LOTUS August monthly concert 2014
193 Commercial St,
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Phone: (408) 481-9242
These are free events. All are welcome. Please feel free to spread this message to your friends and relatives.
Concert #1 - Junior 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM
Anjana Baradwaj (Vocal)
Rangashree Varadarajan (Violin)
Aditya Srinivasan (Mridangam)
Concert #2 - Junior 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Shriya Anand (Vocal)
Nyantara Narasimhan (Violin)
Arun Shriram (Mrudangam)
Concert #3 - Intermediate 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Poojita Dasika (Vocal)
Priyanka Chary (Veena)
Sathya Ramesh (Mridangam)
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Anjana Baradwaj (Vocal)
Anjana is a disciple of Sangeeta Kala Vibooshini Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, Founder and Artistic Director of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts. She has been nurtured under her since the young age of 5. She has been a part of the school’s presentations in the community including the recent Parama Prema fundraising program for Nandalala.
She has been a student/participant in Chinmaya Mission San Jose and Matha Amritanandamayi Center San Ramon. She has learned the basics of spirituality and serves the local community through making care-packs and meals for the Homeless and disadvantaged.
Working with animals has always been her passion and she is/has been an intern at animal shelters/zoo/wildlife centers. She is a good painter and photographer - has had her paintings/photographs entered in Art competitions/exhibitions. She graduated from Westmont high school in June 2014 and will be attending UCLA in the Fall of 2014.
Rangashree Varadarajan (Violin)
Rangashree Varadarajan is a dynamic performer, composer, and innovator in the field of Carnatic (South Indian classical) music. Rangashree Varadarajan comes from a legacy of distinguished musicians, most notably, her great grandfather, Late Sri. G. Vedanta Iyengar, and her teacher Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, Founder/Director of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts (Sunnyvale, CA) (http://srirama.net/). Rangashree’s early training in Carnatic violin was in the legendary Lalgudi tradition under Smt. Srimati Brahmanandam and Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, Founder/Director Trinity School of Music. Rangashree’s performances and experiences span continents including prestigious concert halls such as Carnegie Hall (USA), the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (USA), Nada Brahma Sangeeta Sabha (India), Gayana Samaja (India), and Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana (USA) to name a few. By age 16, Rangashree was deemed a promising young vocalist and violinist with fluidity and maturity beyond her years and her performances continue to earn critical acclaim.
Rangashree completed her MD degree at St. George’s University in 2014 and currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Varada Innovations, a company that strives to significantly improve soft tissue surgery with novel technologies and diagnostic surgical tools.
Aditya Srinivasan (Mridangam)
Aditya Srinivasan has been learning Mrudangam from Sri. Ravindra Bharathy Sridharan for over 7years at Nadhopasana Academy of fine arts. During this time he has accompanied many bay area schools and musicians. He has also been part of all the major programs and workshops at Nadhopasana. Aditya was part of the Angatala layavinyasam team that has received excellent reviews from acclaimed musicians. Recently Aditya had his arangetram where he accompanied Isai Peroli Sri. Sikkil Gurucharan, Sri. Vittal Ramamurthy and Sri. Ganesh Ramanarayanan.
Besides Mrudangam, Aditya learns vocal music from his mother Smt. Preetha Sheshadri. He has also been learning the Western piano for the past 13 years.
Aditya will be attending UCLA from Fall 2014 to pursue engineering.
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Shriya Anand (Vocal)
Shriya is a disciple of Guru Smt. Anuradha Sridhar. She has been learning both vocal and violin since 2008 and has actively performed in many programs by her music school, Trinity Center for Music, in Bay area, Cleveland, and San Diego. She has also given solo vocal recitals in Bay area at Mahakaleshwar Temple, Nandalala and Swaralahari. She has won prizes in vocal and violin competitions at the Papanasam Sivan festival held in Bay area. For the past three years, she has been an active member of the Youth Orchestra at the annual San Francisco World Music Festival.
Shriya will be a senior this year in Monta Vista High School.
Nyantara Narasimhan (Violin)
(Disciple of Smt Anuradha Sridhar, Director, Trinity Center for Music, California) Smt Anuradha Sridhar is the daughter and disciple of Lalgudi Smt Shrimati Brahmanandam.
Nyantara has been training in both vocal and violin from Smt. Anuradha Sridhar for over 10 years. Nyan has been featured in many of her music school, Trinity Center for Music's productions, both on vocals and on the violin. She was a member of the group that won the Best School Award in Cleveland. Nyantara has also won several first prizes in both vocal and violin categories at Cleveland and in other competitions. Nyantara has given solo vocal recitals in many organizations in the Bay Area like Lotus, Nandalala, and SR Fine Arts and in the Chennai music festival in 2013. Nyantara has been lending violin support as an accompanying artist for many junior concerts in the Bay Area and in the Chennai music festival. As part of Trinity Center she has participated in The San Francisco World Music Festival for many years now. The Festival has given Nyantara an exposure to other world music and an opportunity to work with master musicians from several countries around the world. Each year, she has been an active performer of the Festival's Youth Orchestra.
Nyantara will be a Sophomore at San Jose State this Fall.
Arun Shriram (Mridangam)
Arun Shriram is currently a eleventh grader at The Harker School. For the past nine years, he has been learning Mridangam from his father and guru Sri. Shiram Brahmanandam. Sri Shriram is a disciple of Sri Harihara Sharma, Sri C.V.Kuppuswami, and Sri Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer. Arun is also the grandson of Lalgudi Smt. Srimathi Brahmanandam, a renowned violinist. He is learning vocal music from his mother and guru Smt. Shanthi Shriram. Arun received first place in junior and sub-junior percussion categories in the last few Cleveland Aradhana competitions. Arun is performing in various Bay Area festivals including the San Francisco World Music Festival, SIFA, Badarikashrama, and Trinity Center. Arun regularly accompanies junior artists. In his spare time, Arun likes to draw and study about natural sciences.
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Poojita Dasika (Vocal)
Poojita has been learning Carnatic vocal music since the age of 5, and she currently learns from Dr. Nagavalli Nagaraj, Bangalore. Poojita has performed for organizations such as Swara Lahari, Sanatana Dharma Kendra, SR Fine Arts, MahaKaleswar temple and other. Poojita also learns bharatanatyam from Smt. Shirni Kanth and plays carnatic music on the keyboard. Poojita is a sophomore at Wilcox High School.
Priyanka Chary (Veena)
Priyanka Chary started learning the veena at the age of six from her father, Sri Srikanth Chary, who is a disciple of the late music legend Lalgudi Shri G. Jayaraman. She has performed on television, and given performances in several Bay Area venues, such as the Pleasanton Youth Music Festival, Livermore Temple, LOTUS, SRFA and Bay Area Margazhi Utsavam. She has competed in several regional and national music competitions, like the Cleveland Thygaraja Aradhana and the Papanasam Sivan Competition, and won 1st place awards for krithi rendition, alapana and kalpana swarams. Priyanka is a member of the Carnatic Music Instrumental Ensemble (CMIE), and has performed at the Asia Pacific Music Festival as part of this group. In addition to pursuing her passion for the veena, Priyanka learns bharatanatyam from Smt. Nirupama Vaidhyanathan. Priyanka is a Junior at Mission San Jose High School.
Sathya Ramesh (Mridangam)
Sathya has been learning mridangam for the past 6+ years at Sarvalaghu Percussion Art Center. from her father Sri Ramesh Srinivasan, who is the prime disciple of Mridangam Maestro Sangeetha Kalanidhi Vellore G.Ramabhadran.
She has been part of taalavaadya programs conducted by the school for last few years including performances at the Cleveland Tyagaraja Festival in 2013 and 2014. She was also selected to be part of the 'Sustaining Sampradaya' program "Tribute to Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman" a full-fledged concert at Cleveland festival in 2014, where she provided mridangam accompaniment. She has also joined her father on concert stage providing double mridangam support.
Additionally Sathya learns carnatic vocal music from Sri Paduka Academy (Sri Hari Devanath/Sri Vivek Sundararaman) as well as Violin from Sri Saravanapriyan Sriraman. She enjoys reading, plays flute in school band and tennis. Sathya is in 8th grade at Quimby oak Middle school.