Center for the Arts

43rd annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan University Thursday, October 10 through Monday, October 14, 2019

Middletown, Conn.—Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts announces the 43rd annual Navaratri Festival celebrating traditional Indian music and dance from Thursday, October 10 through Monday, October 14, 2019 on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown, Connecticut. One of India's major festival celebrations, Navaratri is a time to see family and friends, enjoy music and dance, and seek blessings for new endeavors. Please see below for further details.

The Navaratri Festival is presented by the Center for the Arts, Music Department, and Dance Department, with leadership support from the Madhu Reddy Endowed Fund for Indian Music and Dance at Wesleyan University, and additional support from the Jon B. Higgins Memorial Fund, the Raga Club of Connecticut, Haveli Indian Restaurant, and individual patrons.

This year, the India Arts Foundation, a long-standing supporter of the Navaratri Festival as well as other arts initiatives in Connecticut founded by Madhu Reddy and other artists, will generously match donations to Wesleyan University in support of the Navaratri Festival up to $50,000. All donations are tax deductible, and donors will be invited to a post-performance reception in World Music Hall at Wesleyan with Amjad Ali Khan on Sunday, October 13, 2019. Donation checks made out to Wesleyan University, with a note that the gift is to support the Navaratri Festival, can be sent to the Office of Advancement, Wesleyan University, 291 Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457. Donations can also be made online at https://give.evertrue.com/wesleyan/navaratri.

“We want to be able to promote the Indian arts in a way that influences the next generation of artists," said Madhu Reddy, a founder of the India Arts Foundation, whose mission is to nurture, promote, and celebrate the vibrant traditions of India in America by supporting and bringing the work of teachers, students, and practitioners, scholars, and arts organizations to wider audiences. "The money raised will be able to expand the reach of the arts at Wesleyan and its community for years to come. We want to ask this generation to contribute so we can leave a legacy in the future of keeping the classics alive. Our goal is to set up a million dollar fund at Wesleyan to nurture Indian music and dance traditions.”

"We are deeply grateful to Madhu Reddy and the India Arts Foundation for their matching gift and their continued support and commitment to the Navaratri Festival," said Fiona Coffey, Associate Director for Programming and Performing Arts. "This festival is very special to Wesleyan as it is a true collaboration between and celebration of the community and the university. We hope everyone will contribute this year to help ensure the continuation of this great tradition."

Tickets for the 43rd annual Navaratri Festival are on sale now online at https://www.wesleyan.edu/boxoffice. Tickets are also available by phone at 860-685-3355, or in person at the Wesleyan University Box Office, located in the Usdan University Center, 45 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown. Tickets may also be purchased at the door beginning one hour prior to each ticketed performance, subject to availability. The Center for the Arts accepts cash, checks written to “Wesleyan University,” and all major credit cards. Groups of ten or more may receive a discount to select performances – please call (860) 685-3355 for details. No refunds, cancellations, or exchanges. Programs, artists, and dates are subject to change without notice.

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Navaratri Festival Subscriptions include all three ticketed performances and are available for $50 for the general public, senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and non-Wesleyan students. Offer ends Friday, October 11, 2019.

The Inn at Middletown is the official hotel of the Center for the Arts. Patrons who show their Center for the Arts ticket stub receive 10% off their food bill at the Tavern at the Armory, located at 70 Main Street in Middletown.

Colloquium: Re-sounding Islam—Marking Religious and Aesthetic Pluralism in the Historiography of South Indian Music
Thursday, October 10, 2019 at 4:30pm
Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, 287 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

Davesh Soneji is Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s South Asia Studies Department. At Wesleyan, he will examine the long and complex history of Islamic musical production in Tamil-speaking South India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, raising significant questions about the social organization of rāga-based music, and its relationship to questions of religious and aesthetic pluralism in the cultural life of modern Tamilnadu.

Known for his work on devadāsī social history, he is the author of “Unfinished Gestures: Devadāsās, Memory and Modernity in South India” (Chicago, 2011), and is working on “Sundry Rāgas: Genealogies of Musical Pluralism in Modern South India.” He traces the presence and function of rāga-based music in social and aesthetic spaces considered marginal in mainstream histories of today’s Karṇāṭak music.

At Wesleyan, he will focus on two genres—the kīrttaṉai and the Arabic-inflected muṉājāttu—in relation to highly localized Ṣufi devotional practices, as well as formal, canonical traditions of Tamil Islamic literary production.

B. Balasubrahmaniyan: Vocal Music of South India
Friday, October 11, 2019 at 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$12 general public; $10 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $6 Wesleyan students, youth under 18

Vocalist and Adjunct Associate Professor of Music B. Balasubrahmaniyan is joined by Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music David Nelson on mridangam and violinist Nandini Viswanathan.

Dr. Yashoda Thakore: Courtesan Dance from South India
Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 4pm
Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$28 general public; $26 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $6 Wesleyan students, youth under 18

“Yashoda Thakore has taken it upon herself to take courtesan dance to the masses.”
—The Hindu (India)

Dr. Yashoda Thakore balances the practice of the art of dance with research in her Connecticut debut during the Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan. She has emerged as an artist widely regarded for innovative classicism, enthralling audiences around the world—from England and Greece to Dubai and Bangladesh—with her flawless artistry. She has also conducted lectures in Russia and France.

The performance will be followed by a discussion with Yashoda Thakore moderated by Wesleyan’s Associate Professor of Dance and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Hari Krishnan.

And after the discussion, there will be a Bhojanam (Feast) at 6pm in Fayerweather Beckham Hall, located at 55 Wyllys Avenue, across the street from Crowell Concert Hall on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown.

Bhojanam (Feast)
Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 6pm
Fayerweather Beckham Hall, 55 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$15 Wesleyan students, youth under 18; $25 all others

Treat yourself to vegetarian Indian delicacies at the Navaratri Festival’s Bhojanam (Feast) following the Connecticut debut dance performance by Yashoda Thakore at 4pm in Crowell Concert Hall, located at 50 Wyllys Avenue, across the street from Fayerweather Beckham Hall.

All proceeds will go to support future Navaratri festivals. Sponsored by Haveli India Restaurant.

Saraswati Puja (Hindu Ceremony)
Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 11am
World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

This religious service marks the most auspicious day of the year for beginning new endeavors. The audience may participate and bring instruments, manuscripts, and other items for blessing. All are welcome to attend.

Amjad Ali Khan: Sarod Trilogy
Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 3pm
Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, Connecticut
$35 general public; $33 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $6 Wesleyan students, youth under 18

“One of the 20th century’s greatest masters of the sarod.”
—Songlines World Music Magazine (United Kingdom)

GRAMMY Award-nominated sarod (19-stringed instrument) master Amjad Ali Khan gave his first performance at the age of six. He was born into the sixth generation of the illustrious lineage of the Senia-Bangash school of music, and is credited with reinventing the technique of playing the sarod, which means "melody" in Persian. His career has spanned more than six decades, with performances throughout the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria, Romania, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, China, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. At Wesleyan, he will be joined by his sarod-playing sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, along with tabla player Amit Kavthekar.

Lecture / Demonstration: Amjad Ali Khan
Monday, October 14, 2019 at 4:30pm
Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, 287 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut
FREE!

GRAMMY Award-nominated sarod (19-stringed instrument) master Amjad Ali Khan is joined by his sarod-playing sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash for an interactive presentation of the fundamental concepts of Indian classical music, and how the practice of composition continually helps to preserve both tradition and musical technique.

For more information about the 43rd annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan University, please visit https://www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/navaratri.