WALTHAM, MA—LearnQuest Academy of Music has appointed Vijay Kumar, a local singer and associate dean of digital learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for its 14th Annual LearnQuest Music Festival, which will be held March 29-31 at the Regis College Auditorium in Weston, MA.
LearnQuest also announced some key artists who will perform at the festival, which last year attracted about 800 people. The key artists performing this year include Begum Parveen Sultana (Hindustani vocal), Sudha Raghunathan (Carnatic vocal), Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad vocal), Lalgudi Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (Carnatic vocal.)
“Every Spring, our community gets to enjoy a shower of musical magic,” said Mr. Kumar. “The LearnQuest Festival, a multi-day music conference showcases the best of Carnatic and Hindustani music, sprinkled occasionally with classic dance performances.”
He said this year’s annual celebration of music and culture again features an impressive set of artists who will share their talents and joy of music with the community.
“Each year I marvel at the quality of the artists as well as the welcoming, appreciative and knowledgeable audience that come together at the festival and of course the dedicated volunteers who make this jewel possible for us.” said Mr. Kumar. “Our team of volunteers has already started pulling together this year’s bouquet of offerings that I hope a much wider segment of the community will come to enjoy.”
Pradeep Shukla, president of LearnQuest Academy, said that as in the previous years LearnQuest is planning to bring some of the luminaries of the World of Indian Classical Music.
“The artist lineup includes star young performers as well as eminent masters, which include two distinguished names, Parveen Sultana, a Hindustani vocalist, and Sudha Raghunathan, a Carnatic vocalist, who will be performing at the music conference for the first time.”
Waltham, MA-based LearnQuest Academy of Music is a non-profit institution that provides formal instruction in Indian classical and light music and organizes its annual flagship music conferences.
