CHENNAI: Five out of the seven winners of the inaugural ‘The Carnatic Quest Junior’ contest hail from Chennai. The winners from Chennai are Nanditha Kannan, 16, and Shakthi Muralidaran,15, in vocals; Charulatha Chandrasekar, 15, (veena); Chinmayi CS, 17, (violin) and Avamsidara, 17 (percussion, mridangam).
The other two winners — Vignesh SridharIyer, 17, and Achyuth M Athreya, 12, are from Pune and Bengaluru respectively.
HCL Concerts is a platform aimed at identifying, nurturing, and supporting the next generation of talent in the Indian classical performing arts space. ‘Carnatic Quest Junior’ is conceptualized jointly by HCL Concerts and Rhapsody Music Foundation to identify gifted Carnatic musicians in the age group of 12 to 18 years. The first edition received an overwhelming participation from 2,000 young musicians from 40 cities in India, a testament to the vast talent pool for Carnatic music in the country.
Announcing the winners, Sundar Mahalingam, president- strategy at HCL Corporation, said, “The pursuit and appreciation of Carnatic music is an integral part of life in Chennai and the results of Carnatic Quest Junior are a testament to the passion of the citizens of the city for this art form. The Carnatic Quest Junior is our effort to identify, showcase and nurture young Carnatic music talent in our country and see them evolve into maestros of tomorrow.”
The winners of Carnatic Quest Junior were chosen after three rounds of evaluation held over a period of two months. The final round had 50 entries out of which seven artists were crowned as India’s finest young Carnatic musicians by notable jury members, including vocalists Ranjani and Gayathri, violinist G J R Krishnan, veena maestro Jayanthi Kumaresh, flautist J A Jayanth and percussionist B C Manjunath, along with the Rhapsody Music Foundation.
The winners have won an opportunity to be mentored by senior artists and Carnatic music maestros such as Ranjani and Gayatri, Jayanthi Kumaresh and G J R Krishnan, among others. They will also receive a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform in front of a global audience on the HCL Concerts social media platforms. Winners will also be featured in an exclusive HCL Concerts music album.
“We are looking forward to mentoring these youngsters and seeing them evolve into maestros of their art as they grow older,” said Anil Srinivasan, classical pianist, Kalaimamani award recipient and founder of Rhapsody Music Foundation.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/the-carnatic-quest-junior-five-winners-hail-from-chennai/articleshow/89453991.cms
