Karthik Padmanabhan Iyer, has been under the tutelage of Lalgudi Smt. Vijayalakshmi for the last eight years. He started learning vocal music with Smt. Vasanthi Iyer of Chicago. Karthik showed interest in violin very early. He was fortunate and blessed to get Vidushi Lalgudi Smt. Vijayalakshmi as his Guru. Smt. Vijayalakshmi has always demanded strict adherence to pathantharam and the Lalgudi Bani. Under the watchful and loving guidance of Smt. Vijayalakshmi, Karthik has been receiving holistic training in both Vocal music and Violin, finding it interesting, challenging and always inspiring.
KAMALAKIRAN VINJAMURI
Kamalakiran Vinjamu started learning violin at the age of 7 and His initial guru was his grand-father, Sri. Parthasarathy Iyengar and continues to learn from his father, Sri.Subhash Vinjamuri, a violinist himself. Then he had the good fortune of learning from Smt. Malladi Vijayalakshmi and is also under under the tutelage of Sangeetha Kalanidhi A. Kanyakumari, while visiting India. He won several prizes in different music competitions, both in India as well as in the US. He has accompanied several leading artistes including, Padma Vibushan Sri. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna ,Madurai Sri. T.N. Seshagopalan, Smt. Suguna Varadachari, Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran.
Sruti Sarathy
Sruti Sarathy is a student of Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, Director of Trinity Center for Music. Sruti is a graded artist of All India Radio, Chennai. She has won the “Best Violinist” award at the 2014 Parthasarathy Swami Sabha festival and at the 2012 Spirit of Youth festival conducted by the Madras Music Academy. She was also featured in the Music Academy’s HCL Concert Series in 2013. She has accompanied many upcoming as well as senior artists extensively in Chennai, Mumbai, Paris and in the USA.
KEERTHANA SANKAR
Keerthana Sankar from Auburn Hills, MI started learning violin at the age of 6 from Shri. Jayshankar Balan. She has been receiving advanced training from Shri. Delhi Sunder Rajan for the past 6 years. She gave her first solo violin concert at the age of 11 in Detroit, and has since been providing accompaniment for senior artists such as Madurai Sundar, Shashi Kiran & Ganesh, Ashok Ramani, R. Suryaprakash, Ramakrishnan Murthy, and several others in North America and India. Keerthana has also been undergoing vocal music training under Shri. Madurai Sundar for the past 11 years, and has given several vocal concerts in the U.S, Canada, and India. Keerthana graduated from the University of Michigan in May 2015 with a degree in neuroscience and is currently applying to medical school.
ARUN RAMAMURTHI
Arun Ramamurthi is a disciple of Delhi Shri P Sunder Rajan. He started learning violin with Western classical lessons at the age of 4. He was initiated to Carnatic music on the violin by Shri Krishna Kutty at the age of 10 and has been training under the able guidance of his guru Delhi Shri P. Sunderrajan since 2000. Arun has performed both as a soloist and an accompanist at numerous venues in the U.S. and India. He has accompanied Carnatic stalwarts including Sangita Kalanidhi Shri TN Seshagopalan, Hyderabad Brothers, Carnatica Brothers, his guru Delhi Shri P. Sunder Rajan, among others. Arun is a regular performer at the December Music Festival in Chennai. In 2013, he won the best violinist award from the Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. He graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Music and Economics and currently works in Irvine, California.
SANJITH NARAYANAN
Sanjith Narayanan is a sophomore at the University of Maryland majoring in Biomedical engineering. For the past 12 years, he has been a disciple of Guru Vidhwan Sri Subash Vinjamuri and Sri Kamalakiran Vinjamuri. Sanjith has won many prizes from the Cleveland Aradhana Music Festival, Dhvani, SIFAA, and more.Sanjith has toured along with his guru and performed in Belgium, Germany, France, Netherlands, Singapore, UK and many more prestigious locations. Sanjith has been an active performer during the December music season in India over the past four years. Sanjith is also a youth volunteer for Sankara Nethralaya, supporting eye surgeries for poor indigent patients all around the world.
sIDHARTH aSHOKKUMAR
Siddharth Ashokkumar has been learning Carnatic music for the past 12 years. He initially learnt the violin from Smt. Ranjani Swamy and vocal from Smt. Lalitha Venkat of New Jersey. He now takes advanced lessons from Sri Vittal Ramamurthy and Sri Srinivasamurthy of Chennai. He is also currently taking advanced lessons from his Yuva Sangeetha Lahiri teachers in New Jersey facilitated by Suresh Ramachandran and has also received guidance from Smt. Kalyani Ramani. He has accompanied a number of programs in the tri-state area.
VIGNESH THYAGARAJAN
Vignesh Thyagarajan hails fro ma family of musicians belonging to the lineage of Flute Maestro Bhramasri Saraba Sastrigal and started learning carnaitc vocal and violin at the age of 5 from his mother Smt.Rama Thyagarajan.He is currently under the tutelage of his uncle Vidwan DelhI Shri P Sunderrajan. Vignesh had hios solo violin Arangetram in September 2014. Vignesh has performed all over San Francisco Bay Area and Chennai accompanying numerous artistes and has won many awards from organizations in Bay Area. Vignesh is currently studying Software Engineering at San Jose State University in California.
SHIVA RAMAMURTHI
Shiva Ramamurthi is a disciple of Violin Maestro Delhi P. Sunder Rajan. He initially started learning violin from Shri Krishna Kutty at the age of 6. He was introduced to Carnatic Music at the age of 4, taking vocal lessons from Smt. Padma Kutty. He has been under the guidance of his guru, Shri Delhi P. Sunder Rajan since 2001.
He has performed in various venues throughout the U.S. and India and has been a regular performer at the December Music Festival in Chennai since 2011. Other than Carnatic Music, Shiva has also learned Western music.
He graduated from UCLA this year with a BS in Cognitive Science and is currently working in Orange County.