Dr. Balamurali Krishna Passes Away at 86

Bengal Foundation mourns the passing of Dr. Balamurali Krishna. We are fortunate that Dr. Krishna graced us with a memorable performance at the Bengal Classical Music Festival in 2015, and we will forever remember him for his immense contributions to the realm of classical music.

Dr. Krishna was regarded as one of the best exponents of Carnatic Classical Music. He was an accomplished instrumentalist – known to play the violin, viola, khanjira, veena and mridangam – in addition to being an exceptional classical vocalist.

He was the first Principle of the Government Music College, Vijayawada, and the first producer in All India Radio, known for pioneering the broadcast, ‘Bhakthi Ranjani’. Dr. Krishna has been known to sing in various languages – including Tamil, Oriya, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and French. He was the National Artiste of India, a member of the Expert Advisory Committee at Music Academy and an Executive Committee Member of Kalakshetra Foundation, Indian Council for Cultural Research, and Central Sangeeth Natak Academy.

Dr. Krishna was a recipient of all three Padma Awards — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. His other accolades included an Award from Mother Teresa, Best Music Director National Award by the 34th National Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Award by Nungambakkam Cultural Academy, Yagnaraman Life-time Achievement Award, amongst numerous others.

Dr. Krishna passed away at his residence in Chennai on Tuesday, 22 November, 2016.