The Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival (LGMF), one of India’s longest-running and prestigious festival celebrating global music, returns with its 35th edition in Chennai on December 20 and 21 at R. R. Sabha, Mylapore. The festival will be inaugurated by R. N. Ravi, governor of Tamil Nadu on Dec. 20.

Founded by well-known violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam in 1992 in memory of his father and guru, Prof. V. Lakshminarayana, this fest has had performances in 30 countries.

The first phase of the 35th edition will be held in collaboration with Rasika Ranjani Sabha and presented by HCL Concerts and the Jai Ram Foundation. Concerts will be held throughout the two days.

It features many acclaimed artistes – Mysore Nagaraj & Karthik Nagaraj (violin duet), Dr. N. Rajam & Ragini Shankar (violin duet), Shashank Subramaniam (flute), Jayanthi Kumaresh (veena), Lalgudi GJR Krishnan & Vijayalakshmi (violin duet), Pandit Sajan Mishra & Swaransh Mishra (Hindustani vocals) and Dr. L. Subramaniam, Ambi Subramaniam, Mahati Subramaniam (violin trio).

Admission is open to all.

In a special pre-festival event, on December 15, LGMF will present the

Lakshminarayana International Award by Dr. L. Subramaniam to music director A.R. Rahman, honouring his contributions to world music.

 The chief guests are film director Mani Ratnam and film person Suhasini Maniratnam; they will release a short film on the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival.