September 2022 Live concerts

Rohit Vakkalagadda (Vocal)

Rohit is a junior at Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose. He has been learning Carnatic music for past 10 years under the tutelage of Guru Sri. Hari Devanath of Sri Paduka Academy. Rohit does Speech and Debate and runs for his school’s cross country team. In his free time, he loves to play basketball and tennis.

Pramati Barath (Violin)

Pramati Barath is a senior at Saint Francis High School Mountain View. She has been learning violin for 8 years and is a disciple of Delhi Sri P Sunder Rajan. She also learns vocal from Sri Hari Devanath and Sri Vivek Sundararaman of Sri Paduka Academy. Pramati is also a competitive tennis player and represents her school’s varsity team.

Rajeev Devanath (Mridangam)

Rajeev Devanath is a freshman at UPA and has been learning mridangam for 10 years from Shri Ramesh Srinivasan and Shri Chennai Thyagarajan. He also learns vocal music from Sri Paduka Academy. Rajeev enjoys playing basketball and robotics in his free time.

Niranjan Krishna (Vocal)

Niranjan Krishna started learning Carnatic Music at the age of 8. He had his basic lessons from his mother, later from Smt Poomagal Devanathan and continued under the tutelage of Prof.K.Sivaramakrishnan, a senior vidwan and renowned teacher from Coimbatore, for about 12 years. He has been continuing his advanced lessons from Vidwan Sri.N.Vijay Siva since 2012. He has performed at sabhas in Chennai including Naada Inbam, Kapali Fine Arts, and Vipanchee trust. He was selected to perform at Music Academy for the Spirit of Youth festival during the year 2014. He has participated and won prizes from music competitions including at Rasika Ranjana Sabha , Trichy and Rajalakshmi Fine Arts, Coimbatore.He has been continuing to provide vocal accompaniment to his guru, Sri.N.Vijay Siva at various sabhas in Chennai and USA . He also had the opportunity to learn Hindustani music from Padmasri Hariharan and his guru Pandit Akbar Khan for 1 year.He is regularly performing in the Bay Area and is grateful for all the opportunities and support from rasikas. He is thankful to his wife, Harini and his family for providing great support in pursuing his passion.

Hemmige V. Srivatsan (Violin)

Hemmige V. Srivatsan is a highly regarded vocalist and violinist in the classical Carnatic tradition. He was introduced to music by his parents, Shantha and Hemmige Varadarajan and received training as a violinist under Sri Anoor Ramakrishna, Principal of the Ayyanar Music College in Bangalore. In 1985, Srivatsan had the opportunity of touring North America with the renowned singer Sri Palghat K.V. Narayanaswamy and following this, Srivatsan became a disciple of KVN, learning the art of singing from him as well.

Srivatsan accompanied his guru at the 1988 Adelaide Arts Festival in Australia -- he has also provided vocal support for him. He has accompanied many other legendary musicians including Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi. As a violinist, Srivatsan pays particular attention to classical and tonal purity. He has been featured in a number of albums and is an ‘A’ grade artiste of All India Radio. Srivatsan resides with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Pranav Tirumalai (Mridangam)

Pranav Tirumalai is a disciple of Mridanga KalA ShirOmaNi Sri. Trichur C. Narendran, a prime disciple of Mridangam Maestro Padma Shri Palghat R. Raghu. Pranav initially trained under Sri. Ravindra Bharathy Sridharan at the age of 6. Pranav has also learned Carnatic vocal under Sri. C. R. Vaidhyanathan, a disciple of Padma Bhushan Sri. P.S. Narayanaswamy. Pranav has had the privilege of accompanying eminent Bay Area artists and music schools. He will be a junior at UC Davis pursuing Biomedical Engineering and enjoys playing basketball and tennis in his free time.