LOTUS June 2011 Monthly Concert

DATE: SATURDAY, JUNE 18TH, 2011

TIME: 2.00 PM TO 5.00 PM

VENUE: SANATHANA DHARMA KENDRA

897 Kifer Road, Suite 1, (inside RTS Building Complex)

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Phone: (408) 481-9242

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These are free events. All are welcome. Please feel free to spread this message to your friends and relatives.

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JUNIOR CONCERT #1: 2.00- 2.45 PM

APOORVA RANGAN (VOCAL)

RANGASHREE VARADARAJAN (VIOLIN)

ARJUN HARAN (MRIDANGAM)

JUNIOR CONCERT #2: 3.00- 3.45 PM

MEGHANA BHIMARAO (VOCAL)

RANGASHREE VARADARAJAN (VIOLIN)

ARJUN HARAN (MRIDANGAM)

JUNIOR CONCERT #3: 4.00- 4.45 PM

ARCHANA PODURY (VEENA)

BALAJI MAHADEVAN (MRIDANGAM)

Apoorva Rangan (Vocal)

Apoorva Rangan, an eighth grader at the Harker School, has been studying Carnatic vocal music under Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, founder and director of the Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts since the age of five. She has performed with the school in several Bay Area venues, such as the Livermore Temple, Badarikashrama, and Siva Murugan temple at Concord and in her school’s annual Vijayadashami celebrations. Apoorva was also part of the school’s 25^th Anniversary Kalavandana celebration. She has won prizes for her school at the OSAAT competition in the junior division and for her competent performance in the annual music examination conducted by her music school.

In addition to Carnatic music, Apoorva plays the western flute. She has won several competitions in the Bay Area. She was invited to play at Carnegie Hall for the American Fine Arts Festival. Apoorva plays for both the San Jose Youth Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra and the California Youth Symphony Senior Orchestra and soloed with the former orchestra this year. She also learns Bharatanatyam from Smt. Indumathy Ganesh.

Rangashree Varadarajan (Violin)

Rangashree Varadarajan comes from a legacy of distinguished musicians. Rangashree is a disciple of Carnatic vocal music under Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, Founder/Director of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts Sunnyvale, California . Rangashree presented her solo vocal debut in 2001 at the prestigious Bangalore Gayana Samaja, India. Her presentation earned critical acclaim and admiration and she was deemed a promising young vocalist among the music community both in the US and India. In addition to several CD credits to her name, Rangashree presents both violin and vocal concerts around the US and India.

Rangashree received her early training in Carnatic violin, from Smt. Srimati Brahmanandam and Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, Founder/Director Trinity School of Music (Saratoga CA), and is undergoing advanced tutelage under Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan. Her violin debut was presented in 2004 at the Devagiri Sangeetha Sabha in Bangalore, India. Rangashree's fluidity and maturity in execution have made her a desirable violinist amongst the music community. In addition, Rangashree is an accomplished western violinist and jazz vocalist. She has performed at concert halls such as Carnegie Hall (New York, US), the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (WDC, US), South Asian Performing Arts Network (Washington, DC), Fourth Stream Band (Washington, DC), Project Fitness, LLC (Washington, DC), SolSource Group LLC (Washington, DC), Tranquil Space Yoga Studio (Washington, DC), Past Tense Yoga Studio (Washington, DC) and Sub Continental Drift (Washington, DC), Nada Brahma Sangeeta Sabha (Mysore, India), and Gayana Samaja (Bangalore, India) just to name a few.

Upon receiving her Master of Science degree from Georgetown University in Physiology and Biophysics and working as a scientific researcher at the Samueli Institute, Alexandria, VA, Rangashree is currently in second year of medical school.

Arjun Haran (Mridangam)

Arjun began his initial training with Ravi Sridharan in the Bay area. Over the years, Arjun has performed with many youth talents in and outside the Bay area, with both vocalists and instrumentalists making him a very talented accompanist on stage. He has participated in many fundraisers and private concerts. Arjun has varied interests in music and now continues to learn from Sri. Mannargudi Easwaran. Arjun is a junior at St. Marys college, Moraga.

2) Meghana Bhimarao (vocal)

Meghana Bhimarao, an incoming senior at Evergreen Valley High School, has been learning Carnatic Vocal Music since age seven from Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, Founder/Director of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandir School of Fine Arts. Meghana has performed with the school in several Bay Area venues, such as the Livermore Temple, Badarikashrama, and the Shiva Murugan temple and Kannada Koota of Northern California. She was also part of the school’s 25^th Anniversary “Kalavandana” celebration. In addition to learning Carnatic Vocal music, Meghana is also a western music vocalist and has been singing in concert choirs through middle school and high school.

Accompanists:

Rangashree Varadarajan (Violin)

Arjun Haran (Mridangam)

3) Archana Podury (Veena)

Archana is a 13 year old freshman student at The Harker School in San Jose. She started her Carnatic vocal music training in Hyderabad, India at the age of 4. During her stay in India, Archana performed at various cultural festivals, temples, and schools in Hyderabad and Gurgaon, and participated in music competitions. Archana also took training in Hindustani Classical vocal music. After her return to the Bay area in 2006, Archana continued her Carnatic vocal music classes and started her veena training under the guidance of Guru Smt. Vasanti Lakshminarasimhan in Cupertino. Recently she is being trained by Guru Smt. Subhashini Gunapu of Pampa music school in Sunnyvale.

Archana has given vocal and veena group performances for Dassera celebrations at Sanathana Dharma Kendra in Sunnyvale and Sri Thyagaraja and Purandaradasa Aradhana at the Hindu Temple in Fremont. She also gave solo veena performances. In July 2010, Archana performed solo with accompaniment at the Kamakshi temple in New Delhi, India.

Balaji Mahadevan (Mrdangam)

Balaji Mahadevan had his initial training from Shri K.S.S.Mani (Chennai) for 8 years. He continued to train from Shri Madhu Sudhanan, Chennai (disciple of Shri Karikudi Mani). Balaji has accompanied many leading artists inchennai 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.