Dhruv Arts, a South Indian arts organization based in East London, presents an evening of “South Indian Carnatic Classical Music” by Prince Rama Varma, the Prince of Travancore (Kerala), on the 25th of April 2014 from 7.45 PM – 10 PM, at the Purcell Room in Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, London. The concert begins with talk by the Prince on “How to appreciate Carnatic Music”.
Prince Rama Varma will be accompanied by Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth on the violin, Balachandar M on the mridangam, RR Prathap on ghatam and RN Prakash on kanjira.
You can buy the tickets here.
Prince Rama Varma (or Ashwathi Thirunal Rama Varma) is an accomplished classical vocalist, veena player, writer and a teacher at the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music. He frequently gives lec-dems in South Indian Classical Music and contributes articles on classical music to newspapers. He organizes multiple music festivals in Trivandrum, Kerala, most famous of which is the annual Swathi Sangeetholsavam.
Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth is a renowned violinist-composer who does carnatic, jazz and fusion performances, and has also released multiple albums in the genres collaborating with many established world musicians. She has also worked in over 200 Indian films under composers like Ilayaraja and Hamsalekha.
Balachandar M has been a professional mridangam player since the age of 15, and has accompanied such greats as Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, TN Krishnan, MS Gopalakrishnan and dancers like Dr. Padma Subramanian.
RR Prathap started playing the ghatam at a very young age, is part of many fusion groups and has worked on composing for contemporary music and dance groups all over Europe.
RN Prakash is a multi-percussionist based out of England, brother and mentor of RR Prathap.
Dhruv Arts is a South-Indian arts organisation based in East London, with a mission to communicate arts effectively to the community through world class performances and workshops. South Indian Carnatic music is our specialty, with Carnatic Jazz, orchestral and other contemporary forms around it. Dhruv Arts is the producer of the annual London International Arts Festival.