Ellora Ajanta festival to be held from Nov 24 to 27

Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Nov 6 (UNI) Music maestro Pt Shivkumar Sharma, music composer Shankar Mahadevan, classical vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan, cine actress Shobana and Gazal singer Pinaz Masani will perform during this year's four-day Ellora-Ajantha Festival will begin here from November 24.

Addressing a news conference here today, Divisional Commissioner and Chairman of the festival committee, Mr Sanjay Kumar said besides the stalwart artistes from the Indian Music, renowned Kathak dancer and TV anchor Aditee Bhagwat and Anuradha Shinde will also perform with their troupe during the festival.

The Ellora-Ajanta Festival, which is being held here to promote tourism to this historic city, popular across the world for the fifth century caves at Ellora and Ajanta. The event has been organised by the Ellora-Ajanta Festival Aurangabad Committee in association with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC).

As per the schedule of the event, Ustad Rashid Khan and Shobana will peform on the inaugural day, while Anuradha Shinde and her troupe will present 'Aparajita', a ballet, the next day followed by Pt Shivkumar Sharma's santoor peformance and a popular Marathi sugam sangeet programme titled 'Nakshatranche Dene.' Ghazal singer Pinaz Masani, Adittee Bhagwat and 'Silk'-Shankar Mahadevan will perform on November 26.

Local artists will perform on the last day of the event, November 27.

Union Tourism Development Minister Ambika Soni will inaugurate the event. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Tourism and Rural Development Minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, Industry Minister Ashok Chavan, Co-operative Minister Patangrao Kadam would be the chief guests at the inaugural event, scheduled to be held at the 'Soneri Mahal.' As a part of preparations for the event a curtain raiser programme has been organised on November 11-12 followed by various competitons and cultural programmes.

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