Inaugurations to date

Year	Inaugurated by	Brief intro
1981	Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer	Youngest Sangeethakalanidhi. Gurus were cousin Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Iyer, Thiruvadaimaruthur Sakharama Rao. His disciples include Pala C. K. Ramachandran, Kumara Kerala Verma, K. R. Kedaranathan, T. M. Krishna
1982	H Ramachandra Shastry	Flute vidwan, teacher at Kalakshetra Chennai, Tirupati music college. His guru was Palladam Sanjeeva Rao.
1983	C. S. Krishna Iyer	Sangeetakalacharya. Musicologist, teacher at Chembai college and Swati music college. Tuned the Maharaja’s compositions. His gurus were Ponniah Pillai and Sabeshaiyer.
1984	S. Ramanathan	Musicologist, composer and a teacher with a vast number of accomplished disciples.
1985	Dr. T. K. Moorthy	Sangeethakalanidhi. Mridangist who has accompanied artistes from Muthiah Bhagavatar to Mandolin U Srinivas.
1986	B. V. Raman and B. V. Lakshmanan	Groomed by Tiger, these brothers are also known for conducting a pooja for Sadasiva Brahmendra.
1987	Palghat C. R. Mani Iyer	Violinist who played a seven stringed violin. A disciple of Chowdiah.
1988	Tiruvengadu Jayaraman	Vedic scholar, music teacher. A disciple of Madurai Mani Iyer.
1989	Dr. Chalakudi Narayanaswamy	Violin vidwan.
1990	R. K. Venkitarama Sastry	Violinist, brother of R.K. Srikantan and recipient of the Sangeeth Natak Academy award.
1991	Nellai T. V. Krishnamoorthy	Grandson of Muthiah Bhagavatar. Known for his voice quality, brigas and also for singing and acting in films.
1992	R. K. Srikantan	Sangeeta Kalanidhi. Comes from a family of musicians. Gurus are his father R. Krishnasastry and brother R. K. Venkitaramana Sastry.
1993	K. A. Varadan (AIR)
1994	Mani Krishnaswamy	Trained by Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer. Vocalist and Sangeeta Kalanidhi. Also played the violin. Known for singing in the Musiri style.
1995	Mavelikkara Velukutty Nair	Mridangist. Teacher at the Swati music college. Sangita Kalacharya. Also a vocalist.
1996	Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma	Musician, teacher. Principal of RLV College of Music. Studiend the compositions of Tulasivanam.
1997	Madurai N. Krishnan	Padma shri. Vaggeyakara composed a lot for dance dramas. Disciple of Ariyakudi.
1998	V. Dakshinamoorthy	Musician and composer of carnatic raga based film music.
1999	M. S. Anantharaman	Violinist. Disciple and son of Parur Sundaram Iyer. Has also accompanied Hindustani musicians.
2000	Guruvayoor Dorai	Mridangam vidwan whose real name is Vaidyanathan. Trained under Palghat Subba Iyer, Narayana Pisharadi and Pazhani Subrahmania Pillai. Known to have accompanied Nagaswaram vidwans.
2001	Ratnakara Bhagawathar
2002	Parassala Ravi	Mridangam artiste and principal of the Palghat music college.
2003	P. R. Kumara Kerala Varma	Disciple of Semmangudi
2004	Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty	Silk industrialist and patron of Arts. Also known as Nalli Chettiar.
2005	Trichur V. Ramachandran	Disciple of GNB and MLV. Father and husband to musicians.
2006	Kulikkarai S. P. Vishwalingam	Vocalist of the TMT Bani.  Came from a family of nadaswaram vidwans. Disciple of tiruvarur namasivayam. Teacher at Annamalai university, Kalakshetra.
2007	Tanjavur R. Ramadas	Disciple of Palghat Mani Iyer.
2008	Manakkal S. Rangarajan	Sangeetha kalasikhamani. Expertise in rare ragas, pallavis demonstrations. Disciple of his own father Santhanakrishna Bhagavathar a harikatha exponent.
2009	Mangad K. Natesan	Student at the Swati college of music and inspiring teacher to several upcoming artistes.
2010	Neela Ramgopal	Gayaka ratna. Disciple of T.K.Rangachary, N.M.Narayanan and .Sadagopalachari and a devoted guru and music scholar.