Hariharan Ravi is a Carnatic vocalist from Chicago, IL. He started learning vocal music from Smt. Poorna Sethuraman and Sri BU Ganesh Prasad, and now learns from Palai Sri CK Ramachandran and Sri TM Krishna. He currently works full-time as an investment banker in Chicago.
Jahnavi Murali
Jahnavi Murali became interested in Carnatic music at a young age, inspired by her late great-grandfather, a Carnatic musician and devoted bhajan singer. She has been under the tutelage of Shri. Madurai R. Sundar, disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shri. T.N. Seshagopalan for the past 15 years. Jahnavi has performed around the United States in a variety of venues and performs every year at the December Music Season conducted in Chennai, India in sabhas such as Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Krishna Gana Sabha, Vani Mahal, etc. She is a chemical engineer and an accomplished cellist as well.
Ananya Ashok
Ananya Ashok is a Carnatic Vocalist currently training under Sangita Kalanidhi, Sri Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan. She received her formal and rigorous training from renowned violinist, Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, daughter and disciple of Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam. Under the able guidance of her gurus, Ananya has performed in various major venues Chennai like Krishna Gana Sabha, Narada Gana Sabha, Kartik Fine Arts, The Madras Music Academy, and the prestigious Chembai Music Festival to name a few. Around India, she has performed in Kerala, Bangalore, Bombay, Mysore, Delhi, and Coimbatore. Outside of India, she has performed in the United States and Singapore. Television performances include Doordarshan, Podhigai TV, as well Kerala Music channels. She has been a recipient of awards such as:
‘Best Upcoming Talent’ from Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai in 2016 ‘DK Pattamal Award’ from Kartik Fine Arts 2015 Title of ‘Sangeetha Ratnakara’ by Ramani Guruji of Sri Sakthi Arutkudam 2015 ‘Best Concert’ winner at the Madras Music Academy’s HCL Series for the year 2014 Tanjore Sri Srinivasa Iyer Endowment Prize from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in 2013 Title of ‘Isai Chemmal’ by the Trinity Arts Festival in 2013
Ananya is a grade ‘A’ artist of All India Radio Chennai, and has also studied Hindustani Vocal Music from renowned violinist, Smt. Kala Ramnath. Ananya is an accomplished Vainika and trains under Sri Srikanth Chary, a senior disciple of Sri Lalgudi G. Jayaraman and she is also a B-Grade artist in Veena at All India Radio Chennai. In 2011, she was a recipient of the ACTA Music Fellowship, which was instituted by the state of California, USA for Veena study. She is currently working on a Masters Degree in Carnatic Music from Madras University. Ananya also hails from a musical family. Ananya’s father, Sri Ashok Subramaniam is a musician and teacher residing in Bay Area, California. From her paternal side, Ananya is the grandniece of Sri. K.R. Kumaraswamy and Sri. K.R. Kedaranathan. On her maternal side, her great grandmother is a disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Kallidaikuruchi Vedanta Bhagavatar and Ramalinga Bhagavatar.
SRIRANJANI DARBHA
Sriranjani Darbha has had the good fortune of being trained by Sangeetha Kala Acharya Smt. Suguna Varadachari since 2008 and having been taught music from a young age by Sri Vittal Ramamurthy and his sister Smt. Rajarajeswari Bhat of Houston, TX since 2003. She also learned music from Sri Balu Sekar (student of Vidwan (Late) Sri Tanjore Kalyanaraman) and Harsha Nagarajan (student of Vidwan Sri TKV Ramanujacharyulu), and is learning Carnatic Violin from Lalgudi Smt. Vijayalakshmi. Sriranjani participated in the Sustaining Sampradaya concerts of the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana - the inaugural concert in 2007, the Kamalamba Navavarana Kritis in 2008, Syama Sastri Kritis in 2009 and Music of Dance in 2011. Sriranjani is also a recipient of several awards; apart from winning the first prize in all of the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival's vocal competitions alone, she is the only person to have also won the coveted Concert Competition twice in succession in 2010 and 2011. Such is her passion for music that she took a break year after the first semester of her freshman year in high school to learn music in India from her guru, Sangeetha Kala Acharya Smt. Suguna Varadachari. While in India, she won many laurels, most notably the Second Runner Up for RajTV's Tanishq Swarna Sangeetham, LV Memorial Prize from Trichy's Rasika Ranjana Sabha, eight (8) prizes from the 2014 Madras Music Academy's Annual Competitions, the coveted Kalasagaram Tambura Prize and Sharada Cultural Trust's Tambura Prize, as well as being selected for Kala Neerajanam of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD). In 2016, Sriranjani was conferred the title 'Sangeetha Sri' by Rasika Ranjana Sabha in Trichy, which requires one to have almost 120 compositions at his/her fingertips. She is not only the youngest awardee ever, but also the youngest awardee to win the competition on her first attempt. She was also the Sangeet Samrat's Doha winner. In 2019, Sriranjani was fortunate to perform at the lotus feet of Tirupathi Venkateshwara Swami through TTD’s Nada Neerajanam, and also performed in the annual coveted Spirit of Youth Series conducted by Madras Music Academy. Sriranjani is a regular concert performer and has performed worldwide, including all over the USA, India, Qatar, and the UAE. Her contributions to society include teaching music to young students in the Brazos Valley for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and mentoring students for Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana’s Sustaining Sampradaya concerts as the first alumni to do so. Additionally, she learned Western Violin from Ms. Nicole Cherry and Ms. Diedra Lawrence (members of the esteemed Marian Anderson String Quartet), sitar from Dr. Stephen Slawek (student of Pandit Ravi Shankar), and is an ardent tennis fan. Academically, she is a third-year student at the University of Texas at Austin pursuing Chemistry.
sAI SISTERS
Gana Pravina Sai Sisters (Kiran and Nivi) are currently diciples of Sri. Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna, and “Sangeetha Seva Ratna” Dr. C. M. Venkatachalam. They are also layam disciples of “Nada Oli” Sri Melakkaveri K Balaji. They had the great privilege to be under the tutelage of “Sangeetha Shironmani” Smt. GayathriVenkataraghavan for four and a half years. Sai Sisters have been given multiple concerts in USA and India. They are giving concerts from the year 2015 in Chennai both in summer and during the December music season in various prestigious sabhas. They are finalists of Carnatic Music Idol USA in year 2012 and have won the Carnatic premier league “Sangeeth Samraat" in duo category in the year - 2015. They have also won first and second prizes in several categories including, the concert competition and advanced pallavi competition in Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana. In December 2018, they won “Best Child Artist” from Valayapatti Sabha. Sai sisters have been singing Sai bhajans from the age of 3. They have released a CD on Sai bhajans, which is sold in USA, India, and Singapore, in the year 2015 composed by their bhajan guru Sri Hariharan Venkataraman. They have also given bhajan concerts in various places including the Sri Sathya Sai Baba ashram at Whitefield, Bangalore and at Sai Prem, Vashi in Mumbai.
Sutikshna veeravalli
Sutikshna Veeravalli is a Carnatic vocalist and Bharatanatyam artiste from Chicago, Illinois. She has been pursuing vocal music for over 19 years, and has been under the tutelage of Sri R. Suryaprakash, of the Madurai Mani Iyer lineage, for the past 10 years. After her maiden concert in 2011 at Sri Ranjani Sabha, Chennai, she has been performing at several venues across the US and India. These include performances during Chennai’s Music and Dance season and recently in the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival.
She has been featured in several Tamil magazines and a television interview. The Vipanchee organization, founded by Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, awarded her the title of “Yuva Kala Vipanchee” for excellence in Indian Classical Music and Dance in 2013. Sutikshna has taken active roles in several youth collaborations between music and dance that have toured across North America. Additionally, she had the opportunity to train North American children in a full concert repertoire through the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana’s Sustaining Sampradaya program.
Sutikshna currently works in special education and therapy, and aspires to pursue both these traditional arts lifelong.
GOKUL CHANDRAMOULI
Dr. Gokul Chandramouli is a disciple of Sangeetha Kala Acharya Smt. Kalyani Sharma. He has also learned from Smt. Bhagavati Mani, his maternal grandmother and Neyveli Santhanagopalan, his paternal uncle. Gokul has performed widely in India and the U.S. and also actively imparts training to interested students. Gokul is currently working at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
ADITHYA CHAKRAVARTHY
Adithya is a Grade 10 student at the University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Canada.
Adithya started learning Carnatic music in 2005, under the tutelage of Smt. Sandhya Srivatsan in Toronto, Canada. Adithya also learnt from Smt. Subhashree Ramachandran, daughter of Shri. Trichur V Ramachandran and Smt. Charumathi Ramachandran.
He is now undergoing advanced training under the tutelage of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Madurai Shri. T. N Seshagopalan and Smt. Rajarajeswari Bhat based in Texas, USA.
Adithya has performed in various concerts in Canada, USA and India. He has won various awards and the most notable ones are:
People’s Choice Award (Junior) in 2012 Carnatic Music Idol USA competition held in Bay Area, California in August 2012
2nd Runner-up Award (Junior) in 2012 Carnatic Music Idol USA held in Bay Area, California in August 2012
1st Place (Junior) in Carnatic Music Idol USA 2013 held in Chicago
1st Place in Concert Competition 2014 held during Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival
Apart from Carnatic Music, Adithya’s passion is in learning Sanskrit, debating and playing Volley-ball.
KRUTHI BHAT
Kruthi Bhat, born into a family of musicians, she showed her interest towords music as a toddler and was initiated into Carnatic Music by her grandmother, Smt. Krishnaveni. She is under the tutelage of her mother Vidushi Rajarajeshwary Bhat and her uncle Vidwan Vittal Ramamurthy. She has had the privilege to learn from the legendary Padmabhushan Sri Lalgudi G. Jayaraman and Sri T. R. Subramanyan. She is also under the tutelage of Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan and Smt. S. Sowmya. Kruthi is a recipient of numerous awards in India as well as the United States. Kruthi recently received the "Best Female Vocalist" award from the MADRAS MUSIC ACADEMY as part of the Spirit of Youth Series. She is a recipient of the IndianRaga Fellowship from MIT Boston 2013; she was awarded a Tamboora at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana 2013 for winning the Concert Competition, received the title, Saptami Super Star at the Dallas Saptami Festival and also recently won the Carnatic Music Idol USA Season 3 from Maximum Media Jaya TV. She was also awarded "Best Vocalist" by Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Chennai 2013. Her contributions towards society includes her concert in 2009 for Carries Heart, a school of special-needed children and a program for the Sandeepani Trust of India to bring Medical facility to rural India in 2012. She has given multiple concerts in India and The United States. She also plays Violin, a disciple of her uncle Vidwan Vittal Ramamurthy and Vidushi Smt. Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. She is also an exponent of Western violin, Pastel Art, and Bharatnatyam
Anirudh Venkatesh
Anirudh,formally began learning Carnatic music from Smt. Padma Kutty in the fall of 1996 shortly after turning 5 years old. He has continued learning with Smt. Padma Kutty but has also had the opportunity to learn from the distinguished gurus Smt. Sugandha Kalamegham and Sri Seetharama Sharma. In 2002, he was initiated into the Semmangudi Bani by Sri Palai C.K. Ramachandran. Since 2005, Anirudh has also been training under the illustrious Padmabhushan Sri P.S. Narayanaswamy. He is currently under the guidance of these two gurus, both of whom are direct disciples of the legendary Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.
Anirudh is a regular performer in many of Chennai's prestigious sabhas during the Chennai December Season festival, and has performed in several other cities in India as well as abroad. Recently, he received the Thanjavur S. Kalyanaraman Endowment Award from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, for a merit-worthy concert he sang in the sabha's 2011 Gokulashtami Festival Concert Series. He was also featured in the Madras Music Academy's 2012 Spirit of Youth Festival, for which he was awarded "Best Male Vocalist," as well as the Academy's HCL Concert Series in 2013. Anirudh is now doing his Masters degree at Stanford University, where he is studying Computer Science.
Aditya Prakash
Aditya Prakash is a young, upcoming Carnatic vocalist currently learning underreputable, venerated guru’s PS Narayanaswami and Palai CK Ramachandran. His earlier training was under Sugandha Kalamegham, Rose Muralikrishnan and Debur Shrivathsa. Aditya has had the fortune of performing, touring and working with Sitar Maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar, since the age of 16. Aditya toured with Ravi Shankar as the lead vocalist in Ravi Shankar’s "Festival of India III" ensemble, taking him to the most prestigious venues across the USA, Canada and Europe. Aditya has been performing Carnatic vocal concerts since the age of 13 and has performed solo concerts at prominent venues throughout India and USA such as The Music Academy (Chennai) Ravi Shankar Institute for Music and Performing Arts (New Delhi) and Chicago World Music Festival (Chicago, USA) to name a few. Aditya has also studied Mridangam (South Indian percussion) under Neyveli Narayanan. In 2009, Aditya had the privilege of accompanying sitar virtuoso, Ustaad Shujaat Khan in a jugalbandhi concert. Aditya received his Bachelors in Arts from UCLA in 2007 with a degree in Ethnomusicology (Performance/composition) and a minor in Global Studies. At UCLA, Aditya studied composition under award-winning Jazz musicians. Currently, Aditya composes music for acclaimed-dancer Mythili Prakash’s productions, as well as for collaborative music projects with influences from jazz, Western harmony, North Indian and South Indian classical music. Awards
“Yuva Kala Bharathi”- 2012- Institution: Bharat Kalachar, Chennai
“Sri Krishna Gana Sabha Endowment Award” - 2009- Institution: Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai
"Best Junior Vocalist”- 2008- Institution: Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, Chennai
ANOOP KRISHNAN
Anoop Krishnan was initiated into music at a very young age by his mother Ganabhushanam Geetha Unnikrishnan. He then learnt from Manjeri Krishnakumar for six years. Anoop then moved to Cochin for advanced training in music under Mavelikkara Subramanyam and Mavelikkara Ponnammal. The turning point in his life was when he was accepted as shishya of Dr. Shreekantham Nagendra Shastry, whose bani he has been following ever since. Anoop started performing concerts at a young age of 12 and has since been performing all over the country. He has performed at various prestigious venues in Bangalore, Kerala, Hyderabad etc. He was fortunate to offer his devotion to Sringeri Sharadamba in the form of a thematic concert. Other auspicious venues include Avani Shankar Mutt, Raghavendra Mutt, Sri Guruvayur temple and Sri Mookambika saraswati mandapam.He has many prizes and awards to his credit, including being the winner of pallavi competition by Bangalore Gayana Samaja, and best concert award by Nadajyothi, Mysore. He was awarded the 'Yuvakalasri' puraskara in 2009 by Sriraghavendra Mutt, Bangalore. He was fortunate to give a lecture demonstration on Allied Ragas at the 85th Annual Conference of Music Academy, Chennai in 2011, along with his guru Dr. Nagendra Shastry. A staunch traditionalist following his guru's bani, Anoop Krishnan has a lot of rare compositions in rare ragas and talas in his repertoire. He is adept in the theory of Indian music and gives lecture demonstrations and classes on the theory and evolution of Indian Classical Music. He is well versed in singing Ragam Thanam Pallavis (RTPs) and has a diversed collection of pallavis in rare talas extending to ratte pallavi (pallavis composed in more than one tala), nadai pallavis (pallavis composed in more than one nadai) etc. Anoop has completed M.A. in Music from Kerala University, Trivandrum and is a graded artist in AIR, Calicut. Academically, Anoop has completed his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering f r o m Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and is currently working as a lecturer and postdoctoralscholar at University of California Los Angeles.
THANMAYEE KRISHNAMURTHY
Thanmayee, a disciple of Carnatic Icon Vidwan T. M. Krishna, is one of the most sought after young Carnatic musician. Born in to a family of musicians, Thanmayee started learning music from her aunt Vidushi Rajarajeshwari Bhat, and Vidushi Srividya Ramanath, Bangalore. She is also receiving advance training from her maternal uncle, Vidwan Sir Vittal Ramamurthy, who has been her musical guide throughout.She has been a regular performer during Chennai Marghazhi season for several years. She has performed at Narada Gana sabha, Krishna Gana Sabha, Vani Mahal, Brahma Gana Sabha, Mudra, Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha and so on. Thanmayee being one amongst the top young artists of Bangalore, has performed at all major Sabhas and music festivals of Bangalore including Gayan Samaj music conference, Chowdayya Memorial Hall, for the youth festival of Samagana Sabha, Kalavanta and many more.Her strong foundation, dedication, commitment in Carnatic Music has led her to being ranked as a B-High graded All India Radio artiste. After her debut performance at the age of 11, Thanmayee has been a regular performer and has given concerts in major music festivals in India and the USA including Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana 2015. Her major awards and achievements include: ✦ 2015 “Smt. T.Brinda- Endowment Award” - by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai ✦ 2014 Yuva Kala Mani – by Mani KrishnaSwamy Academy, Mangalore ✦ 2011 M S Subbulakshmi Award – For singing Ragam Tanam Pallavi Brahmara Trust, Mysore. ✦ 2010 Ananya Prathibe Award- Ananya GML Cultural Academy, Bangalore. ✦ 2008 All India Radio competition Award for Vocal Carnatic Music ✦ 2006 Central Government Scholarship Recipient by CCRT ✦ 2005 Prathibakankshi Award – Best concert award from Kote Ramasevamandali, Bangalore ✦ 2005 Kishora Pratibha Award – Department of Kannada & Culture, Govt. of Karnataka ✦ 2001 Balapratibha Award - Department of Kannada & Culture, Government of Karnataka Thanmayee was fortunate to have represented the Carnatic music at the National Conference of Education, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, in the presence of the former President Pratibha Patil. She is a Computer Science graduate from NITTE Institution of Technology,Bangalore. Thanmayee is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Ethnomusicology from University of North Texas, Denton to evolve into a Carnatic musician with a broad musical horizon.
Varun Ganesan
Varun Ganesan, 22 years old, is a current student of Sri AS Murali and Sangeetha Kala Acharya Sri P.S. Narayanaswamy Varun's formal music education began in Oct 1997 under the guidance of Smt. Vani Sateesh and later continued his music education from 2007 to 2010 under Sri D.B. Ashvin (New Jersey). He is blessed to have received advanced training from Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan and the teachers of the Yuva Sangeetha Lahari organization in New Jersey as well. Since 2008, Varun has performed in the Chennai December music season at various sabhas and at several venues across the United States including in New York City, LA, Chicago, the Bay Area, and Washington DC. Varun has won numerous Carnatic music competitions in the United States, the most notable of which are Advanced Pallavi Competition and Concert Competition at the 2013 and 2009 Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhanas, respectively. He also was awarded first runner up in the second season of Carnatic Music Idol USA (2012). Varun is a recent graduate of MIT with a double degree in Computer Science and Mathematics and is now working at a Proprietary Trading Firm in New York City.
G K Manamohan
Manamohan hails from the heritage city ‘Mysore’, Karnataka - India. At the age of three, Manamohan started showing innate musical gift with a keen ear for music, by recognizing few ragas and penchant for rhythm. This made his parents to foster the god given talent. At the age of five, Manamohan started learning Karnatic Vocal. Started learning under guru Vidushi Smt. H. N. Rajalakshmi (w/o Vidwan H. K. Narasimhamurthy, Violinist) and pursued further from gurus Vidushi Smt. Vasanta Sundararajan and Vidushi Smt. Pushpa Srinivasan in Mysore. At the age of seven he started learning Karnatic Mandolin under Vidwan Sri. A. V. Dattatreya and pursued further from Vidwan Sri. C. Vishwanath and Vidwan Sri. H. K. Narasimhamurthy (Violinist) in Mysore. Immensely influenced by vocal, later on, he ardently pursued Karnatic vocal. Manamohan has a Bachelor’s degree (BE) in ‘Environmental Engineering’ and a Master’s degree (MS) in ‘Environmental Science – Hazardous & Waste Materials Management’. Since 2007, he has been working at University of California, Los Angeles – UCLA as an ‘Environment, Health & Safety’ professional.
Music Career Highlights
First Prize at the National Level All India Radio (AIR) Competition - Karnatic Devotional, 2002.
Recipient of National Scholarship for Karnatic Vocal. (Center for Cultural Resources & Training – CCRT, 1992 - 2002)
Recipient of State Scholarship for Carnatic Vocal. (Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy – SNA, for three consecutive years)
Won several first prizes in music competitions held at prestigious organizations. Also won First prizes in concert competitions. To mention a few: Ganabharati, Mysore Music Association, J.S.S Mysore, Rama Seva Mandali-North, Nadasudha - Shimoga.
Was invited as a guest faculty at "Meadows School of Arts - Music", Southern Methodist University - Dallas, Texas 2006.
He has composed and directed fusion ensemble pieces in the likes of ‘Soul on the Strings’ in Raga - Vakulabharana and ‘Wavering Beauty’ in Raga -Keeravani which have been appreciated by a wide range of audience. He has been featured in the programs of All India Radio (AIR) – Mysore, on numerous occasions since the age of seven.