LOTUS Sept 2012 Monthly Concert

Usha Srinivasan Bharat(veena):

Usha Srinivasan Bharat learns veena from the well known Veena artist, Shri Srikanth Chary. She has participated in many music functions and programs locally, in the Bay area. She has given both solo and group performances at venues like the Livermore Shiva Vishnu Temple, LOTUS, and other temples and cultural associations.

Gopal Ravindhran (Mridangam)

Gopal Ravindhran has been under the tutelage of Sri Ravindra Bharathy Sridharan for the past 9 years. In addition, he has attended special sessions with Sri Neyveli Narayanan. Gopal has been a sought after accompanist for various musical schools in Bay Area and has been performing regularly in Chennai for the past couple of years. He has also been a active performer in his Guru, Ravi's school, Nadhopasana Academy of Fine Arts. He has won several prizes in competitions conducted in the bay area, Chicago and Cleveland. In 2009 he had his Mrudangam Arangetram , accompanying Vidwan Sri Delhi Sunderajan on Vocal , Vidwan Sri Vittal Ramamurthy on the violin, and Vidwan Sri A.MahaDevan on the Morsing. Gopal is a Junior at Irvington High in Fremont .

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Ajay Gopi (vocal):

Ajay Gopi has been learning carnatic vocal since age 7. For the past 4 years he was under the tutelage of Smt. Uma Radhika, elder one in the Chinmaya sisters. He has started getting advanced training from Sri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan starting this summer. Ajay also plays mridangam and accompanies other young talent in bay area regularly. Ajay also accompanied Chinmaya sisters in his Upanayanam concert. He has participated in various competitions in the bay area as well as in India and has won many prizes in both vocal and mridangam. Ajay will be a freshman at Irvington High School, Fremont, in the Fall.

Divya Mohan (violin):

Divya has been learning violin since age 6 and has been under the tutelage of Dr Saravanapriyan Sriraman, a disciple of Lalgudi Sri GJR Krishnan, since 2005. She has performed widely in the bay area giving violin solo concerts and has accompanied many upcoming and mature artists in live concerts and TV recordings. Divya learns vocal music as well and did her music arangetram during Summer 2011 in Chennai under the able guidance of her Guru Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan. She has participated and won recognition and prizes in many competitions including the Cleveland Aradhana, in both vocal and violin categories. Divya will be a Junior at Mission SanJose High School, Fremont, in the Fall.

Sanjay Chandrasekar (mrdangam)

Sanjay has been learning Mridangam from Shri. Ramesh Srinivasan, Artistic Director of Sarvalaghu percussion school in San Jose, for the past eight years. He had his Mridangam Arangetram during Sep 2010, been blessed to accompany Isai PeroLi Shri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan as part of this event. Since his Arangetram, Sanjay has been providing Mridangam accompaniment for various events in the bay area. Sanjay also learns vocal Carnatic music from Shri. Shreyas Narayanun, disciple of Padma Bhushan Shri. P. S. Narayanaswamy. Sanjay is an honor roll senior student at Mission San Jose High. His other hobbies include Robotics and Speech & Debate.

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Navya Maithri Konda (vocal)

NavyaMaithri has been learning Carnatic Vocal Music under the

tutelage of Sangeetha vidushi Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, founder director of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts, from the age of 5. Maithri is a passionate hard working student and has won prizes in annual music examination conducted by her music school in junior as well as senior categories. She has performed in many of her music school's productions such as "Keepers of the Flame"," Kalavandana" -25th Anniversary Celebrations, and most recently Maithri performed with her school at the 35th Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana- in a musical presentation entitled "Ganesha Ghana Raga Pancha Ratna Kritis". while representing her school at several Bay Areavenues, including OSAAT, Siva Murugan Temple, and Badarikashrama, NavyaMaithri has also given a short solo concert for" Dheemtana" and recently performed at the "Padmavathi Venkateswara temple" lHyderabad, India.

In addition to Carnatic Music, NavyaMaithri learns Bharathanatyam from Smt. Deepa Mahadevan and has completed her Arangetram in August 2009. She is a senior Girl Scout and has earned both her Bronze and Silver Awards. In her free time, she enjoys performing in all of the Silicon Andhra events. NavyaMaithri is an upcoming sophomore at Archbishop Mitty High School.

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.

Gopal Ravindhran (Mridangam)

Gopal Ravindhran has been under the tutelage of Sri Ravindra Bharathy Sridharan for the past 9 years. In addition, he has attended special sessions with Sri Neyveli Narayanan. Gopal has been a sought after accompanist for various musical schools in Bay Area and has been performing regularly in Chennai for the past couple of years. He has also been a active performer in his Guru, Ravi's school, Nadhopasana Academy of Fine Arts. He has won several prizes in competitions conducted in the bay area, Chicago and Cleveland. In 2009 he had his Mrudangam Arangetram , accompanying Vidwan Sri Delhi Sunderajan on Vocal , Vidwan Sri Vittal Ramamurthy on the violin, and Vidwan Sri A.MahaDevan on the Morsing. Gopal is a Junior at Irvington High in Fremont .