An interactive and participative lecture demonstration seeking to answer questions on what constitutes tradition and classicism in Karnatic music and what the boundaries of innovation are within the framework of tradition. It uses ample multimedia examples to illustrate the perception of innovation and tradition in today’s world of Karnatic music in the context of innovation over the centuries.

Flow:

Meet and Greet

Presentation

Questions /Answers and an Interactive workshop

Speaker: Dr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran

Bio: 

Dr Kanniks Kannikeswaran is an internationally renowned composer, educator and scholar with several ground breaking creations and productions to his credit. Kanniks is regarded as a pioneer of the Indian American Choral Movement. His magnum opus ‘Shanti – A Journey of Peace’ a contemporary oratorio for large mixed choruses of more than one hundred singers, western chamber orchestra and an Indian instrumental ensemble recently completed its 12th anniversary and has enabled diverse coalitions between academic institutions, Indian communities, mainstream American and European choruses and professional symphony orchestras. Kanniks’ work has personally touched the lives of over 2500 performers and has inspired the flowering of community choirs in several cities in the United States. His pioneering work on the Indo-Colonial music of Muthuswamy Dikshitar in 2007 brought widespread popularity to this genre of music. Kanniks has collaborated with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops, the Martin Luther King Chorale, the Dario Fo choir, the Residentie Orkest (Netherlands) , the National University of Singapore Symphony orchestra, artists such as Lakshmi Shankar, Mallika Sarabhai, the Gundecha brothers and others. Kanniks was interviewed on NPR in 2013, was featured in INK Talks India in 2015; his composition was featured as the opening invocation at the historic reception accorded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York in 2014. Kanniks has been described as a renaissance personality who effortlessly traverses diverse disciplines such as music, spirituality, and management. Kanniks is a powerful speaker and has lectured extensively on Indian culture and music all over the United States and in many other parts of the world.