BOSTON–As in previous years, LearnQuest Academy of Music, a Waltham, MA- based school of Indian Classical Music, announced that it will present its 17th Annual Indian Classical Music Festival during the Easter weekend: April 18, 19 and 20th, 2025 across Greater Boston.
Every year this three-day festival features eminent Maestros of Indian Classical Music, both Hindustani and Carnatic styles, together with well-known master musicians and up and coming young musicians.
This year’s Hindustani artist line-up includes the illustrious sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan with his sons Amaan Ali and Ayaan Ali Bangesh, the sitar maestro Ustad Nishat Khan, the tabla maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. The Carnatic line-up includes the eminent vocalists Vidushis Ranjani-Gayatri, vocalist Vid. Saketharaman, violinists Akkarai Sisters, and mridangam Vidwan Patri Satish Kumar.
The twelve concerts, spanned over three days, will begin at Wong auditorium, MIT in collaboration with MITHAS on Friday, April 18th with a Hindustani-Carnatic jugalbandi percussion concert featuring Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, with his son Anubrata and mridangist Patri Satish Kumar.
The April 19 and 20 concerts at Regis College in Weston, MA, in addition to the above mentioned artists, will feature Carnatic vocalists Sankari Krishnan and Sanjay Subramanian, Hindustani vocalists Rachana Bodas and Supriyo Dutta, a harmonium solo by Pt. Ravindra Katoti and a saxophone trio with Priyank Krishna, Shishir Kumar and Phil Scarff.
LearnQuest will also present in the festival three local area musicians – tabla players Amit Kavthekar and Nitin Mitta and saxophonist Phil Scarff.
Prior to the finale event on April 18-20, LearnQuest will partner with local area organizations to present a series of Classical music concerts and lecture-demonstrations. This series kicks off on March 2nd with a double header Hindustani classical morning concert at Wong auditorium, in collaboration with MITHAS, featuring a vocal and sitar concert by Vaishnavi Kondapalli followed by a vocal concert by the Kirana Gharana vocalist Pandit Parmeshwar Hegde of Bengaluru. The artists will be accompanied on the table by Amit Kavthekar and Rajesh Pai, and on the harmonium by Hirak Modi.
Here is the series of concerts in March supported by LearnQuest:
March 2nd, Sunday, 10:30 AM: at Wong auditorium, MIT, Cambridge, MA
MITHAS in partnership with LearnQuest presents
Morning concerts: 1. Hindustani vocal and Sitar concert –
Vaishnavi Kondapalli (vocal) , Jawwad Noor (sitar),
Amit Kavthekar (tabla), Hirak Modi (harmonium)
- Hindustani Vocal Concert –
Pandit Parmeshwar Hegde (vocal)
Rajesh Pai (tabla), Hirak Modi (harmonium)
March 22nd:
MTHAS presents Vidushi Arati Ankalikar
(supported by LearnQuest)
Vid. Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar (vocal)
Kedar Naphade (harmonium), Suryaksha Deshpande (tabla),
Suhail Yusuf Khan (sarangi)
March 23rd: MITHAS presents three-part concert
(supported by LearnQuest)
- Yadnesh Raikar (Hindustani violin) with Amit Kavthekar (tabla)
- Shashwati Mandal (Hindustani vocal) with Mausam (harmonium) and Suryaksha Deshpande (tabla)
- Amrutha Venkatesh – Carnatic vocal concert
March 29th, 4 PM: at India Center, Shrewsbury, MA
The India Society of Worcester in partnership with LearnQuest presents:
- Carnatic vocal presentation by Tara Anand students
- A multimedia Lecture-demonstration – Shuchita Rao and students will present a lec-dem titled Timeless Tunes which will discuss the influence of Indian folk and raga based music on popular music featured in Bollywood films, Coke Studio and other global collaborations.
