August 6

encourages artists of various disciplines to come together and develop their art and commerce. Deeply engaged in social justice and advocacy work around mass incarceration, mental health, and voting, he launched Imagine Justice, a nonprofit centered at the intersection of art and activism, dedicated to leveraging the power of art to advocate for communities, fight for justice and equality, and stand united against injustice wherever it appears. His Common Ground Foundation is dedicated to empowering high school students from underserved communities to become future leaders. Foundation students have a 100 percent high school graduation rate.

Featured Program

CELEBRATING INDIA'S 75TH

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Saturday August 6 7:30 p.m. Hobby Center

Ankush Kumar Bahl, conductor Dr. L. Subramaniam, violin Kavita Krishnamurthy, vocalist

Program to be announced from the stage

CELEBRATING INDIA'S 75TH INDEPENDENCE DAY

• The current Indian National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana, become the country's official anthem in 1950.

• Dr. L. Subramaniam was honored with the title “Violin Chakravarthy”–translated to Emperor of the Violin–at a very young age. He has since produced, performed, collaborated, and conducted close to 200 recordings. • The largest global music festival in India, Lakshminarayana Global Music

Festival, was founded by Dr. L. Subramaniam in 1992. • Kavita Krishnamurthy is married to Dr. L. Subramaniam, and the two often perform nationally and internationally as a husband-and-wife duo. • Through movies and released albums, Kavita Krishnamurthy has recorded more than 25,000 songs in a variety of languages including Hindi, Bengali,

Nepali, and many more. • Ankush Kumar Bahl is a co-founder of Everything Conducting, an international online platform that allows conductors of all levels and genres to learn, share, and advance their craft.

PROGRAM BIO

DR. L. SUBRAMANIAM, VIOLIN, See insert for bio KAVITA KRISHNAMURTHY, VOCALIST, See insert for bio

ANKUSH KUMAR BAHL, CONDUCTOR

Currently in his first season as music director of the Omaha Symphony, Ankush Kumar Bahl has delivered resonant performances of masterworks, new and old, championing American composers and artists while pursuing innovative, community-based concert design. Recognized by orchestras and audiences alike for his impressive conducting technique, thoughtful interpretations, and engaging podium presence, Ankush has been praised by The New York Times for his “clear authority and enthusiasm” and ability to “inspire.” In addition to this concert, highlights of recent and upcoming engagements include the New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Detroit

Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, and National Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared at summer festivals with the Copenhagen Philharmonic at Tivoli; Sun Valley Summer Symphony; Wolf Trap with the NSO; Chautauqua Institute; and Brevard Music Center, where he makes his debut this summer.

Additionally, he has worked with prominent soloists, among them Daniil Trifonov, Lang Lang, Benjamin Grosvenor, Conrad Tao, Anthony McGill, Orion Weiss, and Kelley O'Connor. Ankush has received four Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards as well as the 2009 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship. A protégé of former New York Philharmonic Music Director Kurt Masur, Ankush served as his assistant conductor at the Orchestre National de France, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He then went on to become an assistant conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, where he led more than 100 performances over four seasons. Additional mentors include Jaap van Zweden, Zdenek Macal, David Zinman, and Gianandrea Noseda. American born and of Indian descent, Ankush Kumar Bahl is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and received a double degree in music and rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley. He studied at the Aspen Music Festival and completed his master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the Manhattan School of Music with Zdenek Macal and George Manahan. In recent years, he has collaborated with jazz legend Wayne Shorter, conducting his quartet in concerts of his orchestral music at the Kennedy Center and Detroit Free Jazz Festival.