The Dover Lane Music Conference, one of the cultural events the city looks forward to every winter, is starting a special initiative this year to reach tickets to senior citizens.

“We have many senior citizens in our audience. Several of them face difficulties in collecting the tickets from our office. That is why we decided to start this service this year,” said Subhabrata Ghosh, joint secretary, The Dover Lane Music Conference& Academy.

Listening to live music is not a privilege senior citizens can often enjoy because of the inaccessibility of venues, purchasing tickets and other problems.

The 73rd edition of the music conference, to be held between January 22 and 25 at Nazrul Mancha, is also offering the option to book tickets online for the first time. But the tickets have to be collected from the conference office at 18/2,Dover Lane.

If a senior citizen informs the conference office of a requirement to deliver the tickets, by phone or email, they will be delivered free of cost to the address mentioned. The organisers can be contacted at 033-24618137 or doverlanemusic@hotmail.com.

In 2024, about 30 members from an old-age home in Calcutta had attended the conference free of cost as part of the conference’s efforts to give senior citizens more accessto music.

Every year, Ghosh said, there is among the audience a person who is wheelchair-bound. “He has been coming for 10 years.”

The music conference has hosted the most eminent Indian classical musicians and enthralled audiences through sessions that begin late in the evening and last all night. Ustad Alauddin Khan accompanied by Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan were among the earliest performers at the conference, which was organised on Dover Lane by residents ofthe area.

A proposal is being considered now to start a collection of musical instruments, especially sitar and sarod, for deserving students of music who cannot afford them.

“Instruments, especially the sitar and sarod, are expensive. A sitar or a sarod may cost ₹40,000-45,000,”said Ghosh.

The proposal is to ask for donations of old musical instruments, which are to be given free to talented students.