File picture of Jayanthi Kumaresh rendering a veena recital.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The 100th Conference and Concerts of the The Music Academy, Chennai, beginning in December this year will be marked by the conferment of the Sangita Kalanidhi award on renowned veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh. Bharatanatyam dancer Narendra G will receive the Nritya Kalanidhi award.
“The executive committee, at its meeting on March 15, decided to confer the award on her and other awards on various musicians,” said N. Murali, president of the Academy, on Sunday (March 15, 2026).
Ms. Kumaresh, a member of the musically rich Lalgudi G. Jayaraman family, learnt from her mother, Rajalakshmi. She later trained under her aunt Padmavathi Ananthagopalan and then maestro S. Balachander. She also received guidance from her uncle Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, Sangita Kalanidhi T. K. Brinda, composer Thanjavur Sankara Iyer, and T. R. Subramanian.
A postgraduate in English, Ms. Kumaresh is one of the foremost exponents of the Saraswati veena and has collaborated with the late tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. She has contributed in large measure to the present increase in the popularity of the instrument.
“It is a great honour that I have been selected for the award in the 100th year of the Conference and Concerts of the Academy, whose logo features Saraswati with a veena. It is an honour not just for me, but for the veena, the national instrument,” Ms. Jayanthi told The Hindu.
She said a veena artiste had been selected for the award after a gap of 34 years, and it was a matter of pride that it had happened in the centenary year of her guru, the late S. Balachander.
The Sangita Kala Acharya awards will go to vocalist Sugandha Kalamegam and mridangam player Thrissur C. Narendran.
The recipients of the TTK Awards are nagaswaram player Injikudi Subramaniam and violinist T.K.V.B. Ramanujacharyulu.
The Musicologist Award will go to D. Balasubrahmaniyan, presently Adjunct Professor of Music and Co-chair of Global South Asian Studies at Wesleyan University.
Bharathanatyam dancer A. Janardhanan will receive the Nritya Kala Acharya award, a newly instituted award this year. S. Rajeswari will receive the Dance Musician Award (vocal), and T.K. Padmanabhan the Dance Musician Award (instrumental), the other two new dance awards.
Mr. Murali said the Sangita Kalanidhi designate will preside over the academic sessions of the Annual Conference and Concerts of the Academy to be held between December 15, 2026 and January 1, 2027. She will receive the award along with the other awardees on January 1, the day of Sadas.
Mr. Narendra will receive the Nritya Kalanidhi award at the inauguration of the 20th Annual Dance Festival of the Academy on January 3, 2027.
Published – March 15, 2026 01:08 pm IST
