Pandit Vinayak Torvi to receive Sangeetha Vidwan award

Mysuru: The State government has decided to present this year's Sangeetha Vidwan award to noted classical vocalist Pandit Vinayak Torvi, during the inaugural ceremony of Dasara cultural programmes in front of Mysuru Palace on Saturday evening. He is known for "Gwalior" and "Kirana" gharana singing styles

Born on September 4, 1948 at Ranebennur in Karnataka, he developed passion for music from his father Mr Malharrao Torvi who was a Harikatha exponent. He started learning music at the age of 9 under Tammanna Gurav and Narayanacharya.

Later, he received training in Hindustani classical vocal music from noted musicians including Guru Rao Deshpande and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. And he even received further training from famous musicians Gangubai Hanagal, Mallikarjun Mansur, Basavaraj Rajguru during his PG studies in music at Karnatak University, Dharwad. He pursued his bachelors and PG degrees in music in 1970s.

He started performing concerts in 1960s and he even became A grade artist at All India Radio in 1976. He has performed concerts across India and in USA, England, Australia, etc. He is the recipient of Rajyotsava award in 1990.