Melharmony

Melharmony made an impact right from its infancy in the year 2000, when the BBC Magazine ran a cover story titled "BBC Melharmonic" highlighting the collaboration between Chitravina N Ravikiran and artistes of the BBC Philharmonic, at the Millennium Festival in UK.   Their concerts were voted to be among the Top Five out of 2000 events that year and the artistes were invited for an encore at the Tate Modern, London.

 

On Musicians & Composers

 

Since then, there have been numerous melharmonic concerts in various countries including USA, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium and India, featuring artistes from diverse cultures such as Glen Velez, Lori Cotler, George Brooks, Jovino Santos Neto, Prof Trichy Sankaran and many others.  The concept of Melharmony has also inspired and influenced composers such as Robert Morris and Polivios Issariotis, as can be seen in the short video.  

 

Melharmony in Schools and Colleges 

 

The Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester was the first to offer a College Credit Course on Melharmony in Aug 2015 presented by Prof Robert Morries and Ravikiran.  

 

Melharmony has been introduced in several US School Districts such as Middleton High School, Brookfield Academy, Milwaukee, Memorial High School, Glacier Creek Middle School, Cross Plains, Northside Elementary School, Middleton, WI, Sun Priarie, WI, HSPVA Houston and Ridgeview School, Round Rock (Austin), TX through orchstral compositions or lecture demonstrations. 

 

On Scholars and Musicologists 

 

Prof Robert Morris was not only the first to perceive the scope of Melharmony but also responsible for sharing his perspectives in international conferences through papers such as: 'Ravikiran's concept of Melharmony: an inquiry into Harmony in South Indian Ragas' at The Society for Music Theory Conference, Boston, in Nov 2005, along with Ravikiran, which was also published in the Spectrum Journal.

 

Papers and lectures on Melharmony have been presented by Steve Kurr in "Compositions of Asia" Symposium  in University of South Florida in Jan 2015 and by Ravikiran in conferences in Amsterdam and Bombay and institutions such as Eastman School of Music, NY and MIT, Boston. 

 

In 2013, the City of Middleton (WI, USA) decreed that the 3rd Saturday of every November be celebrated as Melharmony Day.