LOTUS Aug 2012 Monthly concert

Sree Gouri Pamarthy (Vocal)

Sree Gouri has been learning Carnatic vocal music under the expert tutelage of Guru Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, Founder/Director of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts. Shaped by Guru Smt. Varadarajan, who is renowned for imparting music in its pristine form and strict adherence to the holistic Guru-Shishya parampara, Sree Gouri imbibes music with a divine mindset. A regular participant of the SFO Bay Area music circuit, Sree Gouri represented her school at music festivals conducted by Sanatana Dharma Kendra, Badarikashrama, Livermore Shiva Vishnu temple, and Concord Shiva Murugan temple. Sree Gouri also performed at OSAAT competitions where her teams won multiple prizes over the years. Sree Gouri works for eBay and enjoys outdoor sports and travel. She thanks her family for being a constant source of inspiration and their active participation in her musical journey.

Vignesh Thyagarajan ( Violin)

Vignesh Thyagarajan started learning carnatic vocal and violin at the age of 5 years with his mother Smt. Rama Thyagarajan. Vignesh is currently under the tutelage of his uncle Vidwan Shri.Delhi P.Sunderrajan. Vignesh regularly accompanies the bay area music schools and carnatic chamber concerts. Vignesh has accompanied on violin for students of bay area music schools and also given solo performances under the banner of SVLOTUS, Nandalala Mission, Carnatic Chamber Concerts (CCC) , Dheemtana, Swaralahari Local community TV channel and December Music festival 2011. Vignesh learns western violin through private lessons and he is in the Intermediate String Orchestra at California Youth Symphony (CYS). Vignesh is a sophomore in Cupertino High School CA.

Varun Viswanath (Mridangam)

Varun Viswanath started learning Mridangam at the age of five, and has since been under the tutelage of Sri. Ramesh Srinivasan, the leading disciple of Mridangam Maestro Sri. Vellore G Ramabadhran, at Sarvalaghu Percussion Arts Center, in San Jose. Varun has performed widely in the Bay area for various music schools, LOTUS, Sangeeth Ankur/Dhwani, SIFA Thyagaraja day, CCC, and for various events of Sanatana Dharma Kendra, Badrikashrama, Livermore

temple, and various other fundraiser events. Varun has won prizes in various competitions in the Bay Area for OSAAT, Papanasam Sivan Academy, and Naada Nritya. In January 2012 at the age of 11, Varun had his mridangam arangetram in Chennai, India where he accompanied the great Vidwan Sri. O.S.Thyagarajan, along with Sri. Mullaivasal G. Chandramouli on the Violin and Sri.Trichy K. Murali on the Ghatam. Most recently, Varun has accompanied Sri Papanasam Ashok Ramani as a supporting artist along with Sri. Kallidaikurichi S. Sivakumar on the Mridangam, Sri. K.V. Gopalakrishnan on the Kanjira, and Sri. Arvind Lakshmikanthan on the violin, as part of the Raghavendra Swamy Melakartha series Pallavi Concert, in the bay area. Varun is passionate about all forms of music and also plays the Western Double Bass as part of the school district orchestra. Varun also plays all star baseball for the Saratoga little league and is an avid basketball player. He will be a seventh grader at Redwood Middle School, in Saratoga, this fall.

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Karthik Laksminarayanan & Kaushik Lakshminarayanan (Vocal Duet - Senior Concert)

Brothers Karthik and Kaushik Lakshminarayanan began their Carnatic training as instrumentalists at a young age. Kaushik underwent flute training from Smt. N. Kesi, one of the senior-most disciples of Sri. T. R. Mahalingam, for ten years. During that period, he also received vocal training from his aunt, Smt. Rajeswari Gopal. Karthik learnt violin initially from Smt. Sivakami Narayanan, later from Smt. Radha Narayanan and Sri. Mullaivasal G. Chandramouli. They pursued their interests in vocal music after coming under the expert guidance of Smt. Suguna Purushothaman, and have been performing vocal duet concerts for the past six years. Karthik holds a PhD from UC Berkeley, and works at Google. Kaushik holds a Masters from Carnegie Mellon, and works at Facebook.