VHI’s annual classical music festival returns to Long Island

Team@Lotus

Sep 21, 2026

Vedic Heritage Inc’s 44th Annual Indian Classical Music Program on October 24 in Hempstead, New York, will feature renowned artists such as Rahul Deshpande, Tejas, and Rajas Upadhye to celebrate music, heritage, and spirituality.

Voices

𑁍 Art & Music

The musical evening will see performances by vocalist Rahul Deshpande and Tabla player Amit Kavthekar, among others.

Music transcends the boundaries of religion, caste, and culture and creates harmony. Celebrating this universal and spiritual dimension of music, Vedic Heritage Inc. (VHI) will host the 44th edition of its Annual Indian Classical Music Program on October 24 at the Pandit Jasraj Auditorium in Hempstead, on Long Island, New York.

The evening will bring together acclaimed names from classical music—vocalist Rahul Deshpande, violinists Tejas & Rajas Upadhye, harmonium player Milind Kulkarni, and tabla player Amit Kavthekar—to create an atmosphere of musical divinity.

Hosted by Renu Jain, the program will also feature a fundraiser to support VHI’s Brick by Brick renovation project, followed by a gala dinner.

Parvatyacharya GuruMaa Jyotishanand Saraswati, founder of Vedic Heritage Inc and Hanuman Madnir, started the annual cultural event to bring the richness of India’s classical music to foreign shores.

This annual event was initiated in 1982 by Parvatyacharya GuruMaa Jyotishanand Saraswati, who founded VHI in 1979. GuruMaa would bring some of India’s best classical musicians and dancers to New York, creating a platform for audiences to experience the richness of India’s classical music. The tradition continues.

Held annually in October/November, the Dipawali Classical Music & Arts festival celebrates enduring Indian classical music and dance by bringing together art, culture, and spirituality under one roof.

The violinist duo Tejas and Rajas Upadhye are also set to captivate audiences with their performance at the event.

In over four decades, the festival has hosted an impressive line-up of Indian classical music and dance legends, including Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj, Vidushi Girija Devi, Ashwini Bhide, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Aarti Ankalikar, L. Subramaniam, Pandit Vikku Vinayak, Kishan Maharaj, Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, Sonal Mansingh, Mallika Sarabhai, Sudha Chandran, and Madhavi Mudgal.

VHI was founded to promote Vedic values, spirituality, and Indian culture in the United States. Inspired by her devotion to Hanumanji, GuruMaa envisioned Vedic Heritage as a space that could meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the Indian-American community.

For those who cherish their traditions and culture while living far from their homeland, the evening offers an opportunity to reconnect with the sounds, spirit, and heritage of India.

To buy tickets for the musical program, click on QR code in the flyer below