Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival
cleveland thyagaraja festival day festival south indian classical music dance cleveland ohio held year around easter weekend festival celebration honor tyagaraja famous composer carnatic music composed thousand devotional composition telugu sanskrit language festival began since grown become largest south indian classical music dance festival outside india festival draw audience united state well canada part world early cleveland home informal group indian immigrant family known cleveland bhajan group ramnad raghavan noted mridangam artist india moved cleveland discovered many member group learned music child wanted start activity revive interest music suggested starting tyagaraja aradhana cleveland offered train group sing tyagarajas composition done original tyagaraja aradhana held tiruvaiyyar suggestion vv sundaram r balasubramaniam cleveland balu gomathy balasubramaniam formed aradhana committee organize conduct cleveland thyagaraja festival first festival held april rented hall faith united church christ richmond height ohio included group performance pancharathna krithis individual singing tyagarajas krithis followed concert evening saroja balasubramaniam maryland audience people fall prof temple tuttle cleveland state university befriended ramnad raghavan attending lecture niagara chapter society ethnomusicology began collaborating series project prof tuttle suggested festival move university campus order attract accommodate larger audience since university venue festival starting festival also started bringing musician india perform order draw larger audience festival traditionally started brief puja followed bhajans sung cleveland bhajan group followed group singing pancharathna krithis open everyone attending festival including visiting artist south indian lunch prepared volunteer served free attendee anyone wished perform composition tyagaraja given fiveminute slot individual singing part festival last program day full concert performed visiting professional musician india festival regularly conducted spring break local school starting scheduled align easter weekend continued ever since aradhana committee would print invitation mail indian family across u canada sundaram family balasubramaniam family would host visiting musician addition would connect visitor local family would host often total stranger home duration festival festival format consisted one concert many year would rarely feature two three spread easter weekend first major growth occurred festival hosted jugalbandhi featuring n ramani mandolin u srinivas zakir hussein accompanied kanyakumari guruvayoor dorai year attracted massive turnout people new festival drawn unique programming following year festival also hosted eminent dancer kamala vyjayanthimala bali dance production choreographed rhadha jaya jaya devi original music composed lalgudi jayaraman lakshmi prabhavam original music composed n ravikiran since festival regularly featured star musician dancer india also commissioned major dance production original music composition world premier cleveland festival grown span across entire week following easter sunday next weekend series music dance performance notable artist year included star performer like nithyasree mahadevan ranjanigayatri sudha raghunathan lalgudi jayaraman kv narayanaswamy sanjay subrahmanyan tm krishna thiruvarur bhakthavatsalam nandakumar nagai muralidharan mannargudi easwaran srimushnam raja rao ssowmya trichy sankaran well stalwart muktha last public performance parassalla ponnamma thanjavur sankara iyer kuzhikkarai viswalingam festival also gained great deal visibility across world regular coverage indian television well medium partner providing live streaming event centerpiece festival pancharatna krithi singing remembrance saint tyagaraja shifted waejten auditorium csu music building wolstein center indoor stadium accommodate growth since waejten couldnt accommodate crowd due fire code regulation music festival started hosting music competition child youth across north america visiting musician india judge competition grown year become largest carnatic music competition united state entry competition open vocalist instrumentalist including percussion includes advanced category improvisation niraval kalpana swaram two highest level competition concert competition advanced pallavi winner receive performance opportunity following year dance complement music competition festival also started hosting bharathanatyam competition one age category dance competition attracts participant world grown include four age category conducted two day live preliminary round first day finalist chosen perform following day grand prize winner selected across category perform india chennai december season cleveland thyagaraja festival take place day beginning wednesday easter majority program presented carnatic music concert festival includes variety musician star performer rising youngster lesserknown stalwart mix vocalist instrumentalist committee made point include veena nadaswaram artist year support traditional instrument festival also started featuring small number hindustani concert since also number dance performance festival mostly bharathanatyam kuchipudi kathak kathakali mohiniyattam odissi yakshagana andhra natyam also featured many dance performance specially commissioned work original music choreography ramayana part mahabharatha part srimad bhagavatham part festival notable large participation child youth apart music dance competition also several concert presented music school bring large number student across north america winner music dance competition also regularly featured production also number collaborative program involving nonindian musician fusion indian western classical music well jazz world music concert year saw festival due coronavirus pandemic addition visiting artist india festival also feature number performer drawn across u canada musician immigrated india others grew north america came competition initiative took music dance seriously performing art artist featured alongside senior musician india also conceived executed program independently behest aradhana committee perform cleveland well tour united state sustaining sampradaya aradhana committee launched educational program called sustaining sampradaya year select child across u put rigorous sixmonth training program via videoconferencing culminating group performance festival cleveland student trained senior musician india learn composition transmitted century oral tradition committee make notation composition recording lesson available download free web site lesson unique composition available download dance workshop year festival includes workshop student indian dance called margam workshop conducted different dance teacher year spanned several different dance school workshop usually bharatanatyam dance form kuchipudi kathak also included since aradhana committee also hosted festival chennai december music season festival primarily feature american youth performer classical music dance also includes musician based india partnership india committee also promoted concert performance indianamerican youth chennai sabhas well national television program nadaneerajanam tirupati committee also worked medium organization produce television talent show carnatic music idol usa natya urchavam showcase american talent audience abroad tyagaraja tyagaraja aradhana list indian classical music festival cleveland thyagaraja festival web site