Amaan Ali Bangash enthrals with his sarod performance at the Dover Lane Music Conference of 2005. A Telegraph picture

The soulful strains that fill the winter air over the Lakes draw listeners from across the world to Nazrul Mancha every winter. This year, the anticipation has been heightened with a glittering line-up of musicians confirming participation in the five-night annual classical music soiree.

The 54th edition of the Dover Lane Music Conference, presented by Desh, starts from January 21 with 11 vocalists and 10 instrumentalists.

Led by Ali Akbar Khan, the line-up features Amjad Ali Khan, Parveen Sultana, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Rais Khan, Shahid Parvez, Rashid Khan, Ajoy Chakraborty, Amaan Ali Bangash, Irshad Khan, Kushal Das, Kamal Mullick, Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Padma Talwalkar, Arati Ankalikar, Kaushiki Chakraborty Desikan, Manas Chakraborty, Prabhakar Karekar, Santanu Banerjee and Gundecha Brothers.

The inaugural day features vocalists Padma Talwalkar and Ajoy Chakraborty, sarod player Amaan Ali Bangash and sitar exponent Shahid Parvez. Day II features sitar recitals by Kushal Das and Irshad Khan, and vocals by Manas Chakraborty and Arati Ankalikar.

Day III finds Kamal Mullick on sarod, Rais Khan on sitar, and vocals by Veena Sahasrabuddhe and Rashid Khan.

Day IV stages vocals by Santanu Banerjee and Parveen Sultana, Ali Akbar Khan on sarod, Dhrupad vocalists Gundecha Brothers and santoor by Shiv Kumar Sharma.

The final evening features vocals by Kaushiki Chakraborty Desikan and Prabhakar Karekar, flute by Hariprasad Chaurasia and sarod by Amjad Ali Khan.

Parveen Sultana will be awarded the Sangeet Samman, in association with PC Chandra Group, for her contribution to Indian classical music.

Of the 4,000 listeners expected to swamp Nazrul Mancha over the five days from evening till the break of dawn, quite a few will be from abroad.

The foreign footfall has increased over the past few years, with the majority hailing from Japan, the US, the UK, Holland and even Kenya.

?Last year, a Swiss team came down to India only for the Dover Lane conference. And this time, too, listeners will come in from near and far,? says general secretary Nupur Mukherjee.

?Earlier, only the elderly would be interested in attending the conference. But now, a lot of young people are also dropping in. This is largely due to the spread of Indian classical music in the West. It is now coming back to India. We have seen an increased participation from the young generation in the past five-six years,? said conference vice-president Kallol Basu.

Season tickets for the conference, which allow entry on all five days, will be available January 7 onwards at various outlets across the city, for Rs 250, Rs 330 and Rs 450.

The Dover Lane Music Conference also provides a platform to budding musicians by holding a talent search contest between November and December every year.

Prizes will be handed out to the successful candidates of the Talent Search Contest 2005-06 during the conference. The organisation also hold a three-day dance festival and arranges for private soirees with musicians in the age group of 10-15.