Sangeetham is AFA’s youth-centered music program, bringing young artists together through performance, competition, workshops, ensemble work and collaborative creation.
The annual gathering is the centerpiece, but not the endpoint.
Participants can move from learning and experimentation into performance opportunities across AFA’s season, with competition winners and advanced performers considered for future concert slots, including subsequent editions of Sangeetham.
Meaningful Development
This signature Carnatic program and festival was created to give young artists meaningful experience beyond the lesson room.
Across two days, students and emerging artists share the program with local ensembles, teachers and visiting professional musicians. Performances sit alongside collective music-making and specially curated presentations, giving participants the chance to prepare seriously, hear one another, encounter different approaches to the form and perform for a live audience.
Learning becomes performance.
Regular training builds technique and repertoire. Performing in a festival asks for something different: preparation, listening, pacing, collaboration and the confidence to share work with an audience. Sangeetham creates space for that next step while placing young musicians within a wider artistic community.
PERFORM
Student recitals, ensemble work, senior youth slots and selected presentations.
LEARN
Workshops, guided sessions and opportunities to work with visiting and local artists.
CREATE
Composition, arrangement, improvisation and projects built with other young musicians.
COMPETE
A music competition built around both traditional musicianship and inventive collaborative work.
CHOIR
The Choir: a large collective performance experience for students at different stages of training.
Current Edition
Sangeetham 2027
Details will be announced soon
more
than one way
to be a
musician
The Music Competition
The Sangeetham Music Competition gives young musicians space to demonstrate not only performance skill, but musical thinking, collaboration and imagination.
Alongside traditional performance categories, students are encouraged to compose, improvise, arrange music and build projects with one another.
Age ranges & requirements differ based on the category
- Look at each category in depth
- Refer to our FAQ section
- Reach out to a member of our team with questions anytime
Classical Performance
Solo performance within established repertoire.
Ragam–Tanam–Pallavi
Improvisation, structure and advanced musicianship.
Composition
Original musical work & new arrangements of set competition pieces.
Ensemble / Orchestra
Collaborative performance and arrangement.
Fusion / Cross-Genre
Projects that bring traditional practice into dialogue with other musical languages.
Find someone
build something
We encourage young artists to be creative.
Pair up with another musician. Form an ensemble. Write something. Rework something.
Build a project that pushes you outside your comfort zone.
Workshops
Learn from the artists around you.
Workshops may involve visiting artists, teachers, repertoire, musicianship, improvisation, and performance preparation.
The Choir
A shared ensemble for singers at different stages of training.
The Sangeetham Choir is a non-competitive group-singing experience centered on repertoire, rehearsal and collective musical expression. Participants learn together across different levels of experience and come together as an ensemble for the festival.
Repertoire includes Carnatic kritis, Thiruppugazh and specially arranged compositions for group singing. The emphasis is not on individual competition, but on listening, collaboration and the experience of building a performance together.
Participants should be prepared to attend rehearsals consistently and have the basic musical readiness needed to work within the ensemble.
The performance does not have to end here.
Sangeetham is designed as part of a longer pathway. Competition winners and advanced youth musicians may be invited to perform within AFA programming throughout the year, with selected artists returning for future editions of Sangeetham. The goal is to give developing musicians repeated opportunities to prepare, perform, be heard and keep growing.
If you are a advanced youth or senior artist, please reach out to us directly for other opportunities throughout the year.
Applications are welcome from individual local performers, students and emerging artists, music schools, group ensembles and choirs.
Applicants are asked to submit a sample audio recording. When shaping the festival, AFA considers musical preparedness, performance level, the balance of the overall program and the stage time available across the festival.
Because Sangeetham brings together many performers, not every applicant can be accommodated and requested performance times or durations cannot be guaranteed. Music schools are encouraged to propose cohesive group presentations where appropriate; individual student applications remain welcome.
Final programming and scheduling are determined by Abhinay Fine Arts.
Have more questions?
Please contact us directly for additional details.
FROM SANGEETHAM