Music Academy December 2015 Schedule

[cacm]

quote="rupavathi" quote="rajeshnat"10. TN Krishnan - I am told that he is performing on Dec 25th and he is retiring post this year . So there is one slot next year that is getting vacant for sure.
Kindly do not propagate baseless and unsubstantiated information. Oh, and thanks btw...

BY THE WAY, the great member of the carnatic music golden age VIOLIN TRIO, TNK is going to receive the first ever Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar Award in Cleveland next year in March 2016 on the occasion of celebration of 125th birth anniversary of ARI. CANNOT WAIT TO LISTEN TO HIS CONCERT & HIS OBSERVATIONS ON ARI. Incidentally Cleveland is elaborately planning to celebrate the M.S.birth centenary also nation wide in a BIG WAY. V.V.Subramanian the fantastic violinist who accompanied M.S. IN THE HISTORIC '66 U.N. CONCERT has agreed to receive the SPECIAL M.S. Memorial Award also and present a special concert.... VKV

[hnbhagavan]

T N Krishnan - 87 years What a great achievement and his concert on Dec 25,2014 at MA was a memorable one.I did not get to listen to him in Bangalore in the last 5 years.I wish what rupavathi says is not true.

[harimau]

A few years ago, I heard that MA gives only taxi fare or some token amount as remuneration. In a panel discussion, TMK said that the remuneration in the season was not very great. The artists have a 'prestige' value for singing in MA and perhaps do not expect to be paid at 'market' rates (in case there is a market).

What is market rate?

If you set the payment scale of most of the major sabhas for the main artist as the market rate, it is less than Rs 5,000.

If you select the payment scale of wedding concerts, it is Rs 100,000 for top-of-the-line musicians.

I believe the Music Academy pays more than the lesser amount mentioned above and in some extraordinary instances the larger amount.

At the low end, you can count it as taxi fare only if you hire a taxi to take you to Villupuram and back. (Ola cab rate is Rs 12 per kilometre, IIRC).

[harimau]

It is said by Music Academy president that only sponsorship money collected helps to run the show in the academy.In one of the earlier seasons - two years ago,the sponsorship money was reportedly around 45 Lakhs for the 15 days festival.Perhaps Sri Harimau sir may give ingenious break up of the expenditure and academy nets to fill its coffers.Perhaps all the 45 lakhs would not have been spent.Rs 45 lakhs was mentioned in an interview published in the Hindu.With 5 concerts per day definitely the expenditure may be at least one lakh or so as junior concerts may not get good remuneration.

This analysis will have to wait until this year's December Season is over.

Arriving at the Academy at 8:30 in the morning, the pull of the coffee at the canteen is stronger and of course my brain refuses to engage its gears until the coffee is consumed. So I never counted the number of banners that are displayed in the parking lot.

This December, I will count the number of banners, and using Rs 60 Lakhs as the total collection, estimate a price/banner.

I think the banners flutter around till Jan 10 when the Annual Udans Festival is over. So one has to think that the money has to cover 25 days rather than 15 days.

Rs 60 Lakhs for 25 days gives us Rs 2.4 Lakhs as the daily expense.

I need some assistance from a civil engineer to estimate the volume of the main building, a mechanical engineer to estimate the amount of BTUs needed to cool that with air conditioning and convert that to the cost of electricity. This can get complicated. But Rs 40,000 a day is not outrageous.

We have to add the cost of security and hiring valet parking attendants. Throw Rs 10,000 at that.

So we are left with Rs 190,000 for five concerts in a day.

The rumour I have heard is that past Sangeetha Kalanidhis get Rs 15,000. By the time you add 3-4 sidemen, the senior concerts can end up costing Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000. With the 9am, 4pm and 7 pm concerts featuring senior or popular artists costing that much, we are left with Rs 70,000 for the 11:45am and 1:30 pm slots.

It is safe to say the banners pretty much pay for the Season at the Academy.

If Sri Murali meant that the sponsorships enable the Academy to pay for the Season because the ticket sales alone is insufficient to cover all expenses, I can't explain it.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

9. D Balakrishna (Veena) - I have no idea about callibre of Balakrishna.

Seriously, Rajesh?

Here's a gem!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvCQh9-fEk

[shankar vaidyanathan]

Joining in the discussions a bit late. Thanks to Rajesh for the analysis and Harimau for the sociological and financial "research." Wish Team Harimau and/or Harimau & Harimau will repeat their annual end of the season round up.

Looking at the MA schedule, I think that they have done a fine job of ushering in the newer and younger generation of artists. This is a natural process with the available rich talent waiting in the wings. The only regrettable omission for me personally was Sri. Vijay Siva. In fact, that schedule looks like the Academy may have waited to slot him in a senior spot and may have gone for a late substitution. What a loss. Pure conjecture, of course. Another deserving artist for an afternoon slot may have been Sri. T.N.S. Krishna. I hope both will return next season.

An observation is that the accompanying artists seemed to have been all mixed around in pairing with the main Vocal vidwans. I think that this is a healthy trend to get the best out of all of them...kind of a stretch assignment if you will if they have to perform outside of natural comfort zones with their established pairings. This may all work out well with these high calibre professionals.

Looking ahead, it seems that couple of more senior spots may open up for next year. It won't be long before Bharat Sundar and Sriranjani Santhanagopalan move up to the evening slots quickly.

Couple of other ways of monetizing and additional revenue streams would be 1) live streaming the MA season to abroad, and, 2) advance booking of CD recordings of the season for those that can't attend. Of course they don't need to do any of that given their budget and sponsorship but I get the feeling that the December season is ripe for a IPL type commercial makeover where the real Rasikas will head for the exits but they are anyhow in the minority anyway!

Question to Harimau: In scheduling, do you think they consider the parking lot availability constraints and overflow in how they slot the hall fillers and classic artists?! I seem to get that vibe from the evening slots as how they have paired those evening slots. Do they open the mini hall live simulcast for both evening slots on all days or is it strictly a crowd management strategy? I am surprised that the regulars are assigned to the balcony. Numbered seating or not, the balcony does not seem to be a place of vantage for immersive listening. As to getting seated in the main hall between Mama and Mama or should I say Bathroom Mama and Sudoku Mama, the sociological "research" cause is well served either way for ripe pickings of academic observations in the pursuit of knowledge!

[rajeshnat]

Another deserving artist for an afternoon slot may have been Sri. T.N.S. Krishna.

TNS Krishna for last few years has already moved to evening slot .Are you trying to push him back to afternoon

[shankar vaidyanathan]

Rajesh, you are correct. Thanks!

[Sundara Rajan]

I plan to be in Chennai Dec 17 to Dec 28, 2015 and would like to attend selected few concerts in different venues. Hence season tickets are out of question. Any advice on how to get tickets for some ACADEMY concerts ? Will it be possible to get tickets for evening programs, while attending the morning concerts ?

[Nick H]

From my experience of the past couple of years: If one of the ticketed performances of the day is a big-crowd puller, it will be difficult to get a ticket for the day, even if the performer you actually want to see may be lower in the backsides-on-seats ranking.

For lesser-crowd-artist days, you will probably get tickets, even without queueing at the crack of dawn. For me, the MA is only worth it if I can get a seat in the first few rows. That means an investment of Rs.1K (or more this year?), so it is not something I do often. Last year I might have done it twice. I had no difficulty in getting two tickets to sit in an almost-empty auditorium to see the Dhrupad veena performance, even though the previous, also-ticketed, concert had been well attended.

The season places heavy social, as well as musical demands on us. No doubt you will have a busy time. If I am not inside the MA for a 9.00am concert, I am quite likely to be consuming tea in the canteen by 9.30-10.00am. Do, if you can, please say hello!

[Sundara Rajan]

Thank you Nick, for the information. I will look forward to meeting you in one of the
9 a.m. programs in the Music Academy, perhaps Dec 19 &/or 20, 2015, if not in any earlier programs elsewhere. I do hope you remember our meetings in earlier year programs and in Mr. Nageswaran's house.

[Nick H]

You may be very sure that I will be there on 20th (and at Raga Sudha Hall on 25th evening)!

[Sundara Rajan]

Thanks for the information. What is the program at Raga Sudha Hall on the 25th ? Is any schedule of events at this venue available ? I have been at this nice small auditorium a few times in the previous years after reading the announcement in the Hindu, including our Arasi's C.D. release event.

[Nick H]

What is the program at Raga Sudha Hall on the 25th ? Is any schedule of events at this venue available ?

Their November program has only just been published!

One of us can ask Smt Jaya when the Season one will be ready. I can tell you when Smt Vedavalli is singing there in December --- but most people's guess on that one would be right

[rajeshnat]

With Sudha ragunathan vacating her slot , I was wondering who would replace her. Historically in the last few years when there was change like Aruna exiting in margazhi few years back, it usually boils to 2 to 3 female musicians who substitute . I had the same set of musicians in my mind. As a general rule of thumb,Usually female singers are put in evening I and male singers are generally put in slot II . But that logic is bit changed

Just looking at the MA schedule now i see Dr Sreevalsan Menon gets the slot of Sudha on Dec 30-evening1. That is wonderful for rasikas, as Menon is indeed a capable musician.