Athrey Nadhan from Chicago, IL started learning the art of playing the Mridangam at the age of five and is currently undergoing advanced training from the esteemed professional, Srimushnam Sri V. Raja Rao in Chennai, India. Athrey has performed in over 350 concerts across North America and India, accompanying several leading musicians including Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, and Vittal Ramamoorthy, among many others. Athrey also has learned Carnatic vocal music from B.U. Ganesh Prasad and is a Software Engineer at Apple in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Ajay gopi
Ajay has been learning mridangam for the past 10 years from his father Sri. Gopi Lakshminarayanan (Disciple of late Sri. Kumbakonam Narayananswamy). He also receives additional training from Sri. Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar (Disciple of Late Sri. Palghat Raghu). Ajay had his arangetram on July 2013 with Sri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan on Vocal and Hemmige V. Srivatsan on Violin.He has performed in many prestigious Sabhas in Chennai such as Krishna Gana Sabha, Indian Fine Arts, Naradha Gana Sabha, Brahma Gana Sabha, Rasika Ranjani Sabha, etc. during the December music season. Ajay has won 1st prize in many competitions at regional, national and international levels. He accompanies various senior and junior artists on regular basis on live as well as recorded events. Ajay is a Master’s student at University of California Berkeley.
Naveen Basavanhally
Naveen Basavanhally is a promising young mridangist. His gurus are Sri Ramachandran Suresh of New Jersey and Kalaimamani Sri Guruvayur Dorai of Chennai. He has accompanied various musicians such as: Flute Sri VK Raman, Sri AS Murali, Smt. Alamelu Mani, and Sri Sankaran Namboodhiri, to name a few. He has had the privilege of performing at prestigious venues such as Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana and several leading sabhas during the Chennai December music season. Naveen is currently pursuing graduate studies in economics at UC San Diego.
VIGNESH VENKATARAMAN
Vignesh Venkataraman is a mridangam artist hailing from Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman’s school of music. Vignesh was initiated into playing mridangam by Sri Anand Iyer, also from the same school. Over a period of 5 years, Vignesh traveled to India every summer to undergo advanced training under the tutelage of Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman. Vignesh has accompanied various artists, including many senior musicians, in numerous concerts all over the US and in India. He won the Best Mridangist award at the Spirit of Youth festival held by the Madras Music Academy in 2013. Vignesh is also learning vocal Carnatic music from Smt. Meena Kothandaraman, and more recently from violinist Sri R.K. Shriramkumar. He holds multiple degrees from Stanford University.
SHUBHA CHANDRAMOULI
Shubha Chandramouli, a disciple of Sri. Poovalur Srinivasan, is an accomplished artist in the field of Carnatic music, following in the grand lineage of the legendary Sri. Pazhani Subramania Pillai, Mylatoor Sami Iyer, and P.A. Venkataraman. Shubha has given mridangam accompaniment to several renown musicians such as Sangeetha Kalanidhi R.K. Srikanthan, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Flute T. Vishwa, Chitraveena N. Ravikiran, Flute S. Shashank, and Malladi Brothers to name a few. Shubha is a regular performer in Chennai during the December music season, and has also performed several times at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana. Shubha is also a Carnatic vocalist, trained initially from her mother Sunanda Chandramouli, and continued advanced training under Smt. Geetha Ramanathan Bennett and Sri. Delhi P. Sunderrajan. She has given several vocal concerts around the US and India. An MBA graduate from Boston University, Shubha currently resides in the bay area working at Seagate Technology in Strategic Planning & Finance.
HARSHA MANDAYAM BHARATHI
Harsha Mandayam Bharathi is from Chennai and has been learning the mridangam since the age of 4. He began learning from Vid. Poongulam Sri Subramanian and continued until the year 2014. Currently he is receiving advanced lessons from Vid. Patri Satish Kumar. He has been playing for concerts over the last six years and is currently pursuing a PhD in Chemistry from The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH.
SIVAGANGAI VISHVAK KUMARAN
Sivagangai Vishvak Kumaran is a disciple of Padma Vibhushan Awardee, Sangitha Kalanidhi, Mrudangam Legend Dr. Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman. He has been under his tutelage since 2009 and had his mrudangam arangetram in Chennai in 2013 accompanying Vidwan Sikkil C. Gurucharan. Since then he has been performing regularly in concerts around the US and in Chennai during the Margazhi seasons. Vishvak had his initial training under Sri Vinod Seetharaman.
sanjay subramanian
Sanjay Subramanian started learning mridangam when he was 4 years old. He had his initial training under Sri Krishna Balakrishna and Sri Vinodh Gopinath. He then underwent advanced training under mridangam Maestro, Kalaimamani Sri Guruvayur Dorai at Chennai beginning in 2007. Sanjay has competed and won prizes at competitions conducted by leading organizations such as Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam and Cleveland Aradhana. He has accompanied many eminent artistes such as Sri Palai Ramachandran, Sri T.S.Sankaran , and Sri B.U Ganesh Prasad. He has been regularly performing at leading Sabhas in Chennai during the music season over the last 5 years. Sanjay will be a sophomore this fall at University of Pennsylvania, pursuing a dual-degree program in computer science and economics.
Nirmal Narayan
Nirmal Narayan is a disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman.
He has been performing for several years accompanying many stalwarts of Carnatic music, such as Dr. N. Ramani, Prof. T.N. Krishnan, Sri T.V. Sankaranarayanan, to name a few, as well as several popular upcoming artists. He has performed in leading Carnatic sabhas, such as Shanmughananda Hall, Mumbai and The Music Academy, Chennai, where he was awarded the “Best Concert” prize during the December 2010 music festival.
Nirmal has received numerous awards and titles, namely “Yuva Kala Bharati” from Bharat Kalachar, “Azhiyoor Natesa Iyer Prize” from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, and “Best Performer for Mrudangam” by Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. As a mrudangam teacher, Nirmal was selected as a “Master Artist” by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.
Nirmal earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. He currently works for Amazon Instant Video in Seattle, Washington, where he continues to teach mrudangam, as well as perform in concerts both in North America and abroad.