LOTUS Jan 2018 Monthly concerts

Amit Ranganathan has been a disciple of Sri. Ravindra Bharathy Sridharan for the past 11 years. Amit has performed for over 250 concerts and continues to regularly accompany senior and junior musicians and students of various San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento music schools. He has played for Bharatanatyam and vocal arangetrams in and out of the Bay Area. Amit is an active participant in the Cleveland Thyagaraja festival. He has won the first-place award in the senior mrudangam competition and has also won awards in the junior and accompaniment category. Amit has performed in the Chennai December season multiples times and has also performed around the USA in places including North Carolina, Charlotte, Omaha, New Jersey, Detroit, Portland, and Los Angeles. In addition to learning mrudangam, Amit has learnt Carnatic vocal music from Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan. Amit is a third year student at San Jose State University majoring in Computer Science and continues to support the Carnatic music community all around USA on a regular basis.

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Guru Sri Hari Devanath

Sri Hari Devanath was born in a family of amateur musicians that loved to share their music. Having been initiated into Carnatic music by his grandmother Smt Komala Parthasarathy, he was groomed into the traditional and rich paataantharam of Neyveli Sri Santhanagopalan for many decades now. Hari feels blessed to continue learning from 'Neyveli Sir' with whom he enjoys a special relationship as a life-long disciple, ardent fan, and protege. As a junior amateur artiste, Hari performed in established sabhas in Chennai. After moving to the US he has continued performing at various festivals and house concerts. Along with his colleague and co-performer Sri Vivek Sundararaman, he continues his performances at many musicfestivals all over the US. The duo has performed at sabhas in the December music festival in Chennai. Through Sri Paduka Academy, which he founded and Neyveli Sir inaugurated in 2002, Hari and Vivek have developed several students to not only perform short concerts on their own, but also appreciate the nuances and subtleties, theoretical structure & complexity, and the rich heritage that our academic learning is built on today. With other US and India based teachers and community volunteers, Hari collaborates in strengthening the enthusiasm for learning Carnatic music life-long and the value that brings. He has written articles through local publications, blogs and other social media that continue to reach out to musically-inclined and the common music lover compelling their roles in the musical growth of the community. He has delivered several thematic concerts, lec-dems, and educative programs at fund-raisers and other unique events.

Sishya - Vocal - Shruthi Aravindan

Shruthi Aravindan is a fourth year at the University of California, Davis majoring in Biomedical Engineering. Shruthi has studied Carnatic music for 15 years. She is currently a student of Sri Hari Devanath (Sri Paduka Academy), disciple of Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan. She completed her music arangetram in June 2014 and has performed multiple full-length concerts since then. In addition to paatu, she has pursued Bharathanatyam dance training under the guidance of Smt. Deepa Mahadevan for 15 years. She successfully completed her Bharathanatyam arangetram in August 2008 at the age of 10. Since then, she has been an ardent performer both in the US and in India. She also had a review in one of the leading newspapers - "The Hindu."She has been a teaching assistant for Tiruchitrambalam School of Dance for many years.

Violin - Aditya Satyadeep

Aditya Satyadeep is a sophomore at Archbishop Mitty High School. He has been learning carnatic violin for the past 7 years. Aditya had his initial training under the guidance of Dr.Rajalakshmi Srinivasan and is currently under the tutelage of Lalgudi Smt.Vijayalakshmi, daughter and disciple of the Violin maestro Shri Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. Aditya regularly accompanies students of music schools and musicians in the bayarea. He has also had the privilege to perform at various places outside the bayarea including Chennai, Chicago, Cleveland, North Carolina and Los Angeles. Aditya has received many prizes in carnatic violin competitions organized by the prestigious Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana and Kala Aradhana. Aditya enjoys listening to music, reading and playing tennis during his free time.

Mridangam - Akshay Venkatesan

Akshay Venkatesan, a junior in Evergreen Valley High School, has been learning Mridangam from `Laya Kala Ratna’ Sri Ramesh Srinivasan, a leading disciple of Mridangam Maestro Late Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri Vellore G. Ramabhadran. Akshay is a Staff Member of SPAC and has been teaching actively in the school. Akshay has been accompanying Vocalists and Instrumentalists in US and in many Sabhas in the December music season in Chennai since 2013. He has also been supporting for Bharatanatyam Dance arangetram and other programs in Bay Area.

Last year Akshay is blessed to accompany Carnatica Brothers (Sri.Shashikiranji and Sri. Ganeshji) in V.V.S. Foundation in Chennai December season and received “Yuva Prathiba” award from Sri. V.V. Subramanian mama. Also, Akshay learns vocal Carnatic music and is a student of Sri Paduka Academy. He also plays Alto Saxophone in the Wind Ensemble band in his school.