Maestro Debashish Chaudhuri living in the Czech Republic, awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bhartiya Samman 2021 for Art & Culture

The Honorary Consulate of the Czech Republic in Chennai is happy to note that the famous Indian music conductor Maestro Debashish Chaudhuri living in the Czech Republic, has been awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bhartiya Samman 2021 for Art & Culture by the President of India, Hon'ble Shri. Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday, Jan 9, 2021.

Debashish Chaudhuri is an Indian symphonic conductor of Western classical music living in the Czech Republic since 2000. He serves on the governing body of The Antonín Dvořák Music Festival and is part of PETROF ART Family. In 2006 he initiated a special annual concert for The Lions Club Bohemia, honoring visually handicapped people, which he conducted for 10 seasons. Among many others, he invited soloists like Václav Hudeček, Igor Ardašev, Jana Chaudhuri and Pavel Sporcl.

His passion for the search of symphonic music that is either inspired by India and Asia or written by Asian composers has enabled him to premiere several original works. He was invited by the Indian Ambassador in 2012 to conduct a special symphonic concert for 150th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore as well as a symphonic concert for 150th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda one year later. The Namaste India philharmonic project he envisaged in 2013 brought together the sitar and the table as solo instruments with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra in addition to the Czech premiere of John Mayer's Shiva Nataraj.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Overseas Indian Honour/Award) is an award constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-Resident Indian Day), to honour exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen field/profession. Since 2016, the Government of India has doubled the number of awardees each year to 30 after a decision to grant the award once every two years.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed on Jan 9th by the Republic of India to Mark the contribution of the Overseas Indian community towards the development of India. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on Jan 9, 1915.

On this occasion, H.E. Mr. Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India, said: "Congratulations to the Maestro from the bottom of my heart! Debashish Chaudhuri is not only a great artist, but also an outstanding human being and a great son of his country who embodies the best that India has to offer. To this day, many in India remember two great concert tours of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic in 2016 and 2018 organized by the Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi, the third of which was planned for 2020 but prevented by a coronavirus pandemic. Dear Debashish, congratulations and thank you for all you have done to promote friendship between our two great nations!"