Deccan Chronicle

Bengaluru International Arts Festival 2019 (BIAF)

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The 12th edition of Bengaluru International Arts Festival 2019 (BIAF) is all things music with an ecological twist. The city’s largest acclaimed festival is now celebrating its 12th year and is now focuses on ‘Celebration of Harmony through Arts’. The shows have been curated with a lot of thought and have a mix of artists from both India and abroad.

BIAF was conceived and envisaged to ensure an international flavour to the Arts Festival in India while showcasing world class performances from legendary artists to the generation next. Over the last eleven years this large scale festival has been recognised as one of the top annual global festivals today with artists from over 25 countries having performed in the past.  On the first day is a one of its kind Karnatic Crossover Concert with Planet Sypmhony Orchestra for Environment which will see the coming together of many reputed artists for the first time as one unit. The show will have Sangeet Samrat N Ravikiran (Chitraveena), Dr. Suma Sudhindra (Veena), George Brooks from USA (Saxophone), Akkarai Subhalakshmi (Violin), Tiruvaruru Vaidyanathan (Mrudanga) and Arun Kumar (Drums). According to Suma Sudhindra, “as we have never played together while each of us have performed individually, makes this one special. And since each of us is a different kind of person coming from different backgrounds, there will be much curiosity, interest and excitement about this concert. So the coming together of all these great artists is sure to see a lot of things happen over collaboration and there will be a lot of improvisation as well so we are all looking forward to perform together.” The concert will see elements of Carnatic music and merge with other formats of music and the aim is not to break boundaries but extend boundaries. The main purpose of this concert is to help spread the love for music to several people.

Dr Suma Sudhindra
Dr Suma Sudhindra

A Grand Piano Concert by the youngest renowned prodigy Lydian Nadaswaram is also part of the second day. He will be supported by Amruthavarshini on flute and this will also be a musical event to look forward to. Dr. Veena Murthy Vijay, Director of BIAF says, “this is a very rare program that we have curated this year and we have a focus on environment and we have invited an orchestra who have been working for the environment. This is an interesting and innovative program that we have curated this year and is all about building bridges between artists and communities world over and celebration of harmony through arts has been a motto through the years.” The second day also sees an Eco Therapy program for mentally challenged children through the Bangalore Environment Trust using a variety of media especially through art, theatre and dance. “The milestone of achieving this international status is the main aspect of BIAF being a sustainable festival. This has inspired us to continue BIAF with greater conviction towards propagation of arts. The Ministry of Culture and other corporates have had faith in us and have continued to sponsor all these years. The power of the arts which brings harmony across the world has encouraged us to conduct Bengaluru International Arts Festival relentlessly and has helped us in establishing BIAF as an annual global festival for the 12th year,” adds Vijay. So this weekend get ready for a musical event with a twist which is sure to have you swinging.

  • What: Bengaluru International Arts Festival 2019
  • Where: Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Vyalikaval, Bangalore
  • When: 28th and 29th of September, 2019 at 7:00 PM
  • Tickets: Donor passes available on www.bookmyshow.com Contact: 9741350377
  • Email: biaf.media@gmail.com or visit: www.biaf.co.in

This story first appeared in Deccan Chronicle Bengaluru dated 27 Sep 2019 here:

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