BOSTON— With the 18th Annual LearnQuest Music Festival set for April 3–5, 2026, Festival Chair Shashank Nene offers a closer look at this year’s event in an accompanying video interview—sharing insights into the programming, featured artists, and what audiences can expect across the three-day celebration of Indian classical music.
The festival opens on Friday, April 3, at the Thomas Tull Concert Hall at MIT, followed by full-day performances on April 4 and 5 at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts. The format brings together an opening evening concert with an immersive weekend experience that spans both Hindustani and Carnatic traditions.
A Curated Musical Journey
In the interview, Nene describes this year’s festival as a carefully curated journey designed to balance depth, variety, and accessibility. Audiences can expect performances by leading artists alongside emerging talent, as well as thoughtfully structured sets that highlight both vocal and instrumental traditions.
The LearnQuest Music Festival remains one of the few platforms in the United States where the two major streams of Indian classical music are presented side by side.
Hindustani classical music, representing North India, is known for its improvisational style, expressive ragas, and intricate rhythmic interplay, often featuring instruments such as sitar, sarod, bansuri, and tabla.
Carnatic classical music, from South India, emphasizes composed forms alongside improvisation, with complex rhythmic frameworks and performances typically including violin, veena, mridangam, and kanjira.
Nene notes that this dual focus allows audiences to experience both contrast and continuity within India’s classical traditions—something that defines the festival’s identity.
A key highlight discussed in the interview is the diversity of this year’s artist lineup. While specific performances span a range of styles and generations, the programming is designed to create meaningful connections—between artists, between traditions, and with the audience.
In addition to solo recitals, attendees can expect collaborative performances and ensemble presentations that reflect both tradition and innovation.
Planning the Festival Experience
The interview also touches on the practical side of attending the festival. With events hosted at MIT in Cambridge and Regis College in Weston, organizers have focused on creating a seamless experience for audiences traveling across the Greater Boston area.
From scheduling to venue selection, the goal is to ensure that attendees can fully engage with the music in comfortable, acoustically rich settings.
Beyond the stage, Nene emphasizes the role of the festival as a meeting ground for the community—bringing together students, teachers, artists, and listeners in a shared cultural space.
Organized by LearnQuest Academy of Music, the festival continues to serve as a cornerstone event for Indian classical music in New England, drawing audiences from across the region and beyond.
Watch the full video interview with Festival Chair Shashank Nene for an inside look at this year’s lineup, programming highlights, and the vision behind the 2026 LearnQuest Music Festival.
AI Generated·May contain errors
The LearnQuest Music Festival really has a deep meaning for me because not only am I appreciating
the music or you know continuing to see new artists coming in because we make an effort
not only to have senior artists but to also have upcoming artists and the whole atmosphere you get
completely lost in it so it means something right here at least for me. People ask me what is my
message as a chair. What I want to remind people that LearnQuest is first and foremost a music
school and people want to have their children learn not only instrumental but vocal or you know
even dance related stuff. We're really looking forward to welcoming all of you to the LearnQuest
Festival. When I say this year it's not just this year. We try to maintain an ever-increasing
standard year from year. You are going to love the festival, the different genres of music,
the seniorities of artists that you are hard you know that are hard to find over here. You will
see those as well but you will see the upcoming artists. People that you will never get to hear
because they normally perform in India or somewhere else so we try to bring them here
to showcase them as well. This is something that is a completely unforgettable experience.
Not only the music but the fact that you meet people. Sometimes you meet them once a year only
because they come from so far away but this is something that people look forward to. This is an
Easter weekend. It's something that stays in the mind of all these music lovers we have in this
country. Welcome to India Newman News. Our guest today is Shashank Nene who is chair of 18th annual
LearnQuest Music Festival. We are going to talk to him what is new this year and some of the
logistics, how you can attend the event and have fun. Also it's a great networking opportunity as
well. So on that note Shashank, welcome to our studio. Thank you so much for having me. Sure
and we are looking forward. I have attended almost every year the music festival.
18 years is a long time so congratulations on that. Thank you. So what is new this year and
first give us a detail like when where. The LearnQuest festival in the more recent years
has always been held at the Regis College in Western. It is always held during the Easter
weekend. It makes it easier for people to come and attend. The whole objective of LearnQuest
is to make sure that we nurture, proliferate our classical music which has such a long and
rich tradition. Sure. So we want to make it accessible to everybody. We keep the ticket
prices very low so that even students or anybody like that can attend easily. So now talking about
the ticket prices, somebody can buy ticket for all the two, three days you have or just a single
Typically what we do is that tickets are either day tickets Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday
is a short day so tickets are less but Saturday, Sunday are full days or you can buy a season pass
for all three. Perfect. So both are available. We try to keep discounts for students, for seniors
and so on. We even have a family discount. So the idea is to get so as many people as we can
in there so that they can appreciate, learn, enjoy. That's the idea. And when is the event?
Event is on the third, fourth and fifth of April this year which is the Easter weekend. Easter
weekend. Okay. So what is new this year? Actually there are several things that are new this year.
One of the unique things is people have never heard of something called a surbahar.
A surbahar is something between the bridge between a sitar and a rudra veena. So that's
the kind of instrument it is and it's rare to see it or hear it. And what is rudra veena?
Rudra veena is a more deep resonant sounding veena that is part of the Indian classical scene
and this looks like a sitar but it is bigger, wider and so on. This year you'll hear a master
play both the sitar and the surbahar. So that's one of the new things. Another thing that's rare
to hear in the US is chennai. We have this year a jugalbandi with Karnataka violin and chennai. So
you'll get to hear both. So that's another thing. Percussion by itself is also there as part of this.
We have things like even the kanjira. So Hindustani as well as Karnataka percussion instruments
will be also doing a solo as part of this. Another new thing perhaps is what we are
looking for is togetherness and unity as part of the theme for this year. So we have two big
ensembles. These ensembles have not only Indian instruments and vocals but also western instruments
so we have that as a something that we've added and perhaps another new thing is
beyond the three traditional days we have one more day of a dance festival where you get to see
Odissi, Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam and Kathak all in one day by artists who are very prominent.
And these dancers are from local or from India? Two of them come from India, two of them come
across the states. So people who have established themselves in their own right. So it's a lot of
new things this year. A lot of new things this year. But the theme is all about inclusiveness
and togetherness which is what LearnQuest has always stood for. You never see LearnQuest here
by itself. We always try to bring in other local music organizations where we collaborate
and we get people in as much as possible. So we always do that. And now one thing I'm also
noticing that you keep mentioning Hindustani and Karnataka together. So there seems to be
there's a lot of collaboration or intermingling. It's more than that. It's more than that. It is perhaps
the only festival in the US and maybe even the world where Karnataka and Hindustani music is
equally represented. So we alternate one with the other. Everybody gets equal time and somebody who
comes like myself from the Hindustani side sometimes doesn't understand the Karnataka.
But over the years I cannot leave either. I have learned to appreciate both and we have so many
people in the audience who came from one side or the other and today enjoy both. And it's really
a unique event in that perspective. Actually I have noticed that when
Karnataka music is playing you have this whole totally different type of audience
totally immersed in the Karnataka. Oh absolutely yes. And the Hindustani can of course go anywhere
you know. But I'm glad that you know this type of intermingling of music is really taking
place here. Can you also talk about the logistics for example food etc. for people who come there.
There are many. I mean one of the first things is parking. Right. Okay. There is ample free
parking available at Regis College. Sure. So that's one of the nice things people appreciate
coming in. And it's free. It's free. It's free parking. And because the festival runs from you
know about 11 o'clock in the morning to almost 11 o'clock at night. We arrange breakfast, lunch
and dinner. You know we have vendors come in from notable restaurants etc. out here or caterers
and who will provide all these services. So people enjoy the unique. We try to keep it mixed so that
South Indian food, North Indian food and something from the East and West also figures. Sure. So we
you know like from the West you get sabudana khichdi which people love to eat for breakfast.
So we have that as well. Right. So that's on the food side the parking side. We also invite people
who are other kinds of vendors. People who are perhaps bringing CDs and recordings you know for
sale. We have people who bring in sweets from different parts of the country who sell those.
We have people who bring in Indian artifacts like you know dresses and stuff like that. Yeah I've
seen that a lot. Jewelries and clothes. People demand it. The audience love to see that happen
and they get huge business. So vendors are always trying to get in you know to see something like
this and see this kind of an audience who appreciates their wares. Now can you talk
about some of the artists? Sure. As I said from the Hindustani side let me start.
We have Shubha Tonar. We have Ashwini Shankar on the Shanghai. We have people like
disciples of Jasraj, Gautam Kale. So Pihu Mukherjee. We have her. So we have a lot of people from the
Hindustani side. Let me mention a few from the Karnataka side. We have Sudha Raghunathan. We have
Gayatri Venkat Raghavan. We have the two young sisters Anahita and Apurva. They are singing.
VVS Murali on the violin. So we have a whole bunch of people from both sides plus the two ensembles
which have mix of both. Often we have Jugalbandis between Karnataka and Hindustani as well. So
there's a couple of those. So tell us about the ambience at the festival. That is something that
also is something that is unique. I don't think there is any stage in any local festival here
where you will see the stage in its splendor the way you see at Lund Quest and the ambience
outside where people meet. You know people, artists as well as audience, they appreciate it so much
that they make it a point to come between shows or after the show to come and take their picture
in front of the stage. And artists have sent us with their picture later on saying that,
oh my god, we really love this. And they want to meet the designer and so on. So they do that as
well. So that unique ambience that we have at Lund Quest is something that people have
really appreciated. One of the best things I like is that I go there every year and then you know
you meet all these people who have not seen in so many years. You have plenty of private time.
You are just sitting having lunch or dinner or breakfast with them and it provides a really
great networking and meeting people who have not seen in a long time. It does. We have people who
come not only locally but from the surrounding states. We have people coming from Connecticut.
We have people coming from New Hampshire and Vermont. But we also have people coming from as
far as North Carolina, from Texas, from Georgia, Washington D.C. area. So we have those as well.
We even have had people coming from California. Excellent. On that note,
Sasank, thank you so much. Thank you very much. And we'll see you at the event.
Absolutely. We'll hope to see all of you here at the event.
