Saraswati Vidyardhi

Background

Vidyardhi was born in Kolkata into a family of musicians. She had basic musical training from her father Sri I V L Sastry, the founder of Sangeetha Janakulam, a music school offering free coaching.

Education

She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Music for her thesis, "The Unique Style and Personality of "Padmabhushan", "Sangita Kalanidhi" Doctor Sripada Pinakapani.".

Career

She is capable of singing notes below the mandra shadjam up to the anumandra shadjam, and has also unearthed rare Panchamantya ragas. She later became the disciple of Sri Ivaturi Vijayeswara Rao, a versatile musician of good repute. Vidyardhi has been under the tutelage of Doctor Nedunuri Krishnamurthy for over two decades.

Vidyardhi holds an Master of Arts in Music from Andhra University.

Vidyardhi served as the Chairperson of the Board of Studies at Andhra University from 2008 to 2014. She served as a selection committee member for several universities including Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Sri Padmavathi Mahila Visvavidyalayam, and Andhra University.

At present, she is a Professor in the Department of Music at Andhra University and has been guiding research scholars for over a decade. Research articles Vidyardhi has authored sixteen research papers and presented ten of them at various national and international seminars and conferences on music

Eight of her research papers have been published in reputed music journals, including the Journal of The Music Academy.

She has chaired sessions music conferences and was a resource officer at several workshops. She has given many lecture-demonstrations on Carnatic music CDs In 2006 she also released Karnamritham, a Civil Defense of her own original devotional music

Her other CDs include Nadamritham (2009), a 2-hour concert in two discs, and Annamayya Sangeetha Sourabham (2012), forty of the 15th-century saint Annamacharya"s compositions set to tunes by Pinakapani, which was released on the eve of Pinakapani"s 100th birthday.

Achievements

• Associated Independent Recording Music Competition prize, Classical Vocals (1984) Gold medal of the Visakha Music Academy (1984) Gold medal – Ragam Tanam Pallavi Competition (1992) Gold medal – Doorvasula Bhagavanlu Memorial (1992) Outstanding Young Artiste Award from Junior Chamber of Commerce (1992) Outstanding Young Artiste Award from Visakha Music Academy (1997) Top Grade in Carnatic Music from Prasar Bharathi Broadcasting Corporation of India, New Delhi (2008).