Premanand Jothy and Aneish Rajan present the Gotuvadyam Narayana Iyengar International Award for Excellence to Annavarapu Ramaswamy in Chennai on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: Akhila Easwaran
At the Chennai Fine Arts’ annual music festival inaugural ceremony and 23rd anniversary celebrations held on Sunday, seven renowned artists were honoured with awards and cash prizes.
Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Chennai, Premanand Jothy inaugurated the festival and honoured the artistes along with Aneish Rajan, Director of the Union Ministry of Culture.
The Gotuvadyam Narayana Iyengar International Award for Excellence was given to classical violin maestro Annavarapu Ramaswamy. Vocalist, orator and Sanskrit scholar T.S. Sathyavathi received the Muthuswami Dikshitar 250th Birth Anniversary Commemorative Award instituted in honour of Guru Chitravina Narasimhan.
The Flute Mali Centenary Award was presented to musician Prapancham Balachandran. The Laya Puraskar, instituted by Vidwan B. Shree Sundarkumar, was awarded to musician Arvind Ranganathan.
The Papanasam Brahmasri Kunjumani Bhagavathar Endowment Award, instituted by Papanasam R. Ramani Bhagavathar and family, was presented to Therezhundur Sundararaghavan; the Pudukottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai Puraskar, instituted by Vidwan Trichy K. Murali, was received by Madirimangalam Swaminathan, and the Thirumeignanam Natarajasundaram Pillai centenary award was presented to Vaduvur S.N.R. Krishnamoorthy.
“Musicians in Tamil Nadu are among the most original practitioners. Unfortunately, the number of applications for grants or awards is minimal from here. My earnest request is that musicians should visit the Ministry of Culture website, as we are also revising our guidelines for festival grant and other schemes,” said Mr. Rajan.
At the event, Mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman spoke about the artistic brilliance of the awardees.
Bharatanatyam exponent Nandini Ramani spoke about how the organisation has been supporting artistes year after year, and the awardees who have made legendary contributions to the world of music.
Founder and managing trustee of Chennai Fine Arts P.N. Muralidharan, violinist Annavarapu Ramaswamy, Mr. Premanand Jothy and Ms. T.S. Sathyavathi, also spoke.
Published – December 22, 2025 12:52 am IST
