Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival Coming to Cleveland State University

Now in its 39th year, the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival aims to “bring the finest of Indian classical music and dance to Northeast Ohio. Held at Cleveland State University, the event, which begins tomorrow and runs through April 3, features 80 Indian classical music and dance programs.

It’s the largest Indian classical music festival outside of India and attracts more than 6,000 attendees from around the globe as it features over 150 professional musicians and dancers from India and North America.

This year’s highlights include Grammy-winning slide guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt who’ll collaborate with composer N. Ravikiran. Other highlights include a “pure south Indian classical” vocal concert by Aruna Sairam, one of the featured artists in Jazz-Carnatic collaboration along with American singer-songwriter Maya Azucena and world music professor Mark Stone.

“It’s an honor to celebrate 39 wonderful years of bringing classical Indian music, art and dance to Cleveland’s vibrant cultural scene,” says organizer Radhika Balasubramaniam in a press release. “The Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival offers guests the opportunity to feel transported to India without having to leave Northeast Ohio — and the majority of festival events are free.”

Visit aradhana.org to buy tickets and view the entire 2016 festival schedule.

This article appears in Mar 16-22, 2016.