chennai hcl concerts and rhapsody music foundation have launched carnatic quest junior to identify gifted carnatic musicians aged 12 to 18 years the talent hunt is for musicians in five categories carnatic vocal veena violin flute and percussion instruments mridangam ghatam and kanjeera winners will get opportunities to showcase their talent to millions of music enthusiasts through the hcl concerts platform as well as the hcl music mobile app aspiring artists from across the country can send their entries in the five categories at till november 30 2021 there is no application fee to participate in the contestentries for each round will be evaluated by senior carnatic music performers including vocalists ranjani and gayathri violinist g j r krishnan veena maestro jayanthi kumaresh flautist j a jayanth and percussionist b c manjunath along with the rhapsody music foundation the shortlisted musicians will be invited to submit entries for the next roundafter three rounds of evaluating and shortlisting the most talented artists three winners from vocals and one each from the veena violin flute and percussion categories will be announcedidentifying and nurturing the nextgeneration talent and offering them an opportunity to showcase their talent to our broad audience base is crucial as we believe that the future for these youngsters is bright especially with the onset of the digital music scene said sundar mahalingam president strategy hcl corporationanil srinivasan classical pianist kalaimamani award recipient and founder of rhapsody music foundation said carnatic music is considered one of the oldest systems of music in the world and india is known on the global stage for its musical talent especially the ancient art forms carnatic quest junior will identify young talent from across india and provide them a stage that is global in reach and scale