Lalgudi Trust

Lalgudi Trust is a charitable Trust that was founded by Shri Lalgudi G Jayaraman in 1979, and the Corpus of the Trust was funded mostly with his personal contributions. The primary objective of the Trust is to promote young talent (especially violinists) and to give deserving youngsters an opportunity to perform. Over the years, Lalgudi Trust has provided scholarships for the needy, gifted musical instruments to deserving and aspiring students, sponsored youth concerts in various venues all over India, and created endowments in leading Sabhas to award prizes to outstanding young Violinists.

The Trust, together with Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi’s Krutagnya Trust, conduct an annual event known as “Violin Vaibhavam”, hosting solo and duet performances by young violinists from different schools.

Since 2013, Lalgudi Trust has been conducting “Violin Wise”, a unique and first-of-its-kind workshop in the history of Carnatic Music. This wonderful workshop is held over a two-week period in Chennai, and brings together local violin craftsmen with one of the foremost western luthiers. Under the auspices of this workshop, Mr. James Wimmer, a passionate and expert Luthier from Santa Barbara, is brought to Chennai to impart his knowledge and skills to the local craftsmen free of cost. In addition, the Trust sponsors specialized tools as well as a stipend for the craftsmen who are chosen to attend the workshop. Through this initiative, and through the ongoing work of the graduates of this workshop, Lalgudi Trust is helping to raise the quality of instrument care for string instruments all over India.

The Trust has grown steadily from strength to strength over the years. Since the passing of Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman in 2013, the Trust has been under the stewardship of Shri Lalgudi Krishnan. Donations to the Trust are exempt under sec 80 G of the Income Tax Act.