Ravi Shankar Centennial Concerts to Feature Dhani Harrison, Norah Jones + More
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Indian sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar (1920-2012) will be commemorated with a series of concerts in May to celebrate 100 years since his birth on April 7, 1920. The Ravi Shankar Centennial Concerts will feature family members Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar as well as special guest artists Philip Glass, Dhani Harrison (son of George Harrison), and an orchestra of Shankar’s disciples performing at several venues across the globe (see the concert listings below for which guest artists will appear at each show).
The Ravi Shankar Centennial Concerts will be presented at San Diego Civic Theatre (San Diego: May 16, a fundraiser for Shankar Foundation), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles: May 19), Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Chicago: May 22), Carnegie Hall (New York: May 29) and Southbank Centre (Shankar 100 Series, London, U.K.: January-November 2020). A centenary concert in New Delhi, India, in November 2020 will be announced soon.
Ravi Shankar
According to a press release announcing the series, Shankar “was an Indian classical artist of the highest rank who across nine decades spearheaded the worldwide spread of Indian music and culture. The first Indian musician to become a household name in the West, Shankar achieved international fame in the 1960s through his collaborations with George Harrison of the Beatles and unprecedented performances of Indian classical music at seminal U.S. festivals and benefit concerts, including Monterey Pop (1967), Woodstock (1969) and the Concert for Bangladesh (1971). Shankar became a hero to the counterculture and a global ambassador uniting the East and West through his mastery of a transcendental music that spoke volumes beyond words themselves.”
Related: A look back at the Concert for Bangladesh
The Ravi Shankar Centennial Concerts includes the following disciples: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan veena), Tarun Bhattacharya (santoor), Kartik Seshadri (sitar, only U.S.A.), Partho Sarothy (sarod), Shubhendra Rao (sitar), Gaurav Mazumdar (sitar), Barry Phillips (cello), Sanjeev Shankar (shehnai), Ashwani Shankar (shehnai), Ravichandra Kulur (flute), Bickram Ghosh (tabla), Tanmoy Bose (tabla), Pratik Shrivastava (sarod), Pirashanna Thevarajah (mridangam, ghatam, morsing), B.C. Manjunath (mridangam), Kenji Ota (tanpura), and Nick Able (tanpura).
To celebrate the centennial of Ravi Shankar, author Oliver Craske will release a biography, Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar (Faber Books, April 2020). Additional centenary releases will be announced in 2020.
CONCERT LISTINGS
Dhani Harrison (Wikipedia photo by SBeals; used with permission)
Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar will perform at Southbank Centre (April 7) and Walt Disney Concert Hall (May 19); Anoushka also performs at San Diego Civic Theatre (May 16), Chicago Symphony Orchestra (May 22), and Carnegie Hall (May 29). Philip Glass to perform at Carnegie Hall (May 29), and Dhani Harrison will perform at San Diego Civic Theatre (May 16) and Walt Disney Concert Hall (May 19).
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Jump into a conversationWhy don’t ever the really good events like this happen in Boston?