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A Different Bhavam
Ganesh Rajagopalan on gamaka, the limits of comparison, and what instrumental music asks of its listeners After the May 17th concert at The Sheldon, an audience member asked a question that cut to something fundamental. He wanted to know: how important is it for an instrumentalist to know and understand the lyrics — the sahityam — of a composition in order to bring out its full emotional meaning, its bhavam? And can that meaning be conveyed through note embellishment and nuan
May 243 min read
FEATURED POST
Beyond the concert - GK in stl
The evening of May 17 was one part of a fuller week (or should we say few months). A few weeks the concert, Jasmine Osby of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch spoke with the artists — a conversation that ran ahead of the evening and helped bring the concert to a wider St. Louis audience. It was a meaningful moment of visibility for this kind of work in this city. Before the hall filled, we held an open pre-show conversation at The Sheldon. The format was deceptively simple — the art
May 242 min read
A Different Bhavam
Ganesh Rajagopalan on gamaka, the limits of comparison, and what instrumental music asks of its listeners After the May 17th concert at The Sheldon, an audience member asked a question that cut to something fundamental. He wanted to know: how important is it for an instrumentalist to know and understand the lyrics — the sahityam — of a composition in order to bring out its full emotional meaning, its bhavam? And can that meaning be conveyed through note embellishment and nuan
May 243 min read
What the Ragam Carries
Kumaresh Rajagopalan on lyric, melody, and where the music actually lives. After the May 17th concert at The Sheldon, an audience member sent us an interesting question; he wanted to know: how important is it for an instrumentalist to know and understand the lyrics of a composition — the sahityam — in order to bring out its full emotional meaning, its bhavam? And can that meaning even be conveyed through note embellishment and nuance alone, without the words? Sahityam refers
May 243 min read
Post-concert reflection GK at The Sheldon — May 17, 2026
There are evenings in a concert hall that resist easy description. The Ganesh & Kumaresh concert at The Sheldon on May 17 was one of them. What the audience encountered was not simply technical mastery, though the mastery was evident throughout. It was something rarer — two musicians who have spent over five decades in conversation with each other and with the form, and who have lost none of the spontaneity that makes Carnatic music what it is. Kumaresh drew the audience in f
May 172 min read
We Are the Next Generation
Art forms do not disappear overnight. They thin out gradually — one unconsidered decision at a time, one missed opportunity after another, until the moment arrives when there are no longer enough people in the room who remember why it mattered. We are the generation that will determine whether that happens. Not in the abstract, not eventually — now. The timing of this post is not random, as things seldom are -- Ganesh & Kumaresh perform at The Sheldon Concert Hall on May 17.
Apr 233 min read
STL, This music is for you
The only qualification is curiosity. Last year, after Ramana Balachandhran's veena concert, someone stopped me and said they had never heard the veena or the mridangam before. They had been, in their own words, completely transported — and found it all unexpectedly eye- and ear-opening. It is a phrase that has stayed with me, because it captures something I believe deeply: that this art does not require preparation to move you. It only requires presence. I think about that ev
Apr 163 min read
Ganesh & Kumaresh at The Sheldon — May 17, 2026
When Janya was presented with the opportunity to present Ganesh & Kumaresh at The Sheldon Concert Hall, the decision was simple and not about numbers. It was about the opportunity to be in the presence of great art — and about what it means to bring that to St. Louis. St. Louis's South Asian community does not often find itself on itineraries of this scale, which is precisely what makes this moment worth marking.
Apr 103 min read
Maestros Ganesh & Kumaresh Rajagopalan - Violin Concert
Award-winning maestros & brothers Ganesh and Kumaresh Rajagopalan are coming to STL for the first time in a decade. Following Maestro Ganesh's recent Grammy win and second nomination this year, we're excited to host them in collaboration with the Sheldon Concert Hall -- it'll be an unforgettable experience for sure! Date: 2026-05-17 Time: 4pm Venue: Sheldon Concert Hall
Dec 27, 20251 min read
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