History of Western music What were monophonic Gregorian Chants? Who codified them and when were they composed? Why did Western classical music become polyphonic during the Renaissance? What kind of music did Bach, Handel and Vivaldi compose during the Baroque period? When was opera as a musical composition born? In how many languages were operas composed and what are some of the most memorable operas? Is Western classical music associated with only the Classical period? Which European city was the hub of Western classical music at the time? What was the contribution of the Romantics to Western classical music? What are some of Chopin’s most famous compositions? How did the 20th century impact Western classical music? Who were the famous conductors, tenors, divas or music critics of the last century? What is the fate of Western classical music today? Beethoven and Friends answers these questions and more while presenting the history of Western classical music through the unusual stories of the many lives that shaped it. It is written by Kishore Chatterjee, a Western classical music aficionado who is, perhaps, also its greatest champion and torch-bearer in town. Chatterjee has made it his life’s mission to win friends over for Western classical music and communicate its enjoyment through the written word, lectures, films, drama and painting. Since 1970, he has given talks and anchored programmes on Western classical music, including a series on Wagner, Bach, Beethoven, opera and some well-known music critics. This evening veteran actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay will unveil Beethoven and Friends. Hosted by Oxford Bookstore, Calcutta and Niyogi Books. Event: Launch of Kishore Chatterjee’s book Beethoven and Friends When: Today at 7 pm Where: Oxford Bookstore, 17 Park Street

Art

Till August 7 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘A’ Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A solo exhibition of paintings by Asim Goswami. Till August 7 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Vision 8 — a group exhibition of paintings by eight artists. Participating artists: Subir Dey, Tapas Das, Mihir Kayal, Kajol Mondal, Nibedita Basu, Shibdeb Sarkar, Jatisankar Bhowmik and Chandra Nath Saha. Till August 8 at Karma Galerie, P-505 Keyatola Road; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of drawings and paintings by Tapan Kar, Tapan Chattopadhyay, Tapati Sarkar, Prasanta Niyogi, Pratyusha Mukherjee, Kousik Roy and Bhaskar Hazarika. Till August 8 at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G-7 Malayalay Apts, 3 Woodburn Park, #30534053; 11 am - 6 pm: Meditative Beauty — a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Tanuj Sardar. Till August 9 at The Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal; 10 am - 11 pm: The 11th solo exhibition of paintings by Sujata Chakraborty. The artist will be painting live from 3 pm to 6 pm. Till August 12 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahat Road, #2475 2275; 3 pm - 8 pm: Chitrakoot presents Rare Glimpse of Rare Art, featuring works by Jamini Roy, Tagores, Roerich, Nandalal and Gopal Ghosh, and of early Bengal. Till August 14 (except Sunday) at G.C. Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery, Laha Paint House, 1st floor, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Alakananda Mukerji, professor, Studio Art Dept, Manhattanville College, NY, USA. Till August 14 (except Sunday) at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #2289 3027/ 5041; 12 noon - 7 pm: Leela — an exhibition of paintings by Kartick Chandra Pyne and Partha Pratim Deb. Curated by Pranabranjan Ray. Till August 15 at The Art Walk, Emami Chisel Arts, South City Mall; 12 noon - 8 pm: A solo exhibition of paintings by Dr Jayasmita Chatterjee. Till August 15 (except Sunday) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #2465 3212; 11 am - 7 pm: Eternal Landscape — a group show of landscape art featuring works by Manisha Dey, Ramlal Dhar, Sohini Dhar, Gopal Ghose, Mrinal Mondol, Surya Prakash and Sandip Roy.

PERFORMING ARTS

August 6 at Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, IB 201 Salt Lake; 6 pm: EZCC presents Pratibha Utsav — an evening of music and dance by young, talented performing artists who are Government of India scholarship holders: Siddheswar Saha (folk songs), Pramatha M Tagore (sarod, of Maihar gharana) and Satabdi Acharya (Goudiya Nritya). August 6 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Light at the Edge of the World as part of Rabindra Utsav, hosted by Happenings. Featuring Anil Srinivasan (Western classical piano), Sikkil Gurucharan (Carnatic vocal) and Dhritiman Chaterji (narration). Chaterji introduces each piece with readings from Gitanjali as Srinivasan and Gurucharan produce works from their musical repertoire. August 9 at Science City auditorium; 6 pm: Performances by voclaists Jagjit Singh and Hariharan. August 9 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Sanskriti Sagar hosts a Bhajan Sandhya by Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj.

DRAMA

August 6 at Sisir Mancha; 5.30 pm: Uhinee Kolkata hosts the 2nd Ananta Keya Bikel to mark the 67th birth anniversary of renowned theatre personality late Keya Chakrabarti. Featuring children’s play Buro Lokta by Barrackpore Swapnil; seminar Children’s Theatre - Our national practice methods (speaker: Prof. Tripurari Sharma), and play Shilpi by Uhinee Kolkata. August 6 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Niva Arts presents Udaan. Direction: Rajat Gangopadhyay. August 6 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Aneek will stage the comedy, Adventure Kaare Koy. Direction: Malay Biswas. August 6 at Kala Mandir; 6.45 pm: Bratyajan presents Ruddha Sangeet. Drama & direction: Bratya Basu. August 7 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Hattamela Natya Gosthi will stage Hetamgore Hoi Choi. Direction: Gurudas Bandyopadhyay. August 7 at Bijon Theatre; 6.30 pm: Drishya Katha presents Dhoa Dhulo Nakshatra. Direction: Debabrata Dasgupta. August 8 at Ramgopal Mancha; 6.30 pm: Natadha will stage Swapner Chhayachhobi. Direction: Shib Mukhopadhyay. August 8 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Swapnasoochana presents Biddho Aakash, directed by Sudipto Sarkar. August 9 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Gandhar presents Kachher Manush, with Debshankar Haldar and Bijoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Direction: Gautam Haldar, filmmaker.

READING

August 6 at Crossword, 8 Elgin Road; 7 pm: An evening of dramatized reading of Raja Oedipus, the accalimed Greek play by Sophocles and translated by Sombhu Mitra. Participants: Bijoylakshmi Barman, Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee, Shantanu Gupta, Partha Mukherjee, Kaushik Bhattacharya and Biplab Dasgupta.

TALK

August 6 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Ramaranjan Mukherji will speak in Sanskrit on Bhavabhutir Uttararamacharit. August 6 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Samshuddhananda will speak in Bengali on Srimad-Bhagavad. August 6 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7 pm: Dr Kalpana Sarkar will speak on Matri Sanniddhey.

EXHIBITION

August 6 - 8 at Sree Thyagaraja Hall, P-530 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 12 noon - 8 pm: All India Women’s Conference, South Calcutta Constituent Branch presents Monsoon Mela for the benefit of the underprivileged. Featuring hand-woven materials, handicrafts, sarees, costume jewellery, children’s garments, snacks, etc. August 6 - 10 at Soumya’s Creation, 57/9 ballygunge Circular Road; 11.30 am - 6.30 pm: Puja Prep - 2, a variety of sarees, kurtis, costume, silver and mina jewellery, evening bags, hildren’s clothes and household items. Till August 8 at Anusthan Bhavan, 132 Rashebhari Avenue, #98310 93115: Sundari Silks Chennai hosts an exhibition of silk and cotton sarees from weavers of south India. Till August 8 at P-58 Dr Sarat Banerjee Road, Calcutta 29; 4 pm - 9 pm: Sreemayee is exhibiting its festive collection of sarees. Till August 16 at Starmark; 10.30 am - 8 pm: The Giant Starmark Book Exhibition of a wide range of Penguin Black Classics and bestsellers. Till August 20 at 80G Sarat Bose Road; 11 am - 5 pm: Chandni unveils her new collection of sarees, light and bridal lehengas. Also, diaper cakes and baby arrival bouquets for baby showers and parties. 9831038115, 9339058424.

IN MEMORIAM

August 8 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, in association with Jalsaghar, presents Smaranarha — Reminiscences of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan by Shankarlal Bhattacharya and others. To be followed by a sarod recital by Debanjan Bhattacharya with Arindam Chakraborty (tabla), and a sitar recital by Deep Shankar Bhattacharya with Ashis Mukherjee (tabla).

WORKSHOP

Till August 7 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 3 pm - 5 pm: Healing Touch Through Painting, being conducted by well-known artists Tandra Chanda and Pulak Ghosh. Details at #2461 3145.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph,6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244