Sunday, June 27, 2004, 4:00 pm

Tickets:

Advance: Students/Seniors $6.00, General $10.00
Gate:       Students/Seniors $8.00, General $12.00

Purchase advance tickets online

IMSOM members can avail of their passes at the Baithak concerts (in addition to the regular concerts).

About the artists:

Papanasam Ashok Ramani is the grandson of the eminent Tamil composer, Papanasam Sivan. He was born in Chennai to R. Ramani & Dr. Rukmini Ramani, musician and teacher. Ashok has a B.E. (Mech. Engg.) degree from Anna University in Chennai and even worked as an engineer until 2000. Presently he pursues a full-time career in music. Ashok commenced his music training at a very young age with his mother Dr. Rukmini Ramani (daughter of Papanasam Sivan). Subsequently he came under the tutelage of Dr. S.Ramanathan and later learnt from Calcutta K.S.Krishnamurthy and Bombay Ramachandran. Ashok has been a disciple of Palghat K.V. Narayanaswamy for over 17 years. Presently he is learning from Vidwan Sri. P.S. Narayanaswamy. Ashok has performed regularly in all major Sabhas all over India since making his debut in 1984 at the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in Chennai. He has made numerous concert tours abroad including ones to Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, the USA, Hong Kong, the Middle East etc. Among his many awards are, "Isai Peroli" from the Karthik Fine Arts in 1999, the "Best Vocalist" award from the Indian Fine Arts Society in 1994 and the "Best Junior Vocalist" award from the Madras Music Academy in 1993. Aside from his prowess as a vocalist, Ashok is an accomplished Mridangam artist also. He has been trained in the art of Mridangam by the renowned maestro Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer. Ashok has accompanied many a senior artist of Carnatic music on the Mridangam on several occasions.

Dubbed by senior musicians and music critics as a percussion prodigy, teenager Rohan Krishnamurthy from Michigan began learning the Mridangam at a very young age under Damodharan Srinivasan. After three months of one-on-one training, further classes had to be held over the telephone since Srinivasan moved to Massachusetts. This arrangement worked out well and was one of the two turning points in Rohan’s Mridangam activities. The other turning point was when Rohan met the renowned Mridangist Guruvayur Dorai and the latter agreed to be his Guru. Rohan has been performing on stage in India, the US and Canada since the age of nine. He has performed with eminent artists like Sangeetha Kalanidhi Flute N. Ramani, Sangeetha Kalanidhi R.K. Srikantan, Sangeetha Kalanidhi R. Vedavalli, Chitraveena N. Ravikiran, T.M. Krishna, S. Sowmya, etc. He has performed, for six consecutive years, during the celebrated December Music Season in Chennai in such prestigious organizations as The Music Academy, Mylapore Fine Arts, Hamsadhwani, Bharat Kalachar, etc. In 2003, Rohan performed with Chitraveena N. Ravikiran at the oldest Indian classical music festival in the world, the Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan, in Jallandhar, Punjab, clocking in as the second Carnatic concert organized by the national festival in its 128 year history. Rohan is the recipient of numerous awards, notable among them being the prestigious "Yuva Kala Bharathi" award presented by Bharat Kalachar in Chennai, India, "Kaashyap Award" presented by the Valayapatti Nadalaya Academy in Chennai, "The Prodigy in Performing Arts" by the Indo-American Center in New York, the Junior and Senior competition awards at the Cleveland Aradhana, and the "Asthana Vidwan" (Artist in Residence) title conferred by the Chicago Thyagaraja Utsavam. Rohan’s style has been alluded by musicians and critics to be reminiscent of some of the greatest stalwarts of prior generations, especially the Mridangam legend C.S. Murugaboopathy.

Srikanth Mallajosyula started his music lessons early in violin and was a recipient of the National Talent Search Scholarship from the Govt. of India, in the field of violin. He has learnt under the front ranking violinist A. Kanyakumari, who is also his maternal aunt. Srikanth is the recipient of many awards and prizes - among them the "Best Violinist" award (sub seniors) in 1997 from the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai.  He has provided violin accompaniment to many senior artists such as Nedunuri Krishna Murthy, R.K. Srikantan, Chitraveena Ravikiran, Trichur Ramachandran and others and has provided violin support to his aunt and Guru, Vidushi A. Kanyakumari, on many occasions. Srikanth has also given quite a few full length vocal concerts in different music sabhas of Hyderabad and Madras. He learnt vocal music under D. Raghavachary (one of the two Hyderabad Brothers) before learning from P.S. Narayana Swamy of Chennai. He is presently harnessing his vocal skills under Sangeetha Kalanidhi Nedunuri Krishna Murthy. Pavani (Srikanth's wife) and Srikanth have been regularly performing in Michigan and other states in U.S. Together they have also given many violin duet concerts in Michigan.

Directions and parking:

The Pangea World Theater Studio is located in the Calhoun Arts Building in Uptown Minneapolis, on the Southwest corner of Lake St and Lyndale Ave. There is limited street parking available on Lake and Lyndale - if not, try one or more of the streets parallel to Lake and/or Lyndale. See map on the right or go to www.mapquest.com for driving directions.

Address:

711 W Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55408

The Pangea World Theater Studio is in Suite 101.

Contact:

Shivanthi Sathanandan         (651) 698-0774
Anu Krishnan                       (763) 493-2529

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