VANI RAMAMURTHI
Vani Ramamurthi, a Carnatic Vocalist, is a disciple of Ranjani-Gayatri. She started her initial vocal training at the age of five, under the guidance of Smt. Padma Kutty (Edapally), based in Irvine, California. She also had the opportunity to learn from Late Sri. Vairamangalam Lakshminarayanan, while in Chennai during summers. Vani also receives guidance from Sri. Delhi P.Sunder Rajan. Vani shifted from the US to Chennai in 2011 for the sake of pursuing music. She is an “A” grade artist of All India Radio, Chennai. Vani graduated from Cal State University, Fullerton in May 2011, with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology.
ARUN RAMAMURTHI
Arun Ramamurthi is a disciple of Violin Maestro Delhi P. Sunder Rajan. He developed his bowing and fingering techniques early on beginning 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. He has also learned vocal music from Smt. Padma Kutty.
.Arun has performed both as a soloist and an accompanist at numerous venues in the U.S. and India. He has become a regular performer at the December Music Festival in Chennai, having performed at several of the leading venues. He graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Music and Economics and currently works in Newport Beach, California
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. He has also learned vocal music from Smt. Padma Kutty.
.Arun has performed both as a soloist and an accompanist at numerous venues in the U.S. and India. He has become a regular performer at the December Music Festival in Chennai, having performed at several of the leading venues. He graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Music and Economics and currently works in Newport Beach, California
SHIVA RAMAMURTHI
Shiva Ramamurthi is a disciple of Violin Maestro Delhi P. SunderRajan. 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 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 senior at UCLA.
GAAYATRI KAUNDINYA
Gaayatri Kaundinya is an Indian Classical vocalist of the Baba Allauddin Maihar-Senia Gharana, having trained under the esteemed Ustad Ali Akbar Khan for 14 years. Her Grandfather influenced her in developing her passion for Indian Classical music. At age two, she proclaimed she would one day learn from the master artist of her favorite childhood CD, “Journey.” At the age of 4, this dream came true for her. She has been performing since age 7. Recently, with the blessings of Smt. Annapurna Devi, she spent time at the Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata studying under the accomplished Padmashree Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar. Under his guidance, she has been learning how to fuse the gayaki ang of Hindustani voice into her own training from Baba Ali Akbar Khan. She has also studied with the late Smt. Lakshmi Shankar. She presents a unique blend of Dhrupad ang, khyaal gayaki, and beenkar bani with her music. She is currently a senior at the University of California at Los Angeles, as well as the founder and director of Avartan festival for the last three years.
RAM KAUNDINYA
Ram Kaundinya has been a tabla student at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael for 11 years now. His musical training was initiated by the great Ustad Ali Akbar Khan when he was 5 years old in the traditional gandabandan manner. He started studying tabla with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the AACM and has been learning for 11 years. He has been a regular performed in various world music festivals, including the San Francisco World Music Festival. He also performs at jazz clubs, and is a regular performer at the AACM. He is a junior at Marin Academy high school in San Rafael, CA.
ANANYA ASHOK
Ananya Ashok is a student of renowned violinist, Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, who resides in California, USA. Smt. Anuradha is the daughter and disciple of the eminent violinist Smt. Srimathi Brahmanandam and the niece of the violin maestro Padmabhushan, Lalgudi Sri G. Jayaraman. Smt. Anuradha received the 'Best Teacher' award at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana in the year 2008. Smt. Anuradha’s school received the 'Best School Award' at Cleveland. Ananya has been featured in all major productions of the school, including the San Francisco World Music Festival.
Under the able guidance of her guru, Ananya has received several prizes at the Cleveland Aradhana festival and was chosen as 'The Best Stage Performer' on Jaya TV’s Carnatic Music Idol USA in 2011. She has performed in various venues around Chennai in the last three years during the music season. She has given several performances in the USA as well as Indian National Television.
Ananya has also been studying Hindustani Vocal Music from renowned violinist, Smt. Kala Ramnath. Ananya is also an accomplished Vainika and trains under Sri Srikanth Chary, a senior disciple of Sri Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. Ananya is a recipient of the 2011 'Alliance for California Traditional Arts' Fellowship Award.
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 grand-niece 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.
Under the able guidance of her guru, Ananya has received several prizes at the Cleveland Aradhana festival and was chosen as 'The Best Stage Performer' on Jaya TV’s Carnatic Music Idol USA in 2011. She has performed in various venues around Chennai in the last three years during the music season. She has given several performances in the USA as well as Indian National Television.
Ananya has also been studying Hindustani Vocal Music from renowned violinist, Smt. Kala Ramnath. Ananya is also an accomplished Vainika and trains under Sri Srikanth Chary, a senior disciple of Sri Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. Ananya is a recipient of the 2011 'Alliance for California Traditional Arts' Fellowship Award.
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 grand-niece 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.
HRISHIKESH CHARY
Hrishikesh Chary started learning veena at the age of six from his father, Sri Srikanth Chary, who is a disciple of the late music legend Padmabhushan Lalgudi Sri G. Jayaraman. Hrishikesh has performed several solo veena concerts in the United States and India. He has provided orchestral accompaniments to various programs and CD recordings. Hrishikesh has also given vocal and veena performances on television. In 2010, Hrishikesh won the prestigious Tambura Prize at the Cleveland Aradhana Concert Competition. Hrishikesh is a sophomore at UC San Diego.
ADITYA GANESH
Aditya Ganesh hails from a family of musicians and dancers and started learning mridangam from Sri N Narayan at the age of 7. Since 2008, he has been continuing his advanced training under the tutelage of Sri K R Ganesh, son of the legendary Mridangam vidwan Sri M. Rajappa Iyer. With his grandmother, Kalaimamani Smt. Ranganayaki Jayaraman, and mother, Smt Indumathy Ganesh, running their own Bharathanatyam Dance Schools, Aditya developed a strong passion and knowledge in Carnatic music at an early age. In addition to playing the mridangam, Aditya plays the Western Drums and also learned Carnatic Music from his Aunt, Smt. Asha Ramesh. He is currently studying Electrical Engineering at UCLA
GUHAN VENKATARAMAN
Guhan Venkataraman is a classical veena artist of the Karaikkudi veena parampara. He began learning veena from his mother, and is ever continuing with advanced training from Ranganayaki Rajagopalan, recepient of the Kalaimamani title recognizing artistic excellence by the government of Tamil Nadu, and disciple of the legendary veena artist Karaikkudi Sambasiva Iyer. Guhan has given numerous solo concerts here in the Bay Area, and has also performed in numerous prestigious sabhas in Chennai. He also learns vocal music from R.K. Shriramkumar.
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.
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.
NIKITA IYER
Nikita Iyer commenced her Carnatic Vocal training at the age of 6 under the tutelage of Smt, Sankari Senthilkumar in Pasadena ,and has also benefited from the mentorship of Shri. K.N Shashikiran. She has been an active participant at regular carnatic musical events in Southern California. She is currently a Junior at Westlake High School.
NITHYA RAVICHANDRAN
Nithya Ravichandran who just turned into a teen, is very passionate about learning Carnatic Music. Nithya has been learning from her guru Smt. Sankari Senthilkumar from the age of five (5) and continues to take classes from her. From age of seven (7), she has been receiving advance level training from Performing Musician Guru K.N Shashikiran.
Nithya is not only blessed to have such dedicated teachers, but also to have a sister, Sandhiya Ravichandran and a cousin Ramya Ramadas, who have rendered great support for her music learning and career.
In September 2012, at the age of 11, Nithya performed her first solo concert in Los Angeles. She participates and performs regularly at the Thyagaraja day and Dikshitar day events organized by South Indian Music Academy (SIMA) and at Swathi Thirunal events organized by OHM.She has also participated in the junior level Krithi vocal competition organized by Cleveland Aradhana and has won awards for two consecutive years.
Nithya will be graduating from Lawrence Magnet Middle School with honors and is enrolled in the Van Nuys Magnet High School for Fall 2014.
Nithya is not only blessed to have such dedicated teachers, but also to have a sister, Sandhiya Ravichandran and a cousin Ramya Ramadas, who have rendered great support for her music learning and career.
In September 2012, at the age of 11, Nithya performed her first solo concert in Los Angeles. She participates and performs regularly at the Thyagaraja day and Dikshitar day events organized by South Indian Music Academy (SIMA) and at Swathi Thirunal events organized by OHM.She has also participated in the junior level Krithi vocal competition organized by Cleveland Aradhana and has won awards for two consecutive years.
Nithya will be graduating from Lawrence Magnet Middle School with honors and is enrolled in the Van Nuys Magnet High School for Fall 2014.
KIRAN ATHREYA
Kiran Athreya is a disciple of violin maestro Delhi P. Sunder Rajan, and has been playing violin since the age of ten. He has accompanied many senior vocalists and has performed extensively in Southern California and Arizona. He is a recipient of the prestigious Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) Master Apprentice fellowship in 2008. Kiran is a senior in college working towards a bachelor’s degree
in Public Health.
in Public Health.
ARJUN NARAYANAN
ARJUN NARAYANAN began his training in Carnatic Music with vocal lessons from Smt. Radha Kalyan, a student of the late Shri. Thanjavur S. Kalyanaraman in Sydney, Australia at the age of 9. His initial training in mrudangam began a year later under Shri. Vallish Herur, a student of Bangalore N. G. Ravi. In 1999, he moved to Irvine, CA, USA, and continued vocal lessons with Smt. Padma Kutty, and in 2000, had the good fortune to continue his laya training under the tutelage of Shri. Neyveli R. Narayanan. Arjun continues to receive advanced training and guidance from Neyveli Narayanan to this day. Arjun has been performing in concerts since 2005, and has accompanied numerous distinguished artists. He has performed in many cities across the US, and every year performs in the December music festival in Chennai. He also actively teaches students in the Orange county area in mrudangam and laya aspects. Arjun is a graduate in Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry at the University of Southern California.
KARTHIK VASAN
Karthik Vasan is currently a junior at the University of Southern California. He initially started learning mridangam from Dr. Frank Bennett, from the Palgat T.S. Mani Iyer school of music. For the past six years, he has been receiving
advanced training from Shri Neyveli S. Narayanan.
Karthik has accompanied several senior artists in the Southern California area and has given concerts around the US. He is a regular participant in the Southern California aradhana festivals and music programs. Karthik is also an accomplished kanjira player having given concerts in the US and in India.
advanced training from Shri Neyveli S. Narayanan.
Karthik has accompanied several senior artists in the Southern California area and has given concerts around the US. He is a regular participant in the Southern California aradhana festivals and music programs. Karthik is also an accomplished kanjira player having given concerts in the US and in India.
AAMANI MYNAMPATI AND PALLAVI MYNAMPATI
Aamani Mynampati has been learning Carnatic vocal for the past fifteen years. She had initial training in India and then when living in New Jersey continued learning from Mr. Aravind Narasimhan, a disciple of late Professor T.R. Subramaniam. She also received advanced training in India from Dr. K Vageesh, director of All India Radio, and Uma Prabhakar of the Mayavaram sisters. Aamani has won numerous awards from organizations like the Carnatic Music Association of North America and Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, and given several concerts both in India and the US. She is currently learning from Sangeetha Swaminathan. Aamani received her bachelor's degree in Economics and English from the University of Pennsylvania ,and she is now pursuing her master's degree in Speech- Language Pathology from Loma Linda University.
Pallavi Mynampati began learning Carnatic Music at the age of four. She then switched to learning Carnatic Flute at the age of eleven, under the tutelage of Dr. Bhavani Prakash in New Jersey. Since then, she has become a student of Dr. N Ramani, and has won prizes such as Best Flute Solo Performance at the Cleveland Aradhana Festival. She has also given solo performances, and has performed for many dance programs and arangetrams. She is currently advancing her training under the tutelage of Sri Delhi P. Sunderrajan, and is continuing to learn from Dr. N. Ramani over the summer. Pallavi is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California studying Biology, and will be entering her senior year this year.
Pallavi Mynampati began learning Carnatic Music at the age of four. She then switched to learning Carnatic Flute at the age of eleven, under the tutelage of Dr. Bhavani Prakash in New Jersey. Since then, she has become a student of Dr. N Ramani, and has won prizes such as Best Flute Solo Performance at the Cleveland Aradhana Festival. She has also given solo performances, and has performed for many dance programs and arangetrams. She is currently advancing her training under the tutelage of Sri Delhi P. Sunderrajan, and is continuing to learn from Dr. N. Ramani over the summer. Pallavi is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California studying Biology, and will be entering her senior year this year.
SRINIVAS BALAJI
Srinivas Balaji began learning Carnatic music at the age of 10 from Smt. Padma Kutty in Irvine, and has continued to do so since. He has also learned from Sri Delhi Sunderrajan for several years now. Upon joining UCLA in 2009, Srinivas also began learning under Sri Gopalachar Manamohan. He has also learnt songs from Sri Palai Ramachandran and Smt. Sangeetha Sivakumar. Srinivas has just finished his bachelors degree at UCLA.
SRUTI SARATHY
Sruti Sarathy is a disciple of Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, daughter and disciple of Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam. Sruti has performed in cities across the US and in Chennai, and is the recipient of several awards and prizes. In addition to giving vocal concerts, Sruti also performs regularly on the violin, both as a sololist and accompanist, and has accompanied many upcoming musicians. She is a junior at Stanford University
MANAMOHAN KRISHNAN
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
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.
VIVEK THYAGARAJAN
Vivek started learning vocal carnatic music at a young age in Madras from Vidhushi K R Vasantha, a disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Shree T M Thyagarajan. After shifting to Bombay, he continued his training under Vidhushi Kalyani Sharma, a disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shree K S Narayanaswamy and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shree Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. He has also undertaken short summer training sessions under a few senior most gurus in Madras. He has won a number of prizes from Cleveland Festival, Shankukhananda, Bombay and leading sabhas in Madras. Vivek is a B S Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign and is currently working in Westlake Village.
ANIRUDH VENKATESH
Anirudh, age 21, 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.
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.
NIRMAL NARAYAN
Nirmal Narayan is a disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman. He has been performing for several years, accompanying many stalwarts in the field of Carnatic music. Nirmal has received numerous awards and titles, namely the “Best Concert” prize from The Music Academy, Chennai, and “Yuva Kala Bharati” from Bharat Kalachar, to name a few.
Nirmal earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently pursuing his MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business.
Nirmal earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently pursuing his MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business.
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