Renowned carnatic musician, T M Krishna, has been chosen as the Sangita Kalanidhi awardee for 2024. The award, considered the Oscar equivalent for carnatic music, is given away by the Music Academy in Chennai. Mr. Krishna, a student of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, said . Sangita Kalanidhi was without doubt a very important award in the carnatic music world.
The Sangita Kala Acharya awards will be presented to mridhangam player Parasala Ravi (V. Raveendran Nair) and vocalist Geetha Raja.
This year’s Nritya Kalanidhi award will be presented to Dr. Neena Prasad. She had her training in Mohiniyattam from Kalamandalam Kshemavati and Kalamandalam Sugandhi. She learnt Bharata Natyam from Sangita Kala Acharya Adyar K. Lakshmanan, Kuchipudi from Vempati Chinna Satyam and Kathakali from Vembayam Appukuttan Pillai.
She obtained her Ph.D. from Rabindra Bharathi University for her thesis on Lasya and Thandava in South Indian classical dances. She was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the University of Surrey.