Saturday, March 20, 2004, 7:30 pm

Venue:

The OEC Auditorium
University of Saint Thomas, Saint Paul

(You'll need a pdf viewer such as Acrobat 5.0 to see the campus map. For driving directions please see below.)

Tickets:

Advance: Students/Seniors $10.00, General $13.00
Gate:       Students/Seniors $12.00, General $17.00

Purchase advance tickets online

About the artists:

Shashank, born on 14^th Oct, 1978, intially learnt only vocal music from veteran musicians including Palghat K.V. Narayana Swamy. At the age of six Shashank picked his father’s flute and stunned onlookers by playing, spontaneously, to signal his entry into the flute world. His maiden flute concert was at Adelaide, Australia in Sept 1990 when he was eleven, followed by his debut in India on Dec 20, 1990. He became the youngest musician of the century to have been invited to play the prestigious "SADAS" concert on Jan. 1, 1991 at the Music Academy, Madras. Since then, has been a celebrity flautist world over and performs in the company of top ranking artists in India and abroad. Some land mark concerts of his have been at the Rashtrapathy Bhavan (The President's Palace at New Delhi), India Music Group at St.Xaviers college Bombay, UNESCO Paris , Tropical Institute - Amsterdam, J. Paul Getty Hall, Hollywood, National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C., Xebec Hall – Kobe, Japan and Across Fukuoka – Fukuoka, Japan. Shashank’s introduction of multi flute transposed fingering technique to merge flutes of different frequencies / lengths to the tonic note ( the Adhara Shadja ) – producing sounds ranging from deep bass to the shrill has given the flute an enviable position in Indian music and has been acclaimed the world over by music lovers as his significant contribution. Shashank has enthralled audiences in India, South Africa, USA, Canada, UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Australia, Japan, Hongkong, the Middle East, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Shashank's performances feature an extraordinary range of musical expression - from the deepest meditations to youthful fun and astonishing virtuosity. Audiences respond enthusiastically to Shashank's flair and unpretentious style. Shashank's percussionists add pizzazz to the performances with rhythmic texture that ranges from colorful, sparse punctuation to driving motifs that swell to exhilarating levels during solo passages. He has 22 compact discs to his credit. He was recently awarded with the title KALAIMAMANI by the Government of Tamil Nadu in acknowledgement of his achievements in the filed of music.

B. U. Ganesh Prasad is an extremely talented youngster. He had his initial training from Basavanagudi Natraj of Banglore and advanced training under the able guidance of the violin Maestro V.V. Subramanyam of Madras. Ganesh has gained fame in India and abroad for his excellent accompaniment to leading artistes of South India and in particular he has been on several tours abroad in the company of Shashank.

P. Satish Kumar was initiated to this art by his mother, late Padmavathi, a former lecturer at the Govt. Women's College, Vizianagaram. He learnt Mridangam playing from Sreeramachandra Murthy, Appalaswamy and Vankayala Narasimham. Equally proficient in Mridangam and Kanjira, Satish has accompanied many senior artists in India and abroad. Satish is one of the top ranked artistes amongst the younger generation and is the most sought after. His name appears on scores of audio and video publications. He is known for spontaneity, fine artistry and deft fingering.

Triplicane K. Sekar was trained in the art of Thavil playing by his father P.Kodandaraman and by Tanjore S.Vellaiswami. A very reputed artiste, he has been in the team of the renowned violinist L. Subramaniam for the last several years. Known for his virtuosity and able following, Sekar has been on many tours abroad and has been a part of percussion ensembles of Vikku Vinayakram and T. H. Subashchandran.

A veteran Ghatam artist, Vaikom Gopalkrishnan had his initial training under his grand father Vaikom Ramaswamy Iyer and later under Karaikudi Chandramouli of Bombay. He has accompanied several leading artists from South India both in our country and abroad. Known for his sensible accompaniment and very high virtuosity, he is currently on the staff of All India Radio, Madras. He is the recipient of several awards including the "Kalaimamani" from the Government of Tamilnadu.

Trained in the art of percussion by famed Mridangam artist, T.A.S. Mani of Bangalore, Mysore Gururaj plays both Mridangam and Morsing with equal proficiency. He has been a member of the Drums of India ensemble, and has traveled widely abroad in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, U.S., Canada, Scotland, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Germany. Gururaj has accompanied many stalwarts from South India and has been a prime Morsing accompanist in the concerts of Shashank. He is currently on the staff of All India Radio, Mangalore, India.

Shantala, the younger sister of Shashank, was brought up in the family soaked in music for the last 3 decades . She naturally inbibed most of the music by being in the family of Shashank and has been under the guidance of veteran vocalist Vairamangalam Lakshminarayanan and Shashank. She has accompanied Shashank on his tours abroad and in India.

Directions:

The OEC Auditorium is located in the campus of the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul on Cleveland Ave, in the block between Ashland and Portland Avenues. Visitor’s parking is accessed through parking lot H located at the intersection of Cretin and Summit Avenues.

Map of the Saint Paul Campus of the University of Saint Thomas

The OEC Auditorium is building 4 in the above campus map.

For driving and parking information, please click here.

Contact:

Ravi Ravichandran               (651) 730-8313
Shivanthi Sathanandan         (651) 698-0774
Ashish Rao                         (651) 647-1857

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