Free online concerts from Purdue University's ICMAP Fall 2020 Concert Series

[VijayR]

Dear Friends,

It's been a long time since I posted here, but I come bearing goodies.

The Indian Classical Music Association of Purdue (ICMAP) just concluded (23rd-27th Sep.) it's Fall 2020 concert series with four exceptional online concerts. The concerts are FREE for all and will remain available online for the next 30 days. Here are the details for you to watch and enjoy:

1. Vid. Ramana Balachandhran (veena) accompanied by Vid. Sumesh Narayanan (mridangam)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJqFl3rJb6c

2. A Carnatic Quartet - Vid. Shreya Devnath (violin), Vid. Mylai M. Karthikeyan (nagaswaram), Vid. Praveen Sparsh (mridangam), and Vid. Adyar G. Silambarasan (thavil)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEeGXuvRLr4

3. Vid. Nisha Rajagopalan (vocal), accompanied by Vid. R.K. Shriramkumar (violin), Vid. K. Arunprakash (mridangam), and Vid. Anirudh Athreya (kanjira)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0X6O-miqH4

4. Vids. Ranjani-Gayatri (vocal), accompanied by Vid. L. Ramakrishnan (violin) and Vid. K. Sai Giridhar (mridangam)

https://www.voncerts.com (The concert is FREE, but you need to login with a Gmail account. Once you do, please add the ICMAP concert to your playlist at no cost and enjoy).

Earlier in May, ICMAP was one of the first organizations worldwide to start hosting full-length, studio quality online concerts with a full set of accompanists after COVID hit and brought all concert activity to an abrupt halt. We are pleased to be able to continue doing our small bit with this Fall concert series. As the faculty advisor for ICMAP, it is my pleasure to share these links here for our rasikas to experience. All four concerts turned out to be truly exceptional and superbly received. Please enjoy!

Kind Regards,
Vijay

[rajeshnat]

Well done @VijayR . Most Importantly you are keeping at live only for 30 days. That way you are mitigating the risk of rasikas staying at home and permanently not coming to live concerts. I do understand that it's better to encourage participation with non anonymous login is a good thing to do, I am wondering if email data is collected , shared and if there are any monthly emails sent to those who view them. Could you clarify please the question.

I am assuming this would have great quality like very few online curated concerts . You are doing great service, those who cannot make to USA due to covid are now atleast virtually to USA on tour. Also including one nadaswaram and violin is noteworthy.

[VijayR]

Well done @VijayR . Most Importantly you are keeping at live only for 30 days. That way you are mitigating the risk of rasikas staying at home and permanently not coming to live concerts. I do understand that it's better to encourage participation with non anonymous login is a good thing to do, I am wondering if email data is collected , shared and if there are any monthly emails sent to those who view them. Could you clarify please the question.

I am assuming this would have great quality like very few online curated concerts . You are doing great service, those who cannot make to USA due to covid are now atleast virtually to USA on tour. Also including one nadaswaram and violin is noteworthy.

Thanks @rajeshnat for your kind words. Yes, it is a somewhat delicate balancing act to ensure that live concert attendance does not take a hit (when live concerts restart, that is). I don't think anyone has all the answers, but we all try different models with the best intentions.

We had a few must-haves on our list as we put together these concerts. First was that these should be high audio/video quality to ensure very good attendee experience, second was that the concerts should be remunerative for artists, and third was that the concerts should be available broadly (for Purdue members of course, but also beyond). We were certainly mindful of making sure that the series was balanced with instrumentalists as well. The veena concert and the quartet featuring the nagaswaram were both very, very good (as were the others too!).