Tirupati is gearing up for the ‘81st Annual Festival of Music and Dance’, an annual event conducted by ‘Tirupati Sri Thyagaraja Swamy Cultural Trust’, from August 1 to 5.

TTD’s Executive Officer M. Ravichandra, who is also the ex-officio president of the festival committee, will formally unveil the portrait of late M. Krishnaswami, the former chairman of the cultural trust as part of his centenary celebrations on August 1. Former Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy will screen a short documentary on the centenarian.

Addressing a media conference here on Thursday, the trust’s executive chairman K.V. Mohan Sundaram and honorary secretary Kanchi Raghuramaiah said that the annual ‘Sapthagiri Sangeetha Vidwanmani’ title would be conferred this year on Srimushnam V. Raja Rao.

The impressive line-up of musicians for the five-day festival includes vocalists Nithyasree Mahadevan, Pantula Rama, Sunil Gargeyan, Anuvratha Narasimhan, Neyveli Radhakrishnan (double violin), among others.