India Post News Service

CHICAGO: Two of the major talents of India, famed Kathak dancer Pandit Birju Maharaj and tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, will perform together Friday June 13 at 7:30 pm at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Millennium Park, in Chicago Downtown.

Presented by the Anila Sinha Foundation, which supports the teaching and promotion of Kathak, in collaboration with the International House, University of Chicago, Birju Maharaj will also give a Kathak workshop on Saturday June 14.

Birju Maharaj has long been internationally recognized as the greatest living exponent of Kathak, the North Indian classical dance style known for its elegance and grace as well as fast rhythmic footwork and dizzying spins.

Beata Gordon, Director of the Performing Arts Department of the Asia Society, New York, wrote, "Birju Maharaj is in the class of the great western performers such as Baryshnikov, Margot Fonteyn, Martha Graham and Merce Cumingham. He is a phenomenon."

Ustad Zakir Hussain is known internationally for a variety of musical skills. Starting as a child prodigy in India, he developed into a percussion virtuoso of the highest order on tabla. His masterful improvisational dexterity made him the favorite accompanist for many of its greatest classical musicians and dancers.

Zakir has gained worldwide fame with historic collaborations, recordings, and performances with artists as diverse as John McLaughlin, L. Shankar, Mickey Hart, Bill Laswell, and YoYo Ma. Among accompanying artists is Ms Saswati Sen who is one of the foremost disciples of the legendary Kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj.

A live orchestra will consist of internationally known sarangi player Pandit Ramesh Misra, sitar player Chandrachur Bhattacharjee, and tabla artist Utpal Ghoshal. This program is partially supported by the Governor's International Arts Exchange Program of the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.