Upcoming Programs

Date:

Saturday, April 19th 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	Meena Subramaniam (Vocal) Nagaraj Mandya (Violin) Vignesh Venkataraman (Mridangam)
Senior Concert:	3.00 PM - 5.00 PM	Vikram P. Sundararaman [Visiting Artiste from Pittsburgh] (Vocal) Karthik Lakshminarayanan (Violin) Rajna Swaminathan (Mridangam)

Meena Subramaniam (Vocal)

Meena has been learning Carnatic Music from Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan Founder/Director, Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir school of Fine Arts based in Sunnyvale since she was a little over four years old. She is also fortunate to have taken lessons from Smt. G.V. Ranganayakamma, Smt. Varadarajan's aunt while in Bangalore in 1997-98. Meena has won many trophies and awards in recognition of her passion and commitment to Carnatic music as well as in the annual music examination held by her music school. She recently won first prize in the music competition held by OSAAT. In addition, Meena has performed in many local Bay Area cultural events organized by the South India Fine Arts, Badarikashrama, Shiva Murugan temple, Concord, Siva Vishnu temple, Livermore and fund raising events organized by her music school.

Meena is a sophomore at Homestead High School. She is a member of the choir team in Homestead High. She tutors other students in Homestead High as a part of the peer tutorial program there. Meena enjoys reading and knitting in her spare time.

Nagaraj Mandya (Violin)

Nagaraj Mandya started his music education more than 10 years ago at the Vijaya College of Music, Bangalore, India. He continued his advanced music education under Sangeetha Kalarathna Prof.H.V.Krishnamurthy, Principal of the Vijaya College of Music and his son, Ganakalashree Sri.H.K.Venkatram. Nagaraj is currently furthering his musical interests with Smt. Asha Ramesh. Nagaraj has accompanied many accomplished artistes both in India and in the USA and has played at many prestigious sabhas.

Along with his guru, Sri.H.K.Venkatram, Nagaraj has developed multi-media presentations on the "Life and Times of Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar", "Panchabhutha krithis of Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar" and "Navagraha krithis of Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar". He has also co-authored a multi-media CD on Saint Thyagaraja's Pancharathna krithis.

Vignesh Venkataraman (Mridangam)

Vignesh, a 9th grader at Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, CA is a mridangam artist hailing from Umalyalpuram Sri. K. Sivaraman's school. Vignesh was initiated into playing Mridangam by Sri. Anand Iyer, also from the same school. For the past 4 years, Vignesh has been traveling to India every summer undergoing advanced training under the tutelage of Umayalpuram Sri. K. Sivaraman.

Vignesh has been accompanying various artists in Carnatic concerts in the San Francisco Bay area and has received accolades from local critics. He is a frequent performer at Nandalala Mission concerts. Vignesh is also learning vocal carnatic music from Smt. Meena Kodhandaraman, a disciple of Sri. M.S. Anantharaman, and recently from the violin maestro Sri. R.K. Shriramkumar. Vignesh has participated in mridangam and vocal competitions for the past 3 years at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana festival and has won several prizes in both categories.

Besides music, Vignesh is an avid sports fan and football is his most favorite sport. He is training to be the quarterback of his high school football team.

Vikram P. Sundararaman (Vocal)

Vikram’s musical training was initiated under his father at the age of 3, who is the brother of the Bombay Sisters, C. Saroja and C. Lalitha. He later commenced formal training under eminent musicians at the Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh Summer Music School.

In the summer of 1994 Vikram came under the guidance of Sangita Kalanidhi Sri T.K. Govinda Rao. Sri TKG’s style of bhava-laden, traditional music captured his serious interest in Carnatic music. For the past 14 years, Vikram has visited Chennai numerous times to study during his vacation time from school, university, and work. He has performed along with his Guru in concerts as vocal support on numerous occasions at sabhas like the Madras Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha, Krishna Gana Sabha, Nada Inbam, and TTD Music & Dance Festival. Vikram has traveled and performed with his Guru in the United States as well.

Vikram has given several solo performances in India under the auspices of Sangita Sadguru Samajam, Papanasam Sivan Rasikar Manram, and Nada Inbam, to name a few. He has also performed at numerous temples, universities, and cultural organizations across the United States and Canada. In addition to vocal music, Vikram has also learned mridangam and dance in the Kuchipudi style.

Vikram is currently employed as a Biomedical Engineer and resides in Philadelphia, PA. He is currently on a tour of the United States. This concert under the auspices of LOTUS is a special tribute to his Guru, Sri T.K. Govinda Rao, who enters his 80th year on April 21, 2008!

Karthik Lakshminarayanan (Violin)

Karthik Lakshminarayanan has been an aspiring musician since a very young age. After learning basics from Smt. Sivakami Narayanan, Karthik underwent further training in violin from Smt. Radha Narayanan. Recently, he has received advanced training from Sri. Mullaivasal Chandramouli. For the past five years, Karthik has been fortunate to receive expert guidance from veteran Vidushi Smt. Suguna Purushothaman. Karthik received his PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 2007.

Rajna Swaminathan (Mridangam)

Rajna Swaminathan is a disciple of Mrudangam Maestro Padmabhushan Sri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman. Between Summer 1999 and Spring 2001, Sri UKS made six visits of 2 months each to the Swaminathan residence in Maryland and personally trained her from the young age of 8. Later, Rajna visited her Guru in Chennai for training. Rajna debuted in USA on October 9th, 2004 and in Chennai on July 1st, 2005. Rajna is the youngest and one of only a handful of female Mrudangam artistes in the world. Rajna has accompanied several renowned musicians from India. She has given Mrudangam accompaniment for several dance performances. She plays for Mrudangam based Cinema songs in the Light music Group RASIKA. Rajna conducts lecture demonstrations and workshops at prominent Percussion events such as PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention), KOSA International Percussion Camp, etc.

Rajna is an 11th grader at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, MD. Rajna performs in USA, Canada and India, especially during the Chennai December Music Festival. She has learned Piano and Bharathanaatyam for many years. Rajna's goal is to promote her divine art to the Western audience. For audio video samples and to learn more about Rajna, please visit her website www.rajnaswaminathan.com.

LOTUS - LOcal Talent UnderScored