Vaigal S. Gnanaskandan, Carnatic vocalist, teacher and former Music Producer at All India Radio, passed away on 3 May 2015 after a prolonged illness. He was a disciple of Dandapani Desigar and also learnt from Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. He established the Gnanaskandan Trust which organised several programmes and encouraged up-and-coming musicians. Some of his well known disciples are Sikkil Gurucharan, Gayatri Girish, V. Sankaranarayanan and Kausalya Sivakumar.