The forty-eighth year Art festival of the Mylapore Fine Arts club, one of the premium music clubs of Chennai prides itself by honouring the doyen of Carnatic violinist, Shri M.S. Anantharaman. "Sangeetha Kala Nipuna" will be one of the many titles Shri. Anantharaman has been conferred upon during the span of his sixty-four years of performance.

Born on 26^th August 1924, Shri.Anantharaman had his musical training under his father Guru Prof. Parur A. Sundaram Iyer. His first performance was at the tender age of seven at Sri Thyagaraja Vidwat Samajam, Mylapore. Over a period of six decades, Shri Anantharaman has accompanied all the stalwarts of Carnatic music - Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Sri.G.N. Balasubramanian, Sri. Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Smt..D.K. Pattammal, Sri. Maharajapuram Santhanam, Sri.K.V.Narayanaswami, just to name a few.

Shri Anantharaman has also acquired formal training in Hindustani music from his father and has accompanied Hindustani stalwarts like Pt. Omkarnath Takur, Pt. Vinayakrao Patwardhan and many others. Besides performing as an accompanist, he has also given many solo and duet concerts along with his father and brother, Sri. M.S. Gopalakrishnan. Sri. Anantharaman and Sri. Gopalakrishnan have performed a violin duet concert in the Royal Palace of Nepal, as a special invitee of the King.

Sri. Anantharaman’s domain in the realm of Carnatic music does not just rest with India alone. His music has enraptured audience all over the world — USA, Canada, UK. London, Malaysia , Singapore and Sri Lanka. He was commissioned to teach and perform in the USA by the authorities of the Sri.Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh, where he is the ‘Asthana Vidwan’. He is also the ‘Asthana Vidwan’ of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti matam.

Sri Anantharaman’s concerts for the Radio started even before the A.I.R. came into vogue. He had his first radio broadcast as early as 1937 in the Corporation of Madras Radio. He is still performing for the A.I.R. and has been an ‘A top’ grade artiste since March 1996. A Mathematics graduate of the Madras University, Shri. Anantharaman focussed his attention more on the learning and teaching of music. He took his diploma in violin in 1946 and served as a Professor of violin in the Tamil Nadu Government Music College for over 21 years. The Government of Tamilnadu conferred upon him the title of ‘Kalaimamani’ in recognition of his undaunted and devoted service to Music. Sri. Anantharaman still continues to teach music and has students from all over the world.