World Music Institute and Met Museum to Welcome Indian Vocalist Kaushiki Chakraborty, 11/14

World Music Institute, in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, presents Kaushiki Chakraborty on Friday, November 14, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the Met's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.

In a rare New York appearance, the virtuoso Indian vocalist displays her stunning mastery of South and North Indian vocal traditions. Her gorgeously lyrical sounds have won international praise; today she stands "among the front-ranking new-generation vocalists, with her impeccable technique and musicality," writes The Hindu.

This show marks the opening performance in the World Music Institute's 2014-15 Masters of Indian Music & Dance series, continuing WMI's long tradition as the leading New York presenter of the finest in Indian classical music, both Hindustani (North India) and Carnatic (South India), since its founding in 1985.

This concert is also presented in conjunction with the Met Museum's exhibition Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al?Thani Collection, on view October 28, 2014-January 25, 2015. The concert is set for Friday, November 14, 2014, 7:00 p.m. at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, located at 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd Street. Tickets start at $40 (Bring the kids for $1). Ticket includes Museum admission on the day of the performance. Click: http://bit.ly/11YQ0wr for more. Tickets for all World Music Institute events are available for purchase online at www.worldmusicinstitute.org, by calling (212) 545-7536, or in person at the WMI Box Office at 101 Lafayette Street, #801. Student and group discounts are available, as are VIP tickets for select events. Discounts are also available for WMI Friends with memberships starting at $70. WMI Friends enjoy priority seating throughout the season.

WMI & The Met - This event is the second of three collaborations this season between the World Music Institute and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who are enjoying a recently formed and ongoing relationship. In addition to Kaushiki Cahkraborty on November 14, performances include the opening concert with Mali's Ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on October 30, and a site-specific piece by India's famed dance troupe Nrityagram at the Met's majestic Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing on January 10.

KAUSHIKI CHAKRABORTY (kaushikichakraborty.com) - The journey that started from home under the tutelage of her mother Chandana Chakraborty and father Ajoy Chakrabarty led to her first major concert at the age of 16 at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi. In the audience were some of the greatest names in Hindustani music, including Zakir Hussain, Alla Rakha Khan, Sultan Khan, Amjad Ali Khan et al. The verdict of that evening was unanimous: the next big phenomenon in Hindustani music had arrived.

Kaushiki remained a scholar of ITC SRA till 2004 and graduated with 'A Top', the highest grade given by the academy. The grade was a vindication of what her audiences already knew. By then, she was the leading female vocalist of her generation, having performed at all the leading music festivals in the country and with several foreign tours under her belt.

Given that there were not many formidable female vocalists from the Patiyala Gharana in her generation, there was the added expectation of filling that void. Kaushiki more than delivered on both fronts: as a deserving inheritor of her father's mantle and as torchbearer of the Patiala tradition.

She chose to adapt the tenets of the Patiala gayaki to suit her own voice and temperament. She tempered down the strong aakars and the weighty gamaks to adhere to a more feminine sensibility. Her understanding of femininity is a balance between lilt and power. Her gayaki adequately expresses this balance, as it strides effortlessly across khayal and semi-classical genres and beyond.

At a time when all young classical musicians are involved in collaborative music, Kaushiki has been a rather late entrant. But she has more than made up for lost time. Over the last 3 years, she has sung in films and has been part of the hugely popular MTV Coke Studio project.

ABOUT WMI (www.worldmusicinstitute.org) - World Music Institute is a not-for-profit concert presenting organization founded in 1985 by Robert and Helene Browning and dedicated to the presentation of the finest in traditional and contemporary music and dance from around the world.

WMI encourages cultural exchange between nations and ethnic groups and collaborates with community organizations and academic institutions in fostering greater understanding of the world's cultural traditions. WMI works extensively with community groups and organizations including Indian, Iranian, Chinese, Korean, Middle Eastern, Latin American, Hungarian, Irish, and Central Asian. This has enabled it to be at the forefront of planning and presenting the finest ensembles from these countries.

WMI presents a full season of concerts each year in New York City, and arranges national tours by visiting musicians from abroad, as well as US-based artists. WMI's accomplishments and expertise in its field are recognized by major institutions throughout the US and internationally.

WMI has brought many musical, dance and ritual traditions to the New York stage for the first time, including Laotian sung poetry, folk music of Khorason and Bushehr (Iran), songs of the Yemenite Jews, Bardic divas of Central Asia, trance ceremonies from Morocco, music from Madagascar, and Theyyams (masked dances) of Kerala, South India. Many artists have been given their U.S. or New York debuts by WMI.