|
||||
| Tickets: FREE
(Donations Welcome) IMSOM Membership Page. |
||||
| About
the Artists K N Shashi Kiran (Vocal) Carnatic vocalist K.N. Sashikiran hails from a family of renowned musicians. He is the son of the accomplished ‘Chitravina’ Narasimhan and the grandson of the legendary Gottuvadhyam Narayana Iyengar. He emerged a child prodigy with a talent for identifying ragas, demonstrating complicated talas, and answering technical questions put to him. He underwent musical training under the tutelage of stalwarts like T. Brinda, T.Viswanathan and Calcutta K.S. Krishnamurthy. With an exemplary academic record, he is also a keen writer and contributes articles and reviews to newspapers and websites. He established Carnatica – a centre for the complete education of Carnatic music, and runs it with Carnatic vocalist S. Sowmya. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in music from the University of Madras where he ranked first. Then followed a Master's degree in music from the University of Madras and excelled as a gold medallist. He is currently working towards achieving a doctorate on "Teaching Methodology in Carnatic Music". Alongside he also holds a diploma in Audio and Video Technology. Shashikiran has won many accolades for his talent. He was awarded the Rani Sethulakshmi Bai Memorial Award in 1990, the Best Pallavi Singer for his concert at the Rasika Ranjani. In 1997 he received an award for being the Best Exponent of Any Raga from the Music Academy, He received the award from the Carnatic Music Association of North America in 1998 for being the Best Vocalist and finally the Bharat Nirman Excellence Award in 1999 for meritorious accomplishments in diverse fields of activity that have immensely contributed to the nation's progress. He is the youngest person and the first musician in India to receive this honour. He was the recipient of the Ford Foundation scholarship on the ‘Veena Dhanammal Bani’ in 1990. K.N.Shashikiran and P.Ganesh sing together as Carnatica Brothers. The duo is very successful as performers, mentors and scholars in music. Nirmala Rajasekar (Veena) World-renowned
musician and Kalaimamani Awardee Nirmala
Rajasekar is a dynamic Carnatic veena player,
vocalist, composer, and educator. She is
celebrated around the globe for her exquisite
tone, vibrant musicality, captivating stage
presence, and sensitive artistry. A passionate
educator, Nirmala is at the vanguard of artists
working to make the world a more equitable place
for all. Born in Chennai on December 11, Nirmala began her performing career at the age of 13. She trained with veteran Gurus Devakottai Shri Narayana Aiyyangar, Smt. Kamala Aswathama, Smt. G.Chennamma, Smt E.P. Alamelu, and Shri A.D. Zachariah, before coming under the guidance of veteran Vidhushi Prof. Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan, with whom she studied for nearly 30 years. Nirmala has also been mentored by Veena Maestro Dr. S. Balachander in several aspects of music and in the presentation of lectures and demonstrations. Nirmala has studied vocal music with Gurus Shri Prof. T R Subramanyam, Shri B. Sitarama Sarma, and Shri Calcutta K.S.Krishnamurthy. She has had the good fortune of receiving guidance from violin legends Shri M.S. Anantharaman (in concert presentation methods) and Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman (in the study of his Varnams and Thillanas). She continues to be guided by eminent musicologist and composer Dr. B.M. Sundaram in her research projects, a journey that began in 2006 with the story of Shakuntala from Abhijnanashakuntalam, the great Sanskrit play by poet Kalidasa. Her music highlights the rich parampara of her Gurus. Her unique and creative presentation style has won her many followers across the world. Nirmala has performed at several world-renowned venues including Siri Fort (New Delhi), Carnegie Hall, United Nations (New York), Sawai Gandharva Mahotsav (Pune), the Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha, Kalakshetra (Chennai), Gayana Samaja (Bengaluru), Chembur Fine Arts (Mumbai), Kolkotta Performing Arts Festival (Kolkotta), Rumi International Festival (Konya, Turkey), Musee Rietburg (Zurich, Switzerland) and many other venues in India, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Indonesia and Singapore. She is regularly featured in the world-famous Chennai Music Festival in December, performing solos and Jugalbandhis with Carnatic and Hindustani legends. She has performed for world luminaries such as His Excellency the President of India late Dr. Abdul Kalam and Jazz great Ornette Coleman. Nirmala has been on the panel of artists of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations since 1987. She has performed for Sangeet Natak Akademy events, such as the Maharana Kumbh Parishad in Udaipur. A celebrated composer, Nirmala has written traditional and collaborative music for orchestras, bands, choruses, theatre, and chamber ensembles in Indian and Western classical music. In 2020, she was chosen for the distinguished honor as the Annual Commissioned Composer of the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. Now in its 54th year, the program features the top composers in modern history, many of whom are Pulitzer Prize winners. Nirmala is their first Indian-woman composer composer, and their first ever composer from a traditional art form. In 2019, she pioneered the Veena-Gaanam ensemble at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana featuring 70 performers on veena, vocals, and percussion. Nirmala has received grants and funding from organizations including the Jerome Foundation, New Music USA, American Composers Forum, and Meet the Composer. She has been commissioned by leading arts organizations, universities, and ensembles across the USA and India, including the American Composers Alliance, Schubert Club, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Carnatica (India), Chennayil Thiruvaiyaru (India), Kalakshetra (India), the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival, Zeitgeist New Music Ensemble, St. Olaf College, the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, University of St. Thomas, EcoArts Festival, Walker Arts Center, Ragamala Dance Company, Khambatta Dance Company, Aniccha Arts, Katha Dance Theatre, Pangea World Theatre, Playwright Center, and LDQ Film Productions. Many institutions have recognized Nirmala for her contributions; some of them are listed here: in 2006, the doyen of Carnatic Music Dr. Balamurali Krishna, who supported her work for several years, conferred upon her the title "Naadha Kala Vipanchee." She has received several awards from leading organizations - The Music Academy, Narada Gana Sabha, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Chennai Cultural Trust; Vocational Excellence Award (Rotary Club International), Veena Sudar Oli, Women of Substance Award 2014, Veena Kala Vithakar (Veenalayam Toronto), and a Lifetime Achievement Award (India Association of Minnesota). The Delhi Telugu Academy recognized Nirmala as "Prathibha Puraskar." Nirmala was conferred the "Swararaga Saragyar" Award from his Holiness Shri Andavan Swamy by Shri Panchamukha Anjaneyar Festival, "Asthana Vidwan" by the Hindu Society of Minnesota, and "Gandharva Vidhyadara" Award from Irai Pani Manram Chennai. At the famed Cleveland Aradhana USA, Nirmala was awarded the TRS Memorial Award for excellence in teaching. She is a recipient of the Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu, the highest honor in the arts. Nirmala has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships by leading American organizations. She is the first Indian musician to receive the Bush Fellowship and the McKnight Fellowship. Nirmala
has been featured on TV and Radio around the
world. An A grade artiste of Indian Radio and
Television since 1990, she has been seen and
heard in several concerts for All India Radio's
National Programme of Music, Doordarshan's
National Programme of Music, South Zone
concerts, and broadcasts for the Chennai,
Bombay, Bangalore and New Delhi stations. In addition to performing and composing, Nirmala is a leader in initiatives of research in music, social causes, and service. She leads organizations that support performing musicians, composers, music educators and creators. Nirmala serves as a Vice President of the Global Carnatic Musicians' Association, an organization created to be a unified voice for Carnatic musicians. In 2022 Nirmala was elected as Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Composers Forum, a national organization for composers and music creators in the USA; she previously served as Co-Chair. She is the first India-born woman to serve in this position. As a researcher, she has presented papers, lecture-demonstrations, and masterclasses for many organizations including Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha (Dec 2018), Layyasaaram Institute of Fine Arts (Oct 2019), Karnataka Gana Kala Parishat Vidwat Sadas Bangalore: Golden Jubilee (Feb 2020), Kutir (Oct 2020), and IFAASD (April 2021). Her works "Sacred Water," "Embracing the Beloved," "Song of Wonder," and "Elemental Spirit: Respect and Responsibility" have all been developed from many months and years of research and study. Nirmala is a passionate educator who believes in passing on the art to the next generation with sincerity and dedication. She established the Naadha Rasa Center for Music and has served as its artistic director for the past 27 years. Her students are accomplished veena players, vocalists, and composers. As a teaching artist, she has conducted residencies, workshops, and classroom teaching sessions for numerous institutions, including SPICMACAY, Princeton University, Young Audiences America, COMPAS, and Minnesota State Arts Board. In
September 2019, Nirmala founded "Naadharasa," a
charitable organization for the propagation of
Indian classical music and the Saraswathi veena.
Since its inception, Naadharasa has supported
the January 2020 Yuva Utsav of young performers
from several disciplines in Chennai, and
workshops on Carnatic rhythm. During the
pandemic, Naadharasa has raised funds to support
the families of COVID-19 victims. Biography
sourced from https://www.nirmalarajasekar.com/profile
A prominent vocalist in the field of Carnatic Music, Vasudha Ravi has been a disciple of Dr (Mrs) Manjula Sriram for over two decades. She also briefly learnt from Vidwan A Sundaresan. Vasudha Ravi holds a dual Masers degree in Music and HR. She is an A grade artiste in All India Radio. Vasudha Ravi has performed at Musica Sacra International Music Festival,Makartoberdorf, Germany, Les Sacrees Journees International Music Festival,Strasbourg,France.Performed Carnatic Vocal with the Beverian Youth Jazz Band–Lades Jugend Jazz Orchestra of Germany. Besides India, she has presented traditional Carmatic Music across the globe including countries like Dhaka, Singapore, Myanmar, Muscat, Germany, France, and Jordan. As a composer, she has composed music for thematic dance presentations with Padmashri Malavika Sarukkai, Padmashri Alarmel Valli, and Priya Govind. She has worked on musical productions with Maestro Ilayaraja, and Sri Rajkumar Bharati Vasudha Ravi has recieved the following awards and prizes:
B V Raghavendra Rao (Violin) B V Raghavendra Rao hails from a distinguished family of musicians. He was initiated into the niceties of music at an early age of seven by his father B.Sudarsana Rao. Attracted by the lure of classical music from his childhood, he trained rigorously on the violin for several years and he is presently the disciple of the violin “Maestro” Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shri.T.N.Krishnan. Later he received invaluable guidance and concert experience from Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna one of the greatest musicians India has produced in this century. As a young artiste he received the appreciation of the President of India for accompanying the celebrated musical genius, and climbed the ladder of success as an accomplished, and one of the most popular violinist in the Carnatic music genre today. He has won several prizes and awards from various sabhas in Chennai and has participated in the prestigious Bharat Cultural Integration Committee's (B.C.I.C) music festivals organized all over India. Raghavendra Rao has performed internationally in numerous music festivals of I.C.C.R., and the prestigious "Festival of India" programs. He has widely travelled all over the world, including the U.S.A, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius and the Middle Eastern countries. Thanjavoor Murugaboopathi (Mridangam) Thanjavur K Murugaboopathi belongs to a family of artists and musicians. He had his initial training under Sri T.R.Srinivasan, a Mridangam Vidwan and Lecturer in the Tamilnadu Government Music College. After receiving the 'Vadhya Visharada' with distinction from the Music College, he came under the guidance of Late Sri Tanjore Upendran. He learnt from the late maestro in the age old tradition of Gurukulavasam. Sri Murugaboopathi has won numerous awards including the Vadya Kalaimani from the Music College, Chennai, the Laya Kala Ratna from the Tiruppur Murugan Mandram, the Best Artiste Award from the South Indian Music Club, Andhra Pradesh, the Music Academy and the Sivan Mandram, Sydney, Australia. Murugaboopathi can adapt his playing to any style of singing or instrumental music and has won the appreciation of the artists as well as the rasikas. With his uncompromising orthodox style of playing he gracefully blends the best of the Pazhani Subramania Pillai and the Palghat Mani Iyer schools making him one of the most sought after mridangam players today. Boopathi as he is fondly known with his contemporaries, regularly accompanies leading artists such as Sangeetha Kalnidhis Shri Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan, Dr. N. Ramani, Shri T V Sankaranarayan, the Hyderabad Brothers, Mandolin Srinivas, Sudha Ragunathan, and other contemporary artists such as Sanjay Subramaniam, T M Krishna, Bombay Jayashri and Aruna Sayeeram to name a few. Within India, he has performed in various venues in most metros including New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and across Tamil Nadu. Internationally, he is widely travelled on tour with the above reputed artists in North America including USA and Canada, in Europe including Great Britain, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Turkey, South Africa, the Middle East at Dubai, Muscat, and Doha, South East Asia in Singapore and Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. S V Ramani (Ghatam) S.V Ramani is an Indian percussionist. He is a senior exponent of the South Indian classical percussion instruments, the mridangam and the ghatam. His initial training was by his father, Late Shri Pallipuram R Seshamani (retired AIR staff artiste). He underwent further training under the world renowned Mridangist Kalaimamani Shri Guruvayur Dorai Initiating his concert performances at the age of eight, S.V Ramani has performed on the concert platform for the past 30 years. His first public performance was at the age of 8 years. At a young age, he was fortunate to get opportunities to play for stalwarts like Dr.Balamurali krishna, Sri. T.N. Krishnan, Sri.Lalgudi Jayaraman, Sri.K.V.Narayanaswamy, Sri. D.K.Jayaraman, Sri. Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Sri. M.S.Gopalakrishnan, Sri.Chittibabu, Sri R.K.Shrikantan…He has also accompanied many concerts with Maestros like Sri. Palakkad Raghu,Sri. Guruvayur Dorai , Sri. T.K.Moorthy, Sri. Vellore Ramabhadran, Sri.Umayalapuram Sivaraman, Sri. Trichy Sankaran, Thavil exponent Sri. A.K.Pazhanivel,and many more legends. For the past three decades, he has continued to accompany several artistes and vidwans both in India and abroad like Sri. PS Narayanaswamy, Sri. N Ramani, Sri. TN Seshagopalan, Sri. TV Sankaranarayanan, Sri.M. Chandrasekaran, Sri. L. Subramaniam, Smt. Aruna Sairam, Sri. Mandolin U Srinivas, Smt. Veenai E.Gayathri, Sri. Kadri Gopalnath, Sri. Ganesh Kumaresh, Smt. Sudha Raghunathan, Sri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan… He has collaborated with eminent Hindustani musicians like Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan along with great tabla Maestros Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee and many contemporary musicians. He has also worked with Cine music directors like Ilayaraja, Deva, Vidhyasagar for movies. He has performed for many CD recordings for leading musicians. Performances:
Awards & Accolades:
Sriram Iyer (Mridangam) Sriram is a versatile artiste and collaborative world musician specializing in the classical South Indian instruments Mridangam (barrel drum) and Kanjira (Frame Drum). Sriram is a student of Vidwan Tanjavur Sri Murugaboopathi. He started training on the Mridangam at the age of 9, under the veteran Guru Sri K V Maniappan in Mumbai, India. Sriram has had advanced training from the Late maestro Sangeetha Kalanidhi Padma Sri Palghat Raghu. Sriram regularly accompanies renowned and upcoming artistes in India during the December music season in Chennai, India. In the US and has performed at several prestigious venues in Boston, California, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Connecticut, Madison, Milwaukee, Ohio, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and across the state of Minnesota. Some of the renowned vocalists he has been fortunate to accompany include Shri M Balamuralikrishna, Shri T V Sankaranarayan, Shri N Ravikiran, Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan, The Carnatica Brothers, Smt Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Smt Pantula Rama, Shri Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna, Shri R Suryaprakash, Shri V K Manimaran, Smt Alamelu Mani. Some of the renowned instrumental artistes he has had an opportunity to accompany include Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, the Mysore Brothers, Smt Mala Chandrashekar, Smt Nirmala Rajasekar, Smt Geetha Bennett, Smt Rajeswari Pariti, Smt Suma Sudhindra, Shri V K Raman and Shri Chandan Kumar. Sriram has been featured on PBS (MN Original), Twin Cities Public Television (Geetmala), Wisconsin Public Radio, KFAI FM Radio, Festival of Nations and the State Fair in St Paul MN. His noteworthy collaborations have included - The St Olaf Jazz Band - Northfield, The Brass Kings - Minneapolis, A Jugalbandi concert rendition with Grammy Award winner - Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt and rising star Keyboard artist - Sathya, Gayaki Mandolin - a carnatic music album with Mandolin Prakash. Sriram is a resident of Excelsior MN and teaches students across the midwest. He is the secretary of the Indian Music Society of Minnesota, the twin cities most respected and recognized organization promoting Indian Classical Arts and Culture. He is the founder of the Layyasaaram Institute of Indian Arts, a Twin Cities based non-profit organization. . |
||||
| About the Venue: Minneapolis Central Library is located at: 300 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis , MN 55401 |
||||
| Acknowledgments: This
activity is made possible by the voters of
Minnesota through a grant from the
Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to
a legislative appropriation from the arts and
cultural heritage fund.
IMSOM’s Concert Series are made possible, in part, by the UHG “United for Giving” program, matching grants from Honeywell, US Bank, 3M, Wells Fargo and Winnebago, generous donations from the Dr. Dash Foundation, late Dr. V. Premanand and family, and the generosity of IMSOM’s members and donors. Media partners for all concerts are KFAI Radio (90.3 FM Mpls/106.7 FM St. Paul) and Localfiles.com. IMSOM, established in 1980, is a registered non-profit (501(c)(3)) organization serving Minneapolis-St. Paul and the greater Twin Cities Metro Area.  For further information contact:
Back |
||||
IMSOM, established in 1980, is a registered non-profit (501(c)(3)) organization serving Minneapolis-St.Paul and the greater Twin Cities Metro Area.
© Copyright 2022 Indian Music Society of Minnesota