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Upcoming Events

Thyagaraja Aradhana Sat. Feb. 3, 2007, 9.00 AM to 6 PM
Hinde Auditorium, CSUS, Sacramento, CA

Concert   by Shanthi Shriram and Party

Information about the Artists

 

Shanthi Shriram
Carnatic vocal

Shanthi Shriram hails from a musical family. She is the grand daughter of Sangeetha Vidwan Sri.Sathur A.G. subramaniam, a great musician of yesteryears. Shanthi is the disciple of her mother and guru Smt.Lakshmi Sundaram, who is herself a very talented and an experienced musician. Shanthi started her training in music at the age of five and continued for several years under the guidance of her mother. She had the privilege to be trained on performing techniques by the violin maestro Sri Lalgudi G.Jayaraman. Shanthi has also learnt from Sri.Sundaravaradan, a noted musicologist and from Smt. Seethamani Srinivasan, an eminent vocalist. Later Shanthi continued her training from her mother-in-law, the acclaimed violinist, Mrs.Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam.

Shanthi has won several awards in music competitions conducted by noted institutions like The Music Academy, Indian Fine Arts Society, Mylapore Fine Arts Club, to mention a few. She attained the Higher Grade certification in Indian Music, from the government of India and is a graded artist of All India Radio.

Shanthi accompanied her mother in music concerts held at various prestigious Sabhas and later partnered with her sister to give numerous vocal duet performances. She has also been invited to perform in the august presence of His Holiness Swami Dayananda Saraswathi. She performed in Australia for the University of Queensland and at the Woodford International Folk Festival. Shanthi has been living in the bay area for the past eight years and has since been performing regularly. She collaborated with other prominent musicians of the bay area, in unique dance and musical shows. Shanthi's repertoire includes numerous compositions from varied composers. Her style is rooted in classicism and her rendering is strengthened by technical excellence and her well trained voice. Her melodious renditions have always been well received by audiences in both India and abroad.

 

Nagaraj Mandya
Carnatic Violin
847 Portwalk Pl
Redwood City, CA 94065
Ph: 650-339-2530

Music Education

Nagaraj started his music education 15 years ago at the Vijaya College of Music, Bangalore, India. He continued his advanced music education under Sangeetha Kalarathna Prof.H.V.Krishnamurthy, Principal of the Vijaya College of Music and his on, Ganakalashree Sri.H.K.Venkatram.

Experience
Nagaraj has played solo concerts and accompanied many accomplished artistes both in India and abroad. He has played at prestigious sabhas like the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Karnataka Ganakala Parishath, Ananya, Ananya, Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt, South India Fine Arts, besides playing at various other organizations. He has accompanied many leading artistes including Sri Vidyabhushana, Smt.Asha Ramesh, Smt.Padmaja Kishore, Smt.Padma Narayan (daughter of Sri Palghat Raghu), Smt.Roopa Sridhar, Sri G.Mohan Rangan and Sri.G.Ravikiran, Sri.H.S.Prashanth among others.

Other
Alongwith his guru, Sri.H.K.Venkatram, Nagaraj has developed multi-media presentations on the “Life and Times of Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar”, “Panchabhutha krithis of Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar” and “Navagraha krithis of Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar”. He has also co-authored a multi-media CD on Saint Thyagaraja’s Pancharathna krithis. Nagaraj served as an assistant teacher of the violin at the Vijaya College of Music, Bangalore for 5 years. Nagaraj’s other interests include the Sanskrit language and its grammar and Srivaishnava philosophy. Nagaraj works for Oracle Corporation.

 

Balaji Mahadevan
Mridangam

Balaji Mahadevan has been playing Mridhangam since age 12. His initial training was from Shri K.S.S.Mani (Chennai) for 8 years. He continued to learn from Shri Madhu Sudhanan, Chennai (disciple of Shri Karikudi Mani). Balaji has accompanied many leading artists in chennai and in US and has also played for many cassette / CD recordings and TV shows and he has been accompanying for various dance arangetrams and dance ballets. Balaji Mahadevan is a graded artist from All India radio, Chennai. He is also skilled in playing Tabla, Dhol, Thavil, khol and Drums. He is currently working as Senior Database Administrator at Touchpoint Inc, Emeryville