Upcoming Program

Date:

Saturday, March 15th 2008

Time:

2:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Location:

Sanathana Dharma Kendra

Address:

897 Kifer Road, Suite 1, (inside RTS Building Complex), Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Phone:

(408) 481-9242

Map :

Map of 897 Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale, CA 94086-5205

These are free events. All are welcome.
Please feel free to spread this message to your friends and relatives.

Junior Concert:	2.00 PM - 2.45 PM	Ranjani Varadarajan (Vocal) Divya Ramachandran (Violin) Karthik Gopalratnam (Mridangam)
Senior Concert:	3.00 PM - 5.00 PM	Ragavan Manian (Vocal) Hemmige Srivatsan (Violin) Sriram Raghavan (Mridangam)

Ranjani Varadarajan (Vocal)

Ranjani Varadarajan is an aspiring musician living in the Bay Area. She comes from a family background rich in Carnatic music. Ranjani underwent intensive vocal training from several accomplished musicians. Her initial guidance was under Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan and Smt. T.S. Vasundara in Bangalore . She later had the good fortune of learning from Smt. Seetha Subramaniam and Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri. Palghat K V Narayaswamy. She is currently pursuing advanced coaching from Smt. Neela Ramagopal, Bangalore.

Ranjani has won many prizes in music competitions when she resided in India. She holds a B.S from U C Berkeley and is a full time parent of two adorable children.

Divya Ramachandran (Violin)

Divya Ramachandran began learning violin with Sri S.N. Narasimhan when she was 9 years old in Salt Lake City, where she grew up. Since 1999, she has been receiving advanced training from Sri Mullaivasal G. Chandramouli, a renowned violinist in Chennai. She has performed as an accompanist in a number of U.S. cities, including the Clevelend Thyagaraja Aradhana as well as in Chennai and Kerala. She has also performed duets with her sister Deepa. Divya is currently a Ph.D. student in computer science at U.C. Berkeley.

Karthik Gopalratnam (Mridangam)

Karthik started learning the art of playing the Mridangam at the age of 9 in Bangalore, India. His Guru is the renowned Vidwan Sri H. S. Sudhindra, a respected teacher and prominent artiste in Bangalore, and a prime disciple of Sri Srimushnam Raja Rao, one of the foremost exponents of the art. Karthik has also learnt vocal Carnatic music from his mother Smt. Girija Gopalratnam, and Vidushi Smt. Neela Ramagopal of Bangalore. Karthik has given numerous Mridangam performances in Bangalore and the Bay Area, as well as in Seattle, where he was privileged to come under the guidance of Vidushi Smt. Sreevidhya Chandramouli, a renowned Veena artiste and descendant of the illustrious Karaikudi Veenai tradition. Vidushi Sreevidhya's artistic and aesthetic guidance have been instrumental in moulding Karthik's growth as a musician - both as a Mridangist as well as a vocalist.

Ragavan Manian (Vocal)

Ragavan Manian is a popular musician presently living in the Bay Area. He is a prime disciple of the legendary vocalist, instrumentalist and composer Mangalampalli Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna and draws inspiration from his Guruji for his own, varied musical pursuits. This afternoon he will present a vocal concert exclusively of his Guruji's compositions.

Hemmige Srivatsan (Violin)

Hemmige V. Srivatsan was introduced to music at an early age by his parents, Shantha and Hemmige D. Varadarajan. He began training to be a violinist under Prof. Anoor S. Ramakrishna, Principal of the Ayyanar Music College in Bangalore and performed on numerous occasions with him as well. Since 1984, Srivatsan had the unique opportunity of accompanying Sangeeta Kalanidhi Professor Palghat K.V. Narayanaswamy in a series of concerts in the U.S. and Canada. Following this, Srivatsan became a disciple of KVN, and was inspired to learn the art of singing from him as well.

Srivatsan has toured the U.S., India, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and other regions with his Guru and has also provided vocal support for him. Srivatsan has performed both as a violinist and as a vocalist at prestigious venues in Chennai and all over India & the U.S. As violinist, he has accompanied numerous other leading musicians such as Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi, Sri T. Viswanathan, Sri T.K. Govindarao, Sri N. Ramani, Sri T.V. Sankaranarayanan, Sri T.N. Seshagopalan, Sri R.K. Srikantan, Trichur Sri V. Ramachandran, Sri D.K. Jayaraman, Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan and many others. Srivatsan has been featured in a number of albums with his guru and other musicians and is an ‘A’ grade artiste of All India Radio. Srivatsan resides with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sriram Raghavan (Mridangam)

Sriram Raghavan was born and brought up in Chennai, India. He was introduced to carnatic music at a very early age by his father. He had his initial lessons in mridhangam, at the age of five, from Sri. P.S.Srinivasan, a senior disciple of Shri Palghat Mani Iyer. At the age of thirteen, Sriram underwent advanced training under Padmashri Shri Palghat Raghu. Sriram played in all the major sabhas including the Music Academy, Thamizh Isai Sangam, Krishna Gana Sabha, Nadopasana, etc. in the youth concert circuit during the years 1990-1992. Sriram holds a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engg. from IIT, Madras and a Doctorate in Computer Science from Stanford University. He is now a Research Scientist at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose.

LOTUS - LOcal Talent UnderScored