth knowledge would be impossible to impart in a 90-minute concert, a brief introduction would have to suffice instead,” he continues.
Vidwan L Subramaniam
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Special Arrangement
Over the last 10 years, the foundation has conducted more than 153 concerts featuring 308 musicians across 93 venues, courtesy the music festival which serves as a fundraiser. Giridhar says the foundation decided to invite two greats from the state — Vidwan L Subramaniam and Pandit Venkatesh Kumar — to celebrate their 10th anniversary,
“This holds a special meaning for us as this will be the first time L Subramaniam, who I look up to as my mentor, will be performing in Bengaluru after being bestowed with the Padma Vibhushan this year,” says the ghatam artiste.
Pandit Venkatesh Kumar
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Special Arrangement
The two-day music festival will also feature a talavadya (a series of classical tunes in various ragas presented via a range of musical instruments) with mridangist Anoor R Ananthakrishna Sharma, Bickram Ghosh on the tabla and C P Vyasa Vittala playing the khanjira.
The Udupa Music Festival 2025 – Special Edition will take place on May 22 and 23 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, from 7pm. Tickets from ₹400 onwards on BookMyShow
Tap into the rhythm
May 22: Talavadya followed by Pandit Venkatesh Kumar’s concert with Vyasmurthy Katti on the harmonium and Keshava Joshi on the tabla
May 23: Violinists L Subramaniam and Ambi Subramaniam with mridangist V V Ramana Murthy, Ustad Fazal Qureshi on the tabla, Tripunithura N Radhakrishnan on the ghatam and Latha Ramachar on the khanjira
Published – May 20, 2025 07:10 pm IST