Lotus September & October 2011 Monthly Concerts

HRISHIKESH CHARY (VEENA)

VIGNESH VENKATARAMAN (MRIDANGAM)

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Hrishikesh

As a young child, Hrishikesh showed a keen interest and talent in music. He could

easily identify ragams by the age of two. He started learning veena at the age of six

from his father, Sri Srikanth Chary who is a disciple of the music Maestro Lalgudi

Sri G. Jayaraman. In 2007 Hrishikesh composed a ragamalika musical piece for

the "Reflections" contest, interpreting the theme "I Wonder Why" which was selected to

appear at the Fremont District competition.

Hrishikesh has performed several solo veena concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He has accompanied his father in veena duets, and accompanied his great-aunt, Smt.

Hema Sista. Hrishikesh has also provided orchestral accompaniment for Chinmaya

Mission fundraiser programs, including a CD release entitled “Bhakthi Rasaamrutham”

and the program “Jnana Ganga”, and provided orchestral accompaniment in the 2008

Ethnic Dance Festival, held at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts.

In addition to following his passion for the veena, Hrishikesh also studies vocal music

from Smt. Hema Sista. Since the age of 10, Hrishikesh has won several prizes in

veena and vocal competitions – held in the Bay Area and at the Cleveland Thyagaraja

Aradhana. In 2010, Hrishikesh won the prestigious Cleveland Aradhana concert

competition, and was awarded a tambura and the opportunity to present a concert at the 2011 festival. Hrishikesh has also given vocal and veena performances for the Swara Lahari television program.

Hrishikesh is a senior at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, California. He is a

Tae Kwon Do black belt and enjoys playing cricket and basketball.

Vignesh (Mridangam)

Vignesh, a freshman at Stanford University, is a mridangam artist hailing from the Umayalpuram Sri.K. Sivaraman school of music. Initiated into the art by Sri. Anand Iyer (also from the same school), for the past 5 years, Vignesh has been to Chennai, India every summer for advanced training and tutelage by Padma Vibhushan Awardee, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Umayalpuram Sri. K. Sivaraman.

Vignesh has accompanied numerous artists in more than 200 concerts held in the US and India. This includes various artists such as Sri. T.K.Govinda Rao, Sri Saketaraman (disciple of Lalgudi Sri G. Jayaraman), Sri Nagai Sriram (violinist), Smt. Jayalakshmi Sekar (veena artist from Bangalore), Dr. Nishtala Krishaveni (veena artist from Visakhapatnam), Sri. Hemmige Srivatsan (disciple of Sri. KV Narayanaswamy), Smt. Asha Ramesh (disciple of Sri. D.K.Jayaraman), Sri Mohan Rangan (flautist),

Smt. Harini Krishnan, and Padmaja Kishore (daughter and disciple of Sri. T.K.Govinda Rao). He has given many performances in the San Francisco Bay area under the auspices of local organizations such as Lotus, Nandalala Mission, Swaralahari (local TV program), South India Fine Arts and San Francisco Sangati Center. He was invited to give a special performance called Laya Vinyasam at the 2009 Utah Thyagaraja Festival (Salt Lake City, Utah). He has participated in the San Francisco World Music Festival four years in a row. He was part of the orchestra for a documentary called Brides of Kerala released by the University of California, Berkeley. He and his brother were invited to give a special concert in Chennai in June 2011, organized by 50/50 Club.

As a growing artist, Vignesh has participated in mridangam and vocal competitions at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana festival and has won several prizes in both categories. He accompanied the Trinity School of Carnatic Music (founded by Smt. Anuradha Sridhar, daughter of Lalgudi Smt. Srimathi Brahmanandam) which won the school music competition at the 2009 Cleveland festival. He accompanied the same school during their 2010 and 2011 concerts at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana.

In addition to mridangam, Vignesh rounds out his musical instruction and knowledge by learning vocal Carnatic music from violinist Sri. R.K. Shriramkumar.

Srikanth Chary:

Accomplished Veena artiste, Srikanth Chary began his training at the age of six in Mumbai under the Veena vidwan Devakottai Narayana Iyengar. He later studied music under the auspices of Shanmukhananda Sabha from Smt. Kalyani Sarma. At the age of eight, Srikanth was presented the first prize in a music competition by the music doyen Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi. After moving to the United States, Srikanth had the opportunity to study music from the famed violinist Kum. A. Kanyakumari. This opportunity awakened in Srikanth a keen love for music that he has been pursuing ever since.

Since the early 1980s, Srikanth has been receiving advanced music training from the music Maestro Padmabhushan Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. Sri Jayaraman's bani (musical style) is well known for its purity of sound and rhythm, its emphasis on tonal perfection, and its sparkling creativity in manodharama sangitam (improvisational music). Srikanth has adapted this captivating style to the Veena, and reformed this instrument to a new melodic medium while preserving the traditional purity of Carnatic music. He has delighted audiences all over with his scintillating music.

Srikanth has given many concerts in the United States, India and Australia and has received excellent reviews. In concert at Chennai’s Narada Gana Sabha in 1989, Srikanth was felicitated by the late Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. M. L. Vasanthakumari, who presented him with a silk shawl.

Srikanth has accompanied eminent vocalists like Smt. Charumati Ramachandran, Smt. Sudha Ragunathan, Papanasam Sri Ashok Ramani and the Carnatica Brothers. He has also given jugalbandhis with Hindustani musicians. In 1999, he was invited to perform a duet with Sangeetha Choodamani Lalgudi Sri G. J. R. Krishnan at the residence of His Excellency, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. During Fall 2002, Srikanth was part of a violin-veena-venu team U.S concert tour with Lalgudi Sri G. J. R. Krishnan and Sri K. R. Subramaniam. Srikanth was awarded "The Best Veena Player Award" by the prestigious Chennai Music Academy during the 2002-2003 music festival. Srikanth frequently performs on television and radio and is a graded artiste of the All India Radio. He has released three compact discs (Janani, 1996; Tiger and Silk, 2002; Ethereal Melodies, 2007) which have won rave reviews from music connoisseurs worldwide.

In 1989, Srikanth established a music school Nada Nidhi to pass on the rich heritage of Carnatic music. His students include not only youth being brought up in the United States who wish to absorb musical aspects of Indian culture, but also seasoned vainikas (veena artistes) who want to refine and embellish their knowledge and techniques. Srikanth’s students have performed widely to critical acclaim. They have also won prestigious awards in national and international music competitions.

Akhilesh Sista:

Akhilesh Sista began his veena training at the age of 10 from Sri Srikanth Chary, his cousin and disciple of the music maestro Padmabhushan Lalgudi Sri Jayaraman. He gave his veena arangetram at the age of 17. He has since given many performances throughout the Bay Area as a soloist and accompanist. He has frequently accompanied his mother, Smt. Hema Sista, during her vocal performances and accompanied Sri Papanasam Ashok Ramani during his tour of the United States. Akhilesh has performed with his guru at the prestigious Cleveland Thyagaraja aradhana and has been featured on KUSF, San Francisco and television station KMTV, Mountain View. His guru and he released a CD entitled Ethereal Melodies. Akhilesh has imbibed Sri Srikanth's veena style, which drips with purity, beauty, and rhythmic precision. Creativity and musical discipline have been the cornerstones of his training. Akhilesh is an interventional radiologist, and is currently an attending physician and assistant professor at Cornell medical school in New York City, New York.