First Veena Festival in North America

NEW YORK: Sri Annamacharya Project of North America (SAPNA) and India Classical Music Society (ICMS) of Chicago conducted the First Veena Festival and Conference on April 25, at the Sama Rathi Auditorium, the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, Lemont, Illinois.

According to Dr. Sarada Purna Sonty of SAPNA, "This unique Veena Festival & Conference was conceived and devoted to the exploration of the mysterious transcendence of the Veena, the string instrument of old times. This conference pays homage to the pristine tradition of the Veena and presents the established veena artists and students from the Chicago Indian Diaspora."

Prof Shelly Kumar of the ICMS also a collaborator and initiator of this conference felt proud of the breadth of the Veena Artists in the greater Chicago land area and the number of schools and students learning this esteemed instrument tradition.

The Veena Festival and conference consisted of Three Sessions from 12:00 Noon to 10:00 PM. In the Session One after the Veda Pravacanam by Acharya Dharmarao, Priest from HTGC, and Dr Sarada Purna Sonty along with Rama Gurupalli on Veena  reciting the Dr. Sriram Sonty, Chairman, SAPNA elaborated on the SAPNA accomplishments and future presentations along with the upcoming Freedom Symphony by Dr L.Subramaniam and the Leipzig Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2009.

Prof Shelly Kumar presented to the audience the 25 year history and the prestigious presentations of ICMS and the current collaboration with SAPNA. Mr Badri Mirmira President, SAPNA, spoke on the future Museum of the Indic Cultural Traditions. Dr Sarada Purna Sonty , Founder SAPNA & Conference Coordinator introduced the concept and the evolution of the Veena Festival & Conference 2009.

The organizers announced that the Second Veena Festival & Conference 2010 will be held on the fourth Saturday of April 2010 at HTGC. This First Veena Festival & Conference was supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council and Sonty Renaissance International (SRI) Foundation along with individual sponsors and Met Life and TV Nathan & Associates.