K.K. Murthy Memorial Chowdiah Award was instituted by the Academy of Music in Bengaluru, in honour of K.K. Murthy, founder of the Chowdiah Memorial Hall, the internationally reputed violin-shaped auditorium in Bengaluru built in honour of T. Chowdiah the legendary musician from Mysore.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh, a citation, a memento and a shawl. The award was earlier known as “Academy of Music Chowdiah Award” but after the demise of K.K. Murthy, in commemoration of his yeoman service, these awards were rechristened as ‘Sri K.K. Murthy Memorial Chowdiah Awards’.
The Academy of Music also organises an annual Sri K.K Murthy Memorial Music Festival alongside the award ceremony.
The past recipients of the award include:
2008: Nedunuri Krishna Murthy and Prof R Vishwesharan
2009: Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath
2010: Pandit Jasraj and Nagamani Srinath
2011: Padma Bhushan Madurai T N Seshagopalan and Rudrapatnam Brothers R N Thyagarajan and Dr. R. N. Tharanathan
2012: T.K.Murthy
2013: Padma Bhushan Ustaad Rashid Khan and Smt. M.S.Sheela
2014: Pandit M. Venkatesh Kumar
2015: Padma Bhushan Vidhushi Smt.Sudha Raghunath
2016: Vidwan Ganesh Rajagopalan & Vidwan Kumaresh Rajagopalan
2017: Pt. Pravin Godkhindi
2019-20: Pt. Narasimhalu Vadavati, a Raichur-based Hindustani musician,
2022-23: Vocalist sisters Ranjani and Gayatri