Chitra Srikrishna, carnatic musician, teacher and writer, is a graded artist of All India Radio. As a carnatic vocalist for over three decades, she’s performed live, on the radio, and television, across India, the USA, Canada, Malaysia, and Singapore. Her classical albums include devotional poetry of the Tamil Alwars & Dasa mystics and thematic compositions on Rama and Hanuman. s a music teacher and educator, her focus is on making Indian music accessible to a wider audience through workshops and thematic productions such as Antah Prerna, Bhakthi, and HumRaag. Carnatic in Corona Times is a video series around music for pandemic times. Moods & Melodies is a musical presentation on how melodies can influence our moods at a given time. Chitra’s writing on culture, musical and social topics has appeared in leading newspapers such as Deccan Herald, The Hindu, Mint, San Jose Mercury News, Sruti, India Currents. She now teaches an introductory course on the musical traditions of India at Ahmedabad University.

Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar is an Indian sarod player and pupil of Bahadur Khan. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar is one of the most influential and well-respected sarod musicians in India today. He is one of the leading exponents of the Senia Maihar gharana, a musical ‘family’ which has produced giants such as Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan.

Like so many of India’s musicians, his training started at home from an early age. His grandfather, Bhibuti Ranjan Majumdar, and father Ranjan Majumdar provided early inspiration and guided the young prodigy through the initial part of his learning. Later, he became the disciple of the distinguished sarod maestro Ustad Bahadur Khan and embarked on a path of rigorous training that was to last for eighteen years. All great Indian musicians share a seemingly unlimited appetite for learning and self-improvement, which continues throughout their career. After the death of his guru, although by then a popular performing artist in his own right, Tejendra has pursued musical training and guidance under the tutelage of the most revered sarod legend, Ali Akbar Khan.

Through his own endeavors and practice and with the benefit of all these influences, Tejendra has successfully developed a unique style of playing incorporating the dynamic instrumental approach, tantrakari with the melodic, lyrical vocal style known as gayaki. His success in blending these two styles has made him one of the most sought-after performing artists in India and abroad today.

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan is one of the most sought-after musicians in the Carnatic music field today.

She is the daughter and disciple of Vidwan Neyveli.Sri.R.Santhanagopalan.

She has a consistent record of well-received concerts and has traveled extensively within India and abroad including almost 25 cities in the United States of America, Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Australia, New Zealand etc, propagating the divine art of Carnatic music.

Sriranjani also runs a highly successful music school namely, “Sriranjani’s Tapasya”.

Shounak Abhisheki, an exceptional Indian Classical vocalist, is the son and disciple of Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki. Shounak’s presentation of Khayal is an aesthetic blend of the Agra and Jaipur styles of Hindustani Raag Sangeet. He had the privilege of being trained by Smt. Kamal Tambe of the Jaipur Gharana, subsequently groomed by the rigorous tutelage received from his illustrious father.

A versatile artist, Shounak is equally adept at several other genres of music; Natyasangeet, Abhangwani and fusion. Apart from the distinction of performing a duet with the legendary Carnatic vocalist Vidwan Dr. M.Balamurlikrishna, Shounak’s inclination towards experimentation in music has led him to collaborate with world music genre with groups like Vibgyor, Taal- Yatra, Miles from India and Sounds of India.

A regular performer in major music festivals including Sawai Gandharv festival in India, Shounak has also toured extensively abroad.

Aishwarya Srinivas has been engaged and inspired by Carnatic music since her childhood. Born in a family of ardent carnatic music rasikas, Aishwarya was initiated into the world of music at the tender age of three.

She performed her first concert at the age of twelve and since then has performed more than seven hundred concerts at prestigious sabhas across India.After being trained for over 12 years under Sangeetha Kalanidhi Smt. D. K. Pattammal and Sangeetha Kala Acharya Smt. Sulochana Pattabhiraman and then by Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shri R. K. Srikantan and Sangeetha Kala Acharya Shri P. S. Narayanaswamy she is now being guided by Vidwan Sri R.K.Sriramkumar.

She has performed at prestigious Sabhas all over India and has over a 1000 concert to her credit and is a regular performer in the December Music Season in Chennai.Endowed with perfect sruti-aligned voice with a wide range and clarity, she renders krithis with patanthara shuddham .

She specialises in performing thematic concerts based on themes like RTP concerts, Thiruppugazh , Patriotic songs ,compositions of a specific Vaggeyakaras like Bharathiyar , Gopalakrishna Bharathi and Shyama Sastri .

She also has a wide repertoire of varied works of different composers ranging from koteeswaraiyer to bhadrachala ramadasa, having learnt them from gurus belonging to the composers’ shishya paramparas themselves.

Saskia Rao-de Haas is a world-renowned virtuoso cellist, composer, and educationalist from the Netherlands. She was trained as a Western cellist from a young age onwards, but changed direction when she came in touch with Indian music in 1993. She is known as a master performer of Indian classical music and is hailed as the creator of a new instrument: the Indian cello.

Flute Maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia speaks of his disciple Saskia as “someone who has been taught by God.” According to him, “everybody should listen to her music”. Critics and audiences alike have praised her for artistic depth and technical virtuosity. Saskia has performed at all the most prestigious festivals for Indian classical music.

She is the first female non-Indian artist to have performed at the prestigious Dover Lane Music conference in Kolkata. She has toured extensively through North America, Europe and Asia, performing at the world’s leading concert halls and festivals, be it Kennedy Center, the Cello Biennale in Amsterdam, the New Directions Cello Festival in the US, Europelia in Brussels, Musee Guimet in Paris, Singapore, or the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London.
As a composer, she is eminent at bridging the Western and Indian classical-music traditions. She co-founded the Shubhendra and Saskia Rao foundation to promote the joy and benefits that Indian classical music can bring to children.

She created the first complete music curriculum for Indian music for young children based on 6 storybooks that she penned. Over 30,000 children and 100 music teachers have already benefitted from the ‘Sangeet4All’ music curriculum. Saskia lives in New Delhi with her life partner and partner on stage, Pandit Shubhendra Rao and their 15-year-old gifted pianist son Ishaan.

Endowed with a wholly original, melodious and extremely rich voice, Kalapini is widely recognized as one of the finest and well – trained classical vocalists of the younger generation. She is the daughter and disciple of the legendary Pandit Kumar Gandharva and has also been trained by her illustrious mother, Vidushi Vasundhara Komkali. Kalapini learnt from her distinguished parents not only the technique and grammar of her art but also inherited a capacity for creativity and reflection.

While strengthening her hold over her inheritance with a fine sense of understanding, she has evolved her own vision and has emerged in the last decade as a vocalist with a profound degree of sensitivity and intensity. Her performances are marked by youthful imagination, artistic thoughtfulness and a mature command over various aspects of classical vocalism.

Her musical lineage is most manifest in her emphasis laid on the rendition of the bandish (composition), its bhava or meaning, and in the studied restraint which does not allow the notes, or laya (tempo), to overwhelm the lyrics. The full melodic range and versatility of her voice provide a silhouette but they are never allowed to dominate the rendition by naturally sliding into vocal acrobatics.

Her range of swaras has the ability to convey various bhavas (emotions). The improvisations made by her are generally rooted in the Gwalior gayaki, but carry her own distinct identity.

Kalapini’s wide repertoire of ragas and compositions is further supplemented by the presentation of the traditional songs of Malwa representing the folkore and ethnic flavour of the region. The Sagun-Nirgun bhajans (devotional songs) of the various saint poets rendered in her inimitable style provide an ascetic flavour to Kalapini’s music.

Vishnudev’s music is steeped in tradition, but there is enough room for creativity and innovation.

Born and raised in Angamaly, Kerala, the engineer-turned-Carnatic vocalist says his family was always keen on Carnatic music, though there weren’t many venues in his hometown for the art.

He started learning music at the age of nine from his aunt Kavitha Shiboo, and Alli Harivishnu. He later trained under Chandramana Narayanan Namboothiri.

It is with the latter that he focused on learning mano dharmam, or creativity-focused learning. After settling down in Chennai in 2007, he has since been under the tutelage of Neyveli Santhanagopalan and then S Narayanaswamy, the latter for the past eight years.

He has toured several venues in the US, the UK, Ireland and in India across major metros.

Vidhushi Aruna Sairam was born in Mumbai into a Tamil musical family. She received vocal training from her mother Rajalakshmi Sethuraman, who was a student of the Alathur Brothers and Thanjavoor Sankara Iyer. Her father Shri Sethuraman was a music connoisseur who hosted musicians and dancers in the family home. At one of these gatherings, Aruna met Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. T. Brinda, who trained her in the style of Veena Dhanammal. Shri S Ramachandran, from the bani (style) of Chittor Subramanya Pillai, expanded her already wide repertoire and taught her the fine nuances of nereval singing (improvising within poetic texts). A S Mani, a disciple of Tiger Vardacharyar guided her through the creative process of swara singing (improvising with the sol-fa). Prof T R Subramanyam, an acclaimed music professor at Delhi University, taught Aruna to sing and spontaneously compose within ragam-tanam-pallavi. K S Narayanaswamy, the respected veena singer, taught her the subtlety of gamakas – the microtonal oscillations that mark Carnatic music.

Despite her extensive training, Sairam felt the need for guidance in voice training to become capable of fully expressing her creativity and knowledge through her voice. She met German voice maestro Eugene Rabine, who helped her discover and apply a new sound and emotion to her voice. She later took advice and guidance from Carnatic singer M. Balamuralikrishna.

Bharat Sundar attained international fame after winning Jaya TV’s first Carnatic Music Idol. His experience in the field dates way back to when he was in his early teens.

Bharat Sundar started learning Carnatic music at the age of six with Smt. Gayathri Mahesh, a senior disciple of veteran vocalist Vid O.S.Thyagarajan. He further learned from Vidushi Leelavathi Gopalakrishnan and her son Vid G Srikanth.

Bharat received specialised instruction in pallavi singing from Vid Trichy J.Venkatraman and Vid Srimushnam Rajarao. He was under the tutelage of Vid Sri.P.S.Narayanaswamy for the last several years until PSN’s demise recently.
Currently Bharat is undergoing training with Sangita Kalanidhi Vidushi Dr. S. Sowmya.Bharat is All India Radio ‘A’ grade artiste and Gold medalist from Madras University in MA Music.

Bharat is also an active member of Sukrtam Foundation, a non-profit trust founded in Chennai, India by renowned Carnatic vocalist Sangita Kalanidhi Vidushi Dr. S. Sowmya.

Bharat has performed all over India and abroad accompanied by senior artistes including Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. Trichy Sankaran, Sangita Kalanidhi Sri Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Sangita Kalanidhi Sri T V Gopalakrishnan, Sri Srimushnam Raja Rao, Sri Thiruvarur Bhaktavalsalam etc and is one of the most sought-after young musicians of today.

He is one of the most celebrated torch bearers of Indian classical music, and has traversed the globe many times over performing in various awe inspiring venues around the world like Royal Albert Hall, Palace-de-beaux (Brussels), Theater- De-La-Viile (France), Apollo Theatre (Spain), Jubilee Auditorium (Canada), Kremlin (Russia). His mesmerized list of admirers includes Prince Charles, George Harrison, Paolo Solaris and other respected figures.

The famous Maihar Gharana’s only Santoor maestro, Pandit Bhattacharya has revolutionized the instrument as well as the style of playing it. He displayed for the first time ever (1980) that one could ‘meend’ or glide notes at the lower octave in a hammered instrument like Santoor.

Pt. Tarun Bhattacharya is the inventor of “mankas” or fine tuners that help tune the 100 stringed Santoor quickly, for longer lasting effect and to a very high degree of accuracy. His innovative techniques of playing the Santoor also facilitates in the playing of Krintans, Ekharatans and Boltans broadening the utility of the Santoor in various traditional forms of musical artistry.

Pt. Tarun Bhattacharya is recognized worldwide for his Ragdari, as well as Layakari (mathematical calculations). His improvisation on the shape and string arrangements of the Santoor produces music that touches the soul – be it of a connoisseur or that of the casual listener.

Sandeep Narayan was born into a family of musicians and music lovers. A house nearly always filled with visiting musicians and students of South Indian classical (Carnatic) music, Sandeep was exposed to this ancient tradition from before he was born.

Although his decision to relocate from Los Angeles to Chennai in 2006 in order to take up music as his full-time profession was unprecedented, it did not come as a shock to those who knew the extent of his passion.

After undergoing his initial training in Los Angeles from his mother Smt. Shubha Narayan, Sandeep received advanced lessons from the revered musicologist Calcutta Sri K.S. Krishnamurthy in Chennai. After Sri Krishnamurthy’s demise in 1999, Sandeep began training under the well-known vocalist, Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyan. Smt. Shubha Narayan was one of the first teachers of South Indian classical (Carnatic) music in Southern California. Having trained under eminent musicians such as Thiruparkkadal Sri Srinivasa Iyengar, Thanjavur Smt. Soundaramma, and Madurai Sri Krishnan, Shubha provided Sandeep with a strong foundation. Sandeep’s father, Sri K.S. Narayan, also had training in Carnatic music as a young boy growing up in Thiruvaiyaru, an area of South India known for it’s rich musical tradition.

In the early 1980s, Sri K.S. Narayan began one of the first Carnatic music organizations in Los Angeles known as the “South Indian Music Academy” (SIMA), which is still one of the premier organizations showcasing South Indian classical arts in the United States even today. After establishing the organization and serving as it’s president for over a decade, Sri K.S. Narayan stepped down in order to allow the younger generation to take over, ensuring a bright future for both SIMA and Carnatic music in Southern California.