Sunday, April 1, 4:00 PM

Venue

HHH Cowles Auditorium
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Jayanthi Kumaresh, the most sought after Veena artiste of today, was born into the legendary Lalgudi family, a family replete with renowned musicians. Jayanthi began learning the Veena when she was barely four years old. Her virtuosity on the instrument, rare musical insight, rich tonal quality and strict adherence to tradition has won her the appreciation of layman and connoisseur alike. Her main inspiration was her aunt and guru Smt. Padmavathy Ananthagopalan, herself a renowned and accomplished artiste. Later Jayanthi took advanced lessons from Veena virtuoso Padmabhushan Dr. S. Balachander. Her uncle, a giant among musicians, Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman, has also been her guide. Veenai Jayanthi, as she is affectionately called, has performed all over India and abroad, and participated in many prestigious international music festivals, including the annual Sangeeth Sammelan concerts conducted by Akashvani.  She is the youngest artiste in Veena to receive ‘A Top’ grading from the All India Radio (AIR), the highest grade offered by the only grading institution of the country. Jayanthi has been recognized as ‘Best Veena artiste’ no less than four times by the Music Academy, Chennai. She was recently conferred the title of Kalaimamani by the Govt. of Tamilnadu. A frequent performer in the US, her coast-to-coast jaunts include regular concerts as well as lecture demonstrations and music appreciation courses at various universities. In addition to her accomplishments as a Veena performer, Veenai Jayanthi has authored a few musical productions such as ‘Thyagaraja Vaibhavam’, ‘Ruthu Soundaryam’, ‘Om Saravanabhava’, and ‘Bheema Anjaneya Samvaadam’.  Jayanthi, a brilliant singer herself, has been teaching both vocal music and Veena to students around the world for the past 12 years. Jayanthi recently submitted her thesis for a doctorate in the “Analytical study of different Banis of playing the Saraswathi Veena" at Mysore University. Jayanthi’s vision is to create a world-class institution that would propagate, preserve and promote Carnatic music and its rich legacy internationally.

 
Arjun Kumar. Hailing from a family of Mridangam artistes, Arjun Kumar was initiated into the art  of  Mridangam playing at the young age of five by his father Sri Arjunan, a very senior artiste  in the field of  percussion. He was later mentored by Sri T. A. S. Mani.  Arjun Kumar began performing and accompanying world-renowned artistes at an early age. He was also awarded a Govt. of India scholarship.  He then came under the tutelage of the mridangam legend, Padmabhushan Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman. Kumar soon became one of the youngest ‘A’ Grade artistes of the All India Radio and Television networks. He has played in a number of prestigious events, including the South Zone Hook Up and the All India Sangeetha Sammelan.  He has accompanied leading contemporary musicians like Sri K.V.Narayanaswamy, Dr. N.Ramani, Sri T.N.Seshagopalan, Sri T.V.Gopalakrishnan, Sri Doraiswamy Iyengar and Bombay Sisters, to name a few.  Arjun Kumar has performed extensively in the USA, France, Eastern Europe, the Gulf, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and Switzerland.  Arjun Kumar has both natural talent and acquired skill to blend and enhance the beauty of a concert through sensitive and sensible accompaniment. He is also an experienced tutor and has many disciples to his credit, both in India and in the USA.

 
Pramath Kiran hails from a family of musicians. His contribution to the field of percussion is rather unique - he can play Carnatic, Hindustani and contemporary instruments. Pramath developed into a creative Morsing (jaws harp) artiste with the guidance of his guru Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma. His exposure to various percussion ensembles enabled him to widen his horizons in the art of solo playing and accompaniment.  Pramath has his own group called ‘Laya Taranga’ that showcases diverse percussion instruments of the world.  Pramath has recorded several CDs along with this group. He is much sought after by many leading artistes and has won rave reviews.  Pramath was initiated into Hindustani Tabla playing from Tabla exponent Shri.Uday Raj Karpur at a very young age. In addition to light music performances on the tabla, Pramath has also accompanied artistes such as Shri.Praveen Godkindi, Shri.Fayaz Khan and Ravi Chari and been featured with stalwarts like Shri.S.P.Balasubramaniam and Shri.Hariharan. Having a strong Carnatic base and an aesthetic ear for the Tabla beat Pramath’s Tabla playing has a unique style that he is developing further.  Pramath has widened his scope for expression in the sphere of percussion playing in contemporary music. He has matered a diverse set of rhythm instruments including the Dholak, Drums, Djembe, Congos, Ocean Drums and Rhythm pads, among others. Pramath has collaborated with the renowned danseuse Chitra Bolar of Chitralekha Dance Company in several of her productions in the UK. He is featured regularly with renowned artistes like Ganesh Kumaresh, Amit Heri, Keith Peters, Rab Asaf and Jessi. Pramath is also much sought after as a rhythm programmer by several Music Directors.