Ivory and ebony Endowed with impeccable nerve, calm, gravity, command of rhythm and exact measuring of the temp, acclaimed Spanish pianist Maria Victoria Aja is well-known for her magical playing worldwide. She is often compared to Alicia de Larrocha for her growing prowess at the keys. With all the excitement, technical preparation, graceful bearing and attractiveness that characterise her personality, Victoria Aja began her career by pursuing musical studies in Bilbao and continued later in Madrid at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica. As early as 18, she won the Luis Coleman at the International Competition for Spanish Music in Spain. She was also a prize winner at the competition Academia Franck Marshall in Barcelona and has acquired the Rosa Sabater diploma at the Musica en Composteia for Spanish music. Victoria Aja has also recorded a CD recently with the piano works of Jesus Guridi which figures among the best recordings in American Fanfare magazine. Her recent engagements include the debut recital at the Wigmore Hall in London where the pianist proved herself to be a remarkably persuasive champion of this highly specialised literature. This evening, Calcutta School of Music presents Victoria Aja in her debut recital in the city, at the inaugural concert of the Yamaha Grand piano, a gift from the Japanese Consulate to Calcutta School of Music. Entry by invitation. Donor members of Calcutta School of Music are welcome. Event: Inaugural concert of the Yamaha Grand piano by Victoria Aja When: Today at 6pm Where: Calcutta School of Music, Sandre Hall, 6B Sunny Park

ART

Till April 20 at Nandalal Bose Gallery, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11am - 7pm: Ghat by Ghat — a painting exhibition of the ghats of Varanasi by Australian artist Terry Burrows. Till April 20 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘B’ Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: Paintings by Rabindranath Roy. Till April 20 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: Joie de Vivre, a solo exhibition by Indrani Sadhukhan. Till April 23 (except holidays) at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture; 10am - 1pm & 2.30pm - 7pm: Annual Art Exhibition: Pilgrim of Eternity, an exhibition of watercolour miniatures by Bireswar Sen. Till April 23 at G.C. Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue, 1st floor; 2pm - 7pm: Panart presents its third exhibition of paintings featuring works by Arijit Chowdhury, Asutosh Bhattacharjee, Bilendra Nath Mondal, Debiprasad Basu, Nilotpal Sinha, Pradip Ghosh, Saheb Dey, Saibal Das and Samir Bhattacharya. Till April 24 at Taj Bengal, Promenade Lounge; 10am - 11pm: First solo exhibition of recent works by Debasree Mukherjee (Ray). The artist will be painting live from 3pm to 6pm. Till April 24 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3pm - 8pm: 50 Years of Drawings & Paintings by Dr Debasis Bhattacharya. Till April 30 (except Monday) at Bodhi Tree Monastery of Art, 48/44 Swiss Park, 24246534; 4pm - 7pm: Bodhi Tree Monastery of Art presents Annual Exhibition 2011. Till April 30 (Sunday by appointment) at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, 65508418; 10.30am - 6.30pm: The Rapture of Form — paintings by Suhas Roy, Prokash Karmakar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Sanatan Dinda, Atin Basak, Bratin Khan, Gourango Beshai, Sibsaday Chaudhuri, Subrata Das, Samir Paul, Sukanta Das and others. Till May 6 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 11am - 8pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts presents the exhibition, Somnath Hore: Prints, Drawings, Posters. Till May 7 (except Sundays) at Gallery Image Kraft, 56E Block D, New Alipore; 11am - 8pm: An exhibition of paintings by young Bengal painters. Till May 7 (except Sundays & holidays) at Mon Art Gallerie, 6 Hungerford Street, Regency Building, 3rd floor, 22895438; 11am - 7.30pm: Sublime Contours, an exhibition of recent paintings by some of the senior and well as upcoming artists of Andhra Pradesh. Till May 15 (except Mondays) at Kusum Apartments, 11 Gurusaday Road, Flat no. 61, 9903235566; 3pm - 7pm: Shree Art Gallery presents Baishakhi, and exhibition of paintings by B.R. Panesar, Bappa Halder, Pramathesh Chandra, Debabrata Chakrabarty, Dipti Chakraborty, Debendra Laha, Arun Kr Samaddar, Nitya Kundu, Milanendu Mondal, Prabal Roy, Ranjan Sarkar, Ranadip Das, Subrata Das, Samir Paul, Sambhu Saha and others. Till June 9 (except Sundays) at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road, 24630465, 40012289; 11 am - 7pm: The Young Man Was... (a few chapter): Naeem Mohaiemen.

pANEL DISCUSSION

April 19 at Oxford Bookstore, 17 Park Street; 3.30pm: Apeejay Surrendra Group, in association with i-Volunteer and International Business Leaders Forum, UK (IBLF), presents a panel discussion on The Future of Volunteering (Participants: Shamlu Dudeja, Sudha Kaul and Raktim Mukhopadhyay), along with the announcement of Apeejay India Volunteer Awards 2011.

DRAMA

April 19 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Nat-Ranga presents Beokuf Ek Chaand. Drama, direction & acting: Sohan Bandyopadhyay. April 20 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Nandikar will stage Madhabi. Drama: Bhisma Sahni. Adaptation, music & direction: Swatilekha Sengupta. Acting: Rudraprasad Sengupta, Debshankar Halder, Parthapratim Deb, Sumanta Ganguly and Sohini Sengupta. April 21 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Gobardanga Shilpayan will stage its new production, Bhoot-Puran. Drama & direction: Ashis Chattopadhyay. April 22 at Academy of Fine Arts; 11 am & 3pm: Rangakarmee will stage Bhor at 11am, and Chandalika at 3pm. Both are designed and directed by Usha Ganguli.

FILM show

Till April 20 at Nandan-II, April 21 at Nandan-III; 4pm & 6pm: Cine Central, Calcutta and Nandan, West Bengal Film Centre present the 16th European Union Film Festival. Today, 4pm: Beloved Berlin Wall, Germany. At 6pm: Made in Hungaria, Hungary.

pERFORMING ARTS

April 19 at Kala Mandir; 6.30pm: Ballygunge Government High School Alumni Association presents Rabi Pranam, a tribute to Tagore on his 150th birth anniversary. Programme: Reading from Tagore’s Gandharir Aabedan, to be followed by the staging of Balmiki Pratibha (Direction: Alokananda Roy) by the inmates of state’s correctional homes. April 19 at Satyajit Ray Auditorium, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 6.30pm: Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR Calcutta presents, in its Horizon series, Baul Baulanir Gaan by Rabi Adhikary and Sambiti Poddar. April 20 at Satyajit Ray Auditorium, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 6.30pm: Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR Calcutta presents, in its Horizon series, Emotions from Kerala (Mohiniyattam – the dance of feminine moods and emotion) by Mom Ganguly. April 21 at Vivekananda Hall, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture; 6pm: Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture and Bhavna jointly present Surer Bandhaney: Bishnupur and Jorasanko. Participants: Shantanu Bandyopadhyay (classical vocal) and Manoj Murali Nair (Tagore songs). Tickets available at the reception of Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Cultute, Gol Park, 10am - 7pm. April 21 - 23 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6pm: Sangeet Ashram presents The Jnana Pravaha Music Festival 2011. Featuring Shubha Mudgal (vocal), Debojyoti Bose (sarod) on April 21; Subhra Guha (vocal), Kala Ramnath (violin), Venkatesh Kumar (vocal) on April 22; and Meeta Pandit (vocal), Rupak Kulkarni (flute) on April 23. April 24 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6pm: Bhavna presents Khara Bayu, a solo recital of Tagore songs by Paramita.

SYMPOSIUM

April 19 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 5.30pm: Symposium (in English, Bengali and Hindi): Sri Ramakrishna’s Monastic Disciples. Opening song by Swami Shubhakarananda. Participants: Swami Somatmananda, Swami Devapriyananda, Swami Shubhakarananda and Swami Vimohananda. President: Swami Sarvabhutananda.

TALK

April 19 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 6.55pm: Prof. Sankar ghosh will speak on Favourite Songs of Sri Ramakrishna Deva. April 19 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7pm: Prof. Samir Kumar Basu will speak on Man O Manus. April 19 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7pm: Bijan Kumar Lodh will speak on Sri Sri Sarada Devi.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till April 20 at Nandan-IV; 4pm - 8pm: A photographic exhibition to commemorate 60 years of making of the film, The River, by Jean Renoir. April 19 at Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall, Indian Museum; 5.30pm: Inauguration of 43rd Howrah Color Salon 2011 (2nd edition) & members’ annual exhibition of Photography in Prints. The show will continue till April 21, 3pm - 7.30pm. Till April 19 at National Academy of Photography (NAP), 38 Golf Club Road, 24226360; 12noon - 7pm: Hey Boishakh, an exhibition of photographs by the students of NAP and the members of Persona-International.

EXHIBITION

Till April 23 (except Sunday) at Aakriti Art Gallery (Sculpture wing), Orbit Enclave, 1st floor, 12/3A Hungerford Street, 22893027/5041; 12noon - 7pm: Chisel Arts is exhibiting its handmade furniture. Till April 30 at 175 Block G, New Alipore, 40608060; Weekdays: 11am - 7.30pm, Sunday: 12noon - 6pm: “V” Style Voyage exhibits new summer designer collection of aslwar kurta, tunics, dresses. Also, artefacts, home-decor items, tablemats, bags, footwear and accessories.

WORKSHOP

April 19 at Mama Mia! Ballygunge; 3pm - 5pm: International salads workshop on Thai Som Tam, Greek Salad, Italian Pasta & Pesto Salad, German Potato Salad and Lebanese Tabouleh. Call 9830708456 for details and to register. April 19 & 20 at 6 Commissriate Road, Hastings; 2pm - 4pm: Mrs Goel’s dessert (eggless) class on April 19 and eggless cake class on April 20. For registration, call 9339096917. April 20 & 23 at WLC College, 10C Hungerford Street: Complimentary career counselling by Psychometric Test (April 20, 11am - 4pm) and Complimentary T-Shirt Painting (April 23, 11am - 2pm) for XIIth standard and graduate students. For details, call 40011323, 40113456. April 22 - 24 at Jyotirmai Club, Ballygunge: An image profiling and personality development workshop. Modules include image styling, communication skills, art and music therapy, holistic wellbeing, etiquette, etc. Registration closes on April 21. For details, call 98309 76718. April 22 - 26 at Happy Hours, CD-69 Salt Lake, 9830227778: A five-day workshop on cue, loop, scratching, beats & mixing. To be conducted by DJ Rahul. April 24 - 26 at Studio E2 69, 8/1 Esplanade East: A three-day dance fitness workshop: zumba (8am to 9am), body conditioning (9.30am to 10.30am) and bollywood aerobics (4pm to 5pm) by Guinness world record holder Dinaz Vervatwala from Hyderabad. For details and registration, call 9830019635.

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