Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia in concert
accompanied by Subhankar Banerjee on Tabla

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 9^TH AT 7 PM.
Box office: 212 312 4085
Online: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac/calendar/event.php?id=562

Bansuri: Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia

Tabla: Subhankar Banerjee ; Support Flute: Aura Rascon ; Tanpura: Shyamala

Hari Prasad Chaurasia

With his virtuousic blowing technique, Hariprasad Chaurasia has turned the Bansuri (bamboo) flute into an instrument of beauty. Blending the musical traditions of India with imagination and innovation, Chaurasia has reached beyond classical music to create a sound of his own. Presented with the national award of the Sangeet Natak Academy in 1984, Chaurasia received the Gaurav Puraskar from the state government of Maharashtra, India in 1990, the Padma Bhushan and the Konarak Samman in 1992, the Yash Bharati Sanman in 1994, the Padma Vibhusham in 2000, the Hafeez Ali Khan Award in 2003 and so and so on. In addition to recording as a soloist, Chaurasia has collaborated with Western musicians such as the Late Yehudi Menuhin, Jean Pierre Rampal, such jazz musicians as John McLaughlin, Egberto Gismonti, and Jan Garbarek. His compositions have been heard in several Indian films including Silsila, which he co-wrote with Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. He is the Artistic Director for the Rotterdam Music Conservatory in the Netherlands where he spends four months in the year.

Although he began his musical studies as a vocalist, Chaurasia switched to the flute after hearing a performance by Pandit Bholanath a year later. Inspired by what he heard, Chaurasia spent the next eight years studying with Bholanath. He later studied with surbahar player Shrimati Annapurna Devi, the daughter of Ustad Allaudin Khan and the sister of Ali Akbar Khan. In 1957, Chaurasia began playing and composing material for All India Radio in Calcutta. Ten years later, he collaborated with Shivkumar Sharma and Brijbhushan Kabra on a much-celebrated raga suite, "Call Of The Valley."

Hariprasad Chaurasia was invited to play with the symphony orchestra in London at the Royal Festival  Hall  and in Paris at the Theatre de la ville. In February 2001, he was invited by Prince Charles to perform in London with John Mc. Laughlin.  Queen Juliana of the Netherlands is an ardent fan of his and attends his concerts on a regular basis.

In 2009 he was awarded the prestigious title of “Orders des Arts et Letttres”  (Knight Of The Order Of Arts & Letters) in appreciation of the significant contribution he has made to spread Indian culture in France and the rest of the World.

Subhankar Banerjee

At the age of five, this musical wonder kid was placed under the tutelage of Shri Swapan Shiva celebrated artiste and teacher of Farukhabad Tabla Gharana and over the years he has been dedicating himself for learning other Gharanas from different maestros. He received awards in his early age from celebrities like Satyajit Ray in the year1977, Pandit Ravi Shankar in the year 1985 and from President of India in 1987. Training in vocal music from his childhood made him a competent vocalist as well. In addition to being a reputed soloist Subhankar is one of the few choicest accompanists of most prominent celebrities of our country like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.. Pandit,L.Subramanium, Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit M.S.Gopalkrishnan, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Pandit V.G.Jog, Ustad Imrat Hussian Khan, and many others.

He has been flying the standard of the cities dotting the map of the world. He has been presenting his music in famous venues of countries like U.K, U.S.A , Europe, Australia, Africa, Japan, Middle East, regularly for last eighteen years. He performed in the prestigious "NOBEL PEACE PRIZE CONCERT" in Oslo along with a duet of Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia where Indian classical music was presented for the first time of this occasion in 1999. The Govt. Of Pakistan invited him to perform for the 50th anniversary of Pakistan in 1997 in Islamabad & Lahore. The President Of India took him to perform in Brazil for the "Festival of India" in 1998 and he was invited by the govt. of South Africa and Govt. of Mexico to show his musical brilliance as their guest artist.

Apart from having played over hundred recordings published all over the world as accompanist and soloist he has been experiencing and sharing the greatness of Indian Classical Music along with other renowned musicians of the world as well. He joined Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia to play with the symphony orchestra in London (Royal Festival Hall) and in Paris (Theatre de la ville). The most famous Greek clarionet & Saxophone Player Petrolucas Halkias and Lira player Ross Dally have been regularly playing with Subhankar Greek ethnic music and Indo Greek fusion band in different parts of Greece since 1998 in Jazz (Womad) and other festivals.