Mumbai's Ganeshotsav to host week-long classical music festival
Maharashtra's Cultural Affairs department is hosting a week-long classical music festival at Prabhadevi's Ravindra Natya Mandir as part of Ganeshotsav.
With Ganeshotsav now given the status of a "state festival", Mumbai will for the first time host a special classical music festival to mark the occasion. The Directorate of Cultural Affairs, under Maharashtra's Department of Cultural Affairs, has organised the "Ganeshotsav 2026 Classical Music Festival". The week-long festival will run from September 17 to 24, 2026, at the mini theatre of Ravindra Natya Mandir in Prabhadevi.
Starting at 6:30 pm every evening, the festival will feature several well-known artists performing vocal and instrumental music. The aim behind the event is to preserve the old tradition of classical music, take it forward, and bring it to the new generation.
On the first day, September 17, Subhadra Desai will perform vocals, with S. Akash and Mehtab Ali Niyazi presenting a flute-sitar duet. On September 18, Swar Sharma and Anuja Jhokarkar will sing, while September 19 will see a vocal recital by Nupur Gadgil and Nagesh Adgaonkar.
On September 20, Mrinalini Desai will play the rudra veena and Gandhar Deshpande will perform vocals. On September 21, Yajnesh Raikar will play the violin and Prajakta Marathe will sing. On September 22, Dhananjay Hegde's vocal recital will be accompanied by the tabla-pakhawaj duo of Yashwant Vaishnav and Sukhad Munde. On September 23, Vinay Ramdasan will perform vocals and Abhishek Borkar will play the sarod. On the festival's last day, September 24, Kedar Kelkar's vocal performance will be accompanied by a duet from Apoorva Gokhale and Pallavi Joshi.
Earlier, Mumbai's public Ganeshotsav mandals used to host large-scale events such as classical vocal and instrumental recitals, natyasangeet, bhavasangeet and lecture series. Between 1960 and 1980, ordinary music lovers got the chance to hear major artists on the occasion of the festival. But later, with the growing dominance of film music, orchestras and DJs, classical music at Ganeshotsav declined. Now, after the state festival status was granted, this festival is an attempt to revive that old tradition.
The festival will be anchored by Rani Varma, while its planning and curation has been done by Shashi Vyas, director and founder of Pancham Nishad. The cultural event is being held on the initiative of Advocate Ashish Shelar, Minister for Cultural Affairs, Electronics, Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence, and under the supervision of Dr. Kiran Kulkarni, Secretary of the Department of Cultural Affairs.
Entry to the "Ganeshotsav 2026 Classical Music Festival" is completely free. Prashant Khedekar, Director of the Directorate of Cultural Affairs, has appealed to music lovers in Mumbai and nearby areas to come in large numbers and enjoy the week-long music festival.
