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Wednesday concert features 'Mozart of Indian music'

Oct. 9, 2004

KALAMAZOO--Hailed as the Mozart of Indian music, Chitraveena N. Ravikiran will perform with Rohan Krishnamurthy Wednesday, Oct. 13, at 8:15 p.m. in the Dalton Center Recital Hall at Western Michigan University.

Tickets for the concert are $10 and are available through the Miller Auditorium Ticket Office at (269) 387-2300 or toll free (800) 228-9858. Tickets for students and senior citizens are $5.

Ravikiran made headlines in 1969, when he was two years old as the "world's youngest performing prodigy." Disciple of renowned musicians Chitraveena Narasimhan and T. Brinda, he presented vocal concerts between the ages of five and nine. He began the chitraveena at age 12 and presented a record non-stop recital for 24 hours when he was 18.

The New York Times was astounded by the "infinite capacity for micro-tonal shadings reminiscent of the human voice" and "teasing precision," and the Los Angeles Times asserted that Ravikiran was "an arresting virtuoso." Ravikiran has also received rave reviews from other world press including the Montreal Express, The Hindu, The Melbourne Age, Liberation (Paris), Folk Roots (London), Honnefer Volkszeitung (Frankfurt), and The Telegraph (U.K.). Respected as a master-composer in classical genre as well, he has composed more than 500 pieces in five languages.

Dubbed a "percussion prodigy," teenager Rohan Krishnamurthy from Michigan began learning the mridangam at a very young age and has been performing on stage in India, the U.S., and Canada since the age of nine. Rohan is the recipient of numerous awards, notable among them being the prestigious "Yuvakalabharathy" award given by Bharat Kalachar, the "Kaashyap Award" presented by the Valyapatti Nadalaya Academy in Chennai, "The Prodigy in Performing Arts" by the Indo-American Center in New York, junior and senior competition awards at the Cleveland Aradhana, and the "Asthana Vidwan" title conferred by the Chicago Thyagaraja Utsavam. Rohan's style has been alluded by musicians and critics to be reminiscent of some of the greatest stalwarts of prior generations, especially mridangam legend Sri. C.S. Murugaboopathy.

The Oct. 13 concert by Chitraveena N. Ravikiran and Rohan Krishnamurthy is presented under the auspices of the Donald P. Bullock Music Performance Institute in the WMU School of Music. Events in the 2004­05 Bullock series are made possible through the cooperation and support of the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation.

Media contact: Kevin West, 269 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu

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