About the Artists
Anuradha Sridhar
As a soloist,
Anuradha has teamed up with her mother and given violin duets in venues
in India, Singapore, UK, Australia, New Zealand and USA. A reputed
accompanist, Anuradha has accompanied many senior
musicians over the last three decades. She performs solo violin
concerts in India and around the United States throughout the year. In
the last two decades of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sridhar
has enjoyed a myriad of musical forays both in the Indian and the
mainstream world. She has been featured as lead
violinist in a Hollywood score, for an Indie film titled "The Book of
Stars," by the popular music director Richard Gibbs, She has improvised
a section of music for "Mugangal," a Tamil language pop
album. She has actively volunteered her skill for
community fundraiser shows for organizations such as Asha, Sankara Eye
Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, SwayamKrushi, Iskcon
and the Livermore Temple.
Ever challenged by a technically demanding
repertoire, Anuradha has ventured into thematic concerts which required
painstaking research; she thrives on unearthing complicated
rhythm structure, rare ragas and forgotten compositions. Anuradha
received the best violinist award from the prestigious Music Academy of
India’s Chennai for her performances in its December
Music festival concerts during the years 1979, 1982, 1984, 1999. The
December Music Season concert of 2000 at the Music Academy by Anuradha
and Srimathi received the best instrumental musician
award of the year for the duet, among hundreds of other concerts. The
mother-daughter duo never fails to please the music critics
at Chennai’s local dailies.
A versatile teacher with great acumen on vocal,
instrumental and rhythmic aspects of Carnatic Music, in 1989, Anuradha
launched Trinity Center for Music in the San Francisco
Bay Area. Her mission? "A school to groom stellar students of music and
to serve and propagate the aesthetics of Carnatic music
in the United States," she observes.
Shriram Brahmanandam
Today, Shriram is one of the most sought after
accompanists in the United States, having also performed at the annual
Cleveland Carnatic festival and at the Lincoln Center in New York. He
has often been featured in fusion concerts where he has collaborated
with percussionists and musicians of other musical systems such as
Hindustani, Folk, and Pop. He has also performed drum fusion concerts
with celebrated western drummers Anthony Brown and Hari Nikesh.
A prolific composer, Shriram zealously looks for opportunities to
create new rhythmic compositions (mohras and korvais). Shriram
translates his passion for the mridangam in articulate, riveting
lecture
and demonstration sessions (‘The Art of Mridangam Accompaniment’) held
around the Bay Area.
Shriram Brahmanandam was initiated into the mridangam by the renowned
guru Harihara Sharma and later continued his training with C.V.
Kuppuswami. He completed advanced training from the percussion stalwart
Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer. Shriram has won awards for "Best Mrudangist"
during the music concert series held in the Indian Fine Arts Society
and in the Youth Association for Classical Music.
Since his debut at the age of 12, Shriram has played on countless
stages at major venues in India and abroad. He has performed in
Melbourne, Australia, and has been invited to present in major
multinational music festivals like the Australian Woodford Folk
Festival in Queensland. He has also teamed up with many senior
musicians including Lalgudi. G. Jayaraman, T.K. Govindarao, N. Ramani,
Shashank, Suguna Purushothaman, R.K. Venkatrama Sasthri, K.J Yesudas,
and Nookala Chinnasatyanarayana.
Ravi Balasubramanian
Dr. Ravi
Balasubramanian is the most sought after ghatam artiste in North
America and is known for his energetic, sensitive accompaniment and
solo performances. Ravi has extensive experience in Carnatic
percussion, including performing on the Ghatam at top musical
institutions such as the Chennai Music Academy and the Cleveland
Aradhana for over fourteen years. He received the title Yuva Kala
Bharati in 2003 from Bharat Kalachar, a music organization in Chennai,
for excellence and dedication in the art of ghatam. Ravi has had the
rare honor and experience of performing with leading artistes including
Sangitha Kalanidhi vocalists, violinists, flautists, and mridangam
artistes in India, USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia.
Ravi received his initial tutelage from Palghat Sri P. K. Sekar and
Sangitha Kalanidhi Dr. T. K. Murthy and later pursued advanced training
from Sri. V. Suresh in Chennai, India. Ravi has given
lecture-demonstration on the ghatam in the University of Pittsburgh,
PA. He recently received his Doctorate in Robotics from Carnegies
Mellon University and is a Research Associate at the University of
Washington.
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