
He passed away in the early hours of this morning. He was 82. He was admitted to a city hospital following complaints of breathlessness last evening.
Hailing from the Parur lineage, he was fondly referred to as MSG in music circles. He was a recipient of Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. He was also conferred the Sangita Kalanidhi title by The Music Academy. He is survived by his wife Meenakshi; daughter violinist M. Narmadha; violinist-son Suresh and daughter Latha.
Gopalakrishnan was taught violin by his father, the late Parur Sundaram Iyer, who was well-versed in North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) systems of Indian classical music. He learnt both systems from his father.
Titles & awards
- 1960 Violin Vadhya Samrat - Bombay Sivananda Ashram, India
- 1975 Padmashri - Government of India
- 1976 Violin Vadhya Chakravarthy - NewYork, U.S.A
- 1978 Kalaimamani - Govt. of Tamil Nadu, India
- 1979 Kerala Sangeetha Nataka academy award, India
- 1980 T.Chowdiah award - Karnataka, India
- 1982 Central Sangeetha Nataka Academy award, India
- 1997 Sapathagiri Sangeetha Vidwanmani - Thirupathi Devasthanam, India
- 1998 Sangeetha Kalanidhi - Madras Music Academy, Chennai, India
- 2012 Padma Bhushan - Government of India