We have hit 80% of our fundraising goal, thanks to all the donors! At this point, we need just 14 more donations. If you haven't already, please lend your support for a good cause.

A quick reminder about the next concert coming up this weekend. Its generating quite a buzz as it features the winner of Carnatic Music Idol 2012, Hariharan Ravi, accompanied by Shiva Ramamurthi on the violin and Vignesh Venkataraman on the mridangam. Don't miss it! Stop by the usual venue on Sunday between 1-4 pm.

As we admire and revel in the talent, sometimes it helps to step back and acknowledge the people who make it possible. Check out our blog honoring the wonderful moms who sacrificed so much of their lives and keep on giving. These beautiful ladies deserve a big round of applause and appreciation!

Help us reach our goal. Make a donation today. And don't forget to join us this weekend for an afternoon of soulful music!

We cordially invite you for the Carnatic Music Vocal concert on FEBRUARY 23  Sunday from 1 pm - 4 pm at the Simi Valley Senior Center.
We will be presenting a Carnatic Vocal Concert by Hariharan Ravi (Winner Carnatic Music Idol USA 2012)from Boston. He will be accompanied by Shiva Ramamurthi on the Violin and Vignesh Venkataraman on the Mridangam. 

Hariharan Ravi
Hariharan Ravi, an upcoming Carnatic vocalist from the USA, is a student of Palai Sri C.K. Ramachandran, a prime disciple of legendary Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. He is known for his strict adherence to tradition and classicism. His initial guru was Smt. Poorna Sethuraman of Chicago and subsequently he learnt from Sri B.U.Ganesh Prasad.Hariharan is the title winner of both Jaya TV Carnatic Music Idol USA 2012 and the Cleveland Aradhana's Concert Competition 2012, two of the most prestigious competitions in the USA.He has had the good fortune of being accompanied and appreciated by senior musicians. He has performed in many popular venues and festivals in India, such as Jaya TV Margazhi Mahotsavam,  Narada Gana Sabha, Ramjhi’s Issai Mazhalai, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and Vani Mahal, as well as across the US and Europe. Currently, he is an undergraduate studying business at the University Of Pennsylvania Wharton School Of Business.  

Shiva Ramamurthi
Shiva Ramamurthi is a disciple of Violin Maestro Delhi P. SunderRajan. He initially started learning violin from Shri Krishna Kutty atthe 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 many sabhas in India, including a series of concerts during the 2011 December season in Chennai. Other than Carnatic Music, Shiva has also learned Western Classical violin. He is currently a sophomore at UCLA.

Vignesh Venkataraman
Vignesh Venkataraman, a junior at Stanford University, 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. For the past 5 years, Vignesh has been traveling to India every summer undergoing advanced training under the tutelage of Umayalpuram Sri. K. Sivaraman.  Vignesh has accompanied various artists, including some senior musicians in concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area and in India.  He has participated in competitions at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana and has won several prizes there.  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, a disciple of Sri. M.S. Anantharaman, and more recently from violinist Sri. R.K. Shriramkumar.

 

We are highly privileged to honor the wonderful moms of our musicians at the youth festival celebration on June 22 2014. They have completely dedicated themselves in raising these children with music as a part of their daily routine. We need  to admire them like we admire movie stars and super heroes. These women took the challenging job of bringing music into their child's life, tiring job of driving the kids to music classes and concerts, terrifying job of making them practice every single day, joyous job of listening to each and every performance of their child, essential job of raising a socially responsible child. 

Our community is thankful to them for  filling our lives with soulful music. These ladies need a big round of applause and appreciation. Do not forget to join us on June 22 Sunday. 

Give yourself a pat in the back. Over the past week, our fundraising campaign blazed past the 50% milestone, thanks to you! We have now reached 70% of our goal. If you've been thinking about contributing but have been putting it off, now is the time to step in and show your support!

Many young and talented musicians who performed at Hamsadhwani have gone on to win accolades and appreciation elsewhere. All of us should be incredibly proud of their accomplishments, having played a small but significant part in their respective musical journeys. What if we brought the best of these young musicians together under one roof again? For one day?

Hamsadhwani is proud to announce the 25th program in our concert series - the 2014 Youth Festival - to be held in June 2014. Look up the schedule here. Mark your calendars. Prepare yourself to be spellbound by sublime music performed by artistes aspiring to touch the peak of their craft.

Of course, this is only made possible by contributions from you. Please consider making a donation today if you haven't already.

It is hard to believe that we will be hosting the 25th program in our concert series this year. We are very happy to announce a special celebration to commemorate the milestone. Mark June 22 on your calendar. The best concerts presented in the last three years have been selected, and the musicians have been invited to perform in the Youth Festival 2014!.

In addition, two local talents who performed their arangetrams in the last 5 years have been selected to inaugurate this festival of talent. 

Here is the full program for the day:
Inaugural performance

• Vocal performance by Nikita Iyer
  
• Vocal performance by Nitya Ravichandran

Best of Hamsadhwani 

• Violin solo performance by Kiran Athreya
  
• Vocal and flute performance by Aamani and Pallavi
  
• Vocal performance by Srinivas Balaji
  
• Vocal performance by Manamohan Krishnan
  
• Veena performance by Guhan Venkataraman
  
• Vocal performance by Vani Ramamurthi 
  
• Vocal performance by Vivek Thyagarajan
  
• Veena performance by Hrishikesh Chary
  
• Vocal performance by Aditya Prakash
  
• Vocal performance by Anirudh Venkatesh
  
• Violin duet performance by Arun and Shiva ramamurthi
  
• Thala vadyam 
  

As a community, we should all be very proud of these young and talented musicians. In our own small way, we have helped them in their respective musical journeys and showcased their skills. The Youth Festival will surely be a musical treat for all of us!