Biography
Since the age of 19, Vidur has taken Sitar lessons from Ustad Usman Khan of Beenkar Gharana for 20 years followed by 2 years training under Ustad Shahid Parvez. He had the fortune to take guidance from the legendary vocalist Ganasaraswati Padmavibhushan Kishori Amonkar for 2 years in his 25 years of schooling in Indian Classical Music. Since 1990, Vidur
has been performing all over India as well as abroad claiming more than a few hundred concerts to his credit.
Vidur designed a program that relates Music and Team Building and has received appreciation for the same by many corporate organizations. In collaboration with A.E.E (Association for Experiential Education), the project was presented in regional conferences held in the United States of America in 2008.
An organization called Play for Peace was founded in Chicago on April 8 th 2008 and the inauguration ceremony consisted of Vidur’s Sitar Concert.
Every Tuesday, Vidur performed in Kaivalyadham, a Yoga Institute in Lonavala, for a span of two years during 2009–2011, where he implemented his concept of Meditation with Sitar, which had an overwhelming response. Due to an immense success of Vidur’s concept of Meditation with Sitar, this project has resumed again at Kaivalyadham since May 2016 and Vidur performs on every alternate Saturday at Kaivalyadham, Lonawala.
Under the project ‘Taking Raga Music to Rural India’, Vidur has completed over 166 concerts in 15 districts of Maharashtra, viz., Satara, Solapur, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Pune, Nanded, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nashik, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Akola and Amravati and Sindhudurg since September 2013. He has reached to more than 100000 school children and 25000 villagers. The project introduces and demonstrates Indian Raga Music on Sitar through very innnovative ways to the school children and people in rural India. The response to this project has been overwhelming and it is scheduled to roar ahead. Perhaps he is the only musician, who has done such kind of work across the country.
Vidur has composed music for Marathi drama named ‘Andhaar Kaid’. He has also participated as a musician in a story narration program conceptulized by a famous Marathi film personality Shri. Girish Kulkarni and Shri. Umesh Kulkarni.
Vidur is also appointed as the Member, Board of Studies for Performing Arts, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra.
An artist, author, thinker, he dreams of having his own school of residential music in Talegaon, where he lives with his wife Aparna, teaching as well as carrying her research in English Literature, whereas daughter Neha, a student of Sitar, Philosophy and Theater, who has also acted in a few films.
He was the director of Sling Flexi Cartons Pvt. Ltd, from 1983 to 2008. While running the industry, he fought against corruption and several bureaucrats were suspended. He received ‘Red and White Bravery Award’ in recognition of his exceptional act of social courage in 1997. At a young age, he won the second prize in an instrumental music competition held in Sangli, Maharashtra, in 1992. Also noteworthy is his first prize in the National level Instrumental Music competition held in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, in 1994. Since 1985, he is the chairman of Shriranga Kalaniketan, an organization that promotes Indian Classical Music.
Vidur wrote a book titled ‘Maitra Jeevache’, elaborating his views on music, life, death, human relationships and other complexities of human mind, published by Granthali, a prestigious Marathi Publication House in Mumbai in 2009. This book received Best Literature Award in 2010 by Govt. of Maharashtra and another state level literature award “Vairagya Mahamaru Vangmaydeep Puraskar” in 2011.
In his second book ‘Shodhyatra’, he has narrated all his stories of how he fought against corruption in the bureaucratic system. In his tenure of 25 years of his entrepreneurship, Vidur never paid a single paisa bribe and because of him, 9 government officials were either suspended
or transferred from their job. Shodhyatra, the second book received 3 state level best literature awards, from different parts of the state, viz., Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur and Sangamner.
Recently, Vidur has published his third book, viz., ‘Eka Swarvedyachi Anandyatra’, through which he narrates about his own journey from a musically enthusiastic kid to a Sitar performer. His experience as a student of music under three different Gurus around 24 years had a deep impact on his musical journey. His inspirational story of connecting people, maintaining their relations through Music has been discussed in the book. His struggle towards becoming a complete artist
described in the book can be role model for a common person pursuing music as a career.
Vidur’s poetry published as a fourth book entitled ‘Greeshma’ refelects his philosophical understanding of life, death, human relationships and also nature. The pecularity of this book is that internationally aclaimed water color artist Shri Milind Mulik has collaborated with him in making the book a unique combination of poetry and paintings.
Vidur has been teaching Music since 2006. He has formed ‘Harmony School of Sitar’ in Pune, where he teaches Sitar to students from India as well as visiting students from abroad. The school also provides a residential facility for international students. Vidur has also contributed in forming a syllabus for diploma, degree and postgraduate courses in Music for ‘Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth – a deemed university’. He was on the panel for syllabus formation along with other eminent musicians like Pt. Arwind Thatte, Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Smt. Shruti Sadolikar, to name the few.
He has also written several articles in Marathi daily newspapers and which were widely appreciated.
Below is a list of few of his prestigious concerts.
Concerts in India:
1989, First Public Concert in Pune, Maharashtra
1993, Mahesh Yogi Foundation, Delhi
1994, National Center for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai
1995, Yashwantrao Chavan Sabhagruha, Mumbai
2000, Vedh Sur Sammelan, Thane
2003, Vasantrao Deshpande Foundation Sammelan, Chinchwad
2005, Raichur Music Festival, Karnataka
2007, Kala Academy, Goa
2009, Panvel Cultural Academy
2009, Gunijaan Festival, Mumbai, RavindraNatya Mandir
2009, Swarmauli, Mumbai
2009, Gadag Music Festival, Karnataka
2010, Sawai Gandharva Festival, Kundgol
2010, Government of Maharashtra’s cultural festival, Mumbai, a trio program of sitar, violin and shehnai titled ‘Harmony’, conceptualized by Vidur
2011, Lokaranga Cultural Festival, organized by Maharashtra State Gov. Cultural Ministry, Kalidas Auditorium, Nasik
2011, Ruturanga, Aurangabad, organized by Aurangabad Municipal Corporation and Rotary Club in CIDCO Auditorium
2011, Pt. Umashankar Mishra Memorial Concert, Indore (Madhya Pradesh)
2012, Concert at Gayatri Tapobhumi, Tadas, near Hubli, Karnataka.
2012, Delhi IIT Golden Jubilee occasion concert
2013, Chennai tour (5 concerts)
2013/14, Project "Taking Raga music to rural India" (30 concerts)
2015, Nehru Auditorium, Pune
2015, Savitribai Phule Auditorium, Pune
2016, Sane Guruji Vidyalaya Auditorium, Dadar, Mumbai
2017, KSG-Jülich, Germany
2017, KSG-Mönchengladbach, Germany
2018, Eisenstadt, Vienna, Austria
Concerts out of India:
2008 USA Concert Tour: Chicago, Seattle, Boston, New Hampshire.
2011 USA Concert Tour: SanFransico, Los Angeles (California), Lecture Demonstration in UCI (University of California, Irvine) organized by SpicMacay and UCI Music Dept.
2010 Europe Concert Tour: Paris, Strasbourg (France), Geneve (Switzerland)
2011 USA Concert Tour: SanFransico, Los Angeles (California), Lecture Demonstration in UCI (University of California, Irvine) organized by SpicMacay and UCI Music Dept.
2011 East Europe Concert Tour: Plodiv, Burgas, Pamporovo, Sofia (Bulgaria)
2015, Fremont, San Fransisco, USA
2016, United Kingdom Concert Tour
2017, Concert tour, Germany
2018, Vienna-Austria
