On October 29, 2006, OS Arun (Vocal), Melakkaveri Thyagarajan (violin), A. V. Manikandan (mridangam) and A. Kiran Kumar (tabla) came to Wong Auditorium at MIT to entertain a room filled with music lovers.  The event was a MITHAS presentation.

O.S.Arun has created a niche for himself in the arena of classical music. In addition to the traditional compositions he also presents compositions of Surdas, Tulasidas and others in a unique fashion.

The concert opened with a Balamurali Krishna Varnam,  Amma Ananda Dhaayini in  Gambeera Nattai. Bhavam is very central to O.S.Arun’s presentations and the Bhakti Bhava was evident in this presentation. He followed with two heavy weight compositions of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Vathapi Ganapathim in Hamsadhwani and Akhilandeswari in Dwijavanthi that clearly showed his mastery over the traditional carnatic music repertoire.

He continued with a brisk rendition of the Thyagaraja krithi Niravathi Sukhada in Ravichadrika. The high speed sangithis were fun to listen. Entharo Mahanubhavulu in Shri ragam and Ramanukku Mannan Mudi in Hindolam followed.

 At this point O.S Arun switched gears moved into a Bhajan mode. He presented the evergreen Tulasidas composition - Shri Ramachandra Kripalu and followed this with a Sai Bhajan Janani Kripa Karo Ambe . A tamil composition in Kuntalavarali Kandavarku Kanavilum was very entertaining. He had unique and unfamiliar style for the rendition of Chandana Charchitha (Geeta Govindam) in Brindavana Saranga.

 Vatsalya Bhakti was central to his next presentation which was a Soordas composition Meri Maai Aiso Hati. The Vatsalya theme continued with dancers favorite number Jagadhodharana in  Kapi by Purandaradasa.

 Yet another unusual presentation was the rendition of  Dhikkugal Ettum  a Subramanya Bharathi composition brought to life some of nature’s sounds. He ended with Govinda Madhava and Shyam Thori Murali  in Sivaranjani

OS Arun clearly said that the second half of the concert was not light classical but "more classical music, for compositions of great Saints can never be light”. The audience responded to his remarks with great applause and passed on many requests to the stage. Overall, the concert structure was designed tooptimize the devotional aspect of the songs and please a wide variety of music lovers. Judging by the audience's enthusiasm, the concert was a great success.

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