MAY 2024 concertS

We have three concerts this Month. Please attend in large numbers, encourage the artists and enjoy the concerts.

DATE: Saturday, May 18th, 2024 

TIME: 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM

VENUE: SANATHANA DHARMA KENDRA, 3102 Landess Ave, San Jose, CA 95132

Madhura Chandrasekar (Vocal)

Madhura Chandrasekar has been learning vocal music from Smt. Kasthuri Sivakumar of IAIM for the last 6 years. Madhura has participated in many local music programmes and competitions including at Cleveland Aradhana.

She is also learning violin from Sri. Vittal Rangan. 

Madhura is currently an eighth grader in Kennedy Middle School, Cupertino.

Avanija (Violin)

Avanija is a 9th grader at Stratford Preparatory School. She has been learning Carnatic Violin from Kalaimamani Padma Shankar (Student of Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman) for 4 years. Avanija has been learning Carnatic Vocal from Padma Shankar for 9 years. Avanija won many competitions (OSAAT, Sampada, Saptami, Bay Area Kala Utsavam, etc) and has performed violin solos in Lotus, SRFA, Kala Prashala, Margazhi in SF, etc. She has been supporting bay area schools and students on violin since October of 2023.

Avanija has learnt Western Classical Violin from Galina Glek and Grammy Nominated Violinist Alisa Rose for 8 years as a pre-college student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She won the US Violin OPEN Competition in Contemporary Music Category. She has played Violin in String Ensembles in the bay area (California Youth Symphony, C’est Bon Chamber Ensembles and SFCM string Ensemble).

Sanjay Chandrasekar (Mridangam)

Sanjay Chandrasekar has been learning mridangam from Sri. Ravindrabharathy Sridharan of Nadhopasana Academy for the last 8 years. Sanjay has participated in many local music programmes and competitions.

He is also learning vocal music from Sri. SIkkil Gurucharan.

Sanjay is currently a senior in Monta Vista High School, Cupertino.

Malini Iyer (Veena)

Malini Iyer began learning to play the Veena from Smt. Radha Ramachandran of Mumbai in 2018. Since 2019, she has been a disciple of Shri. Guhan Venkataraman, a distinguished Vainika from the Bay Area and an exponent of the Karaikkudi (Sambasiva Iyer) Veena parampara.

Malini began learning Carnatic music from her mother at a very early age and continued formal training under Smt. Asha Ramesh (San Jose) and Smt. Rohini Venkatachalam (Mumbai), She is currently a disciple of Kalyanapuram Shri. Aravind Soundararajan (Chennai).

Malini is also a Bharatanatyam dancer and completed her Arangetram in April 2023 under the tutelage of Smt. Mythili Kumar of Abhinaya Dance Company, San Jose.

Malini currently studies at UC Davis as a biological sciences major.

Pranav Tirumalai (Mridangam)

Pranav Tirumalai began his musical journey at the age of 6 under the able guidance of Sri. Ravindra Bharathy Sridharan. For the past 7 years, Pranav has had the fortune of learning the art of mridangam from Sri. Trichur C. Narendran, a Vidwan who has accompanied stalwarts of Carnatic music for more than 5 decades. Pranav is blessed to belong to the illustrious musical lineage of Padma Shri Palghat Raghu and Sangita Kalanidhi Palghat Mani Iyer. He has had the opportunity to accompany several musicians ranging from youngsters like himself to established artists. Pranav has briefly learned Carnatic vocal under Sri. C. R. Vaidyanathan. He is currently pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis.

Akhilesh Srivathsa (Vocal)

Akhilesh Srivathsa is a senior in Amador valley high school. He has been pursuing both vocal music and mridangam for the last 7 years. He started his vocal music training from Smt. Lakshmi Kalluri at the age of 8 and now for the last five years he has been under the tutelage of Sri. Shivakumar Bhat, IAIM. Akhilesh has presented vocal performances under many organizations in Bay Area like Tvmc, Rasamanjari, CCC to name a few. Akhilesh is also a student of Nandi Laya Vidyalaya learning mridangam from Sri. Natrajan Srinivasan and has been actively accompanying several programs in the Bay Area. Akhilesh has also been pursuing the art form of Harikatha very passionately and won the first place in Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival. Akhilesh also loves football and is the game strategy analyst for the Amador Valley school football team.

Roopa Rajagopalan (Violin)

Roopa is a violin and vocal disciple of Smt. Lavanya Kothandaraman She also learns vocal music from Sri. Kaushik Lakshminarayanan She is a sophomore at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale. Besides music, Roopa likes books, art work, playing with her siblings and, watching some TV shows.

Prabhav Nadella (Mridangam)

Prabhav is a Sophomore in Dougherty Valley High School. Prabhav is very passionate about music and has been learning mridangam from Guru Sri. Natarajan Srinivasan from 7+ years. He also learned carnatic vocal from Guru Smt. Sudha Dusi for about 6 yrs & holds a jr.certificate in SAMPADA. Prabhav has participated and won prizes in a lot of competitions across Bay Area. Prabhav had his Arangetram in June 2023 & was fortunate to share the stage with stalwarts like Smt.Vasudha Ravi (Vocal), Sri.B.V. Raghavendra Rao (Violin) & Guru Sri S.V.Ramani (Ghatam). Prabhav is very passionate about cooking and loves to experiment in his free time.