A Celebration of North Indian Classical Music

The Washington Conservatory of Music presents “A Celebration of North Indian Classical Music” featuring Tabla Maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, with Ramesh Misra, sarangi and Alif Laila, sitar at 7:30 pm on Saturday, July 30 at Westmoreland Congregational UCC Church, 1 Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda, MD. (the border of DC and Bethesda.) This unique concert of Hindustani music is ticket-free with suggested donations of $20 welcome at the door. Following the concert, the audience is invited to a meet-the-artists reception in the lower-level Social Hall of the church.

This concert is presented to celebrate the Washington Conservatory of Music’s new “Integrative Music Program,” an initiative dedicated to promoting the integration of classical north Indian music and classical western European music education. The program will be launched September 2016 with tabla lessons and classes taught by celebrated tabla artist, Debu Nayak.

Tabla Maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, from Farukhabad gharana, India, is considered one of the world’s greatest tabla players, known for his unique ability to summon crystal-clear melodies from his drums. The recipient of India’s prestigious President's Award in 1970, Chatterjee was the first tabla player to perform in India’s House of Commons in 1990. In acknowledgment of his immense contribution to music, he was awarded the "Sangeet Natak Akademy Award" the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists, presented to him by His Excellency the President of India in 2002. He has performed for numerous dignitaries and heads of state, and was chosen to perform at Rashtrapati Bhavan – India’s official Presidential Residence -- when President Barack Obama visited India in 2010.

From age five, Anindo Chatterjee has played tabla - a pair of small drums fundamental to Hindustani music of northern India since the 18th century. He is from a distinguished musical family including his uncle Pt. Debiprasad Chatterjee, a well-known sitar player, and his sister Smt. Keka Mukherjee, a leading sitar soloist in India. In addition to solo performances and recordings Chatterjee has accompanied outstanding musicians including Ustad Ali Akbar Khan,(sarod) Pandit Ravi Shankar (sitar), Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta (sarod), Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur (voice), Ustad Rais Khan (sitar), Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute), and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (santoor) among many others. Chatterjee is currently Director of the Farrukhabad Gharana of Tabla, a school founded by Haji Vilayat Khan Saheb, where he continues to teach to bring new voice to his instrument. He has also founded Anindo Chatterjee institute of Tabla in Seattle, Washington (http://www.acitseattle.org/).

Pandit Ramesh Misra, is world-renowned as a master of the sarangi, the bowed, short-necked stringed instrument from India. Besides being a recipient of India's most prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for 2008 for his outstanding contribution in the field of music, Pt. Ramesh Mishra also received the Sangeet Natak Award of Uttar Pradesh in 1992, and was honored with numerous other awards including the Jhadhu Bhatta award from West Bengal in 2007. In 1959 Ramesh was sent as a cultural delegate to Pakistan by the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. Both as soloist and accompanist, Pandit Ramesh Mishra has traveled all over the world accompanying internationally renowned artists. He can be heard in many music productions including Ravi Shankar's Live in the Kremlin and the Grammy nominated album Legacy produced by the legendary Ali Akbar Khan. He was also a participating artist in the production of the "Concert for George" at Royal Albert Hall in London, November 2002. Pandit Mishra is one of the recording artists on Aero Smith's much acclaimed album Nine Lives.

Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Alif Laila, sitar, currently resides locally. Her DVD Hrydayaragam was featured in the Women’s History Month at the Smithsonian in 2008 and recording “Strings of Resonance” was nominated for the Best Classical Music Award in Bangladesh in 2010. She has toured worldwide and performed at venues including The Kennedy Center, The Bangladesh National Museum and the Purcell Room In South Bank Center in the U.K. An accomplished painter with a degree from the College of Fine arts in Dhaka, hermusical collaborations often venture beyond traditional Indian classical, such collaboration with jazz saxophone, a composition for cello and dance and an audio visual presentation featuring both her music and her water color paintings.

Anubrata Chatterjee, tabla, son of Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, became the youngest and last “Ganda-Bandh”disciple of the great Guru Padmabhushan-Desikottam Jnan Prakash Ghosh. He began his professional career accompanying Pt. Hari Prasad Charausia and performs regularly with musicians including Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Rais Khan, and Pt.Shiv Kumar Sharma. Today he is among the worlds most esteemed tabla artists of his generation. He has performed world-wide including in the United Kingdom, US, Greece, Jordan, Egypt, Croatia, Israel, Germany, France, Scotland, Switzerland, Indonesia, West Indies, Seychelles, Singapore, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Bangladesh, and Japan

The Washington Conservatory of Music is a nationally accredited community music school serving students of all ages. Families with young children are encouraged to attend our concerts and to sit in the balcony for better viewing and easy exit.