About the
Artists
R. Suryaprakash
A young maestro in
the sphere of Carnatic Classical Music, R.Suryaprakash is
well-known and widely traveled in the music circuit today. A disciple
of Sangeetha Kalanidhi T.V. Sankaranarayanan, Suryaprakash has imbibed
the rich tradition of the legendary Madurai Mani Iyer and assimilated
the best of other traditions to blaze his original trail among the
present generation of musicians. A post-graduate in Indian Music from
the University of Madras and an “A” grade artiste in the panel of All
India Radio, Chennai, his music has also been enriched by eminent
teachers such as M A Venugopalan, Dr.V.V.Srivatsa and Sulochana
Pattabhiraman.
Endowed with a vibrant and felicitous voice with a range of about three
octaves, he also has a vast repertoire and boundless creative
expression. No wonder, his concerts have always enthralled the audience
and appealed to both the connoisseur and the novice.
Suryaprakash has a rich concert experience of over one and a half
decade in which he has performed all over India and the U.S.A, Canada,
Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East. Leading masters
have accompanied, collaborated and shared the platform with him.
Regularly featured during the December Music Festival, Chennai, and
other major festivals, Suryaprakash has cut a variety of discs and
received awards such as "Gana Kala Vipanchee" from Dr.M
Balamuralikrishna and “best concert” prize from the Music Academy,
Chennai.
Suryaprakash’s concerts have been been substantially reviewed and
appreciated by the press, such as The Hindu, New Indian Express,
Kumudham, Vikatan etc.
A teacher greatly sought after, he has conducted workshops and
lecture-concerts in India, USA and Australia, for example, at the
Music Department of University of Logan, Utah in 1999 and Festival of
Asia, Melbourne, Australia in 2000. Suryaprakash has trained a number
of students all over the globe, some of them are already performing
artists. He also trains his students online, using technology.
Suryaprakash has also composed original lyrics and score for three
dance productions of Nrithakshetra, Australia.
The vintage carnatic songs featured in the movie and theatre of the
1940s has a fascination for Suryaprakash who has pioneered their
revival by participating in special programmes on TV and cutting a disc
titled “Legendary Melodies” to that effect.
Jayshankar Balan
Jayshankar
Balan received his initial training from Alamelu Subramanian and is
currently
under the guidance of Madurai Sundar. He has performed extensively all
over the world and has accompanied many leading stalwarts in the
Carnatic arena including Dr. N Ramani, Nedunuri Krishnamoorthy, Dr. K.
J. Yesudas and T. N. Seshagopalan. In 1999, Jayshankar was invited to
perform at the United Nations in Paris for the last UN Meeting of the
century. He has also represented India in major cultural festivals
including the Festivals of India in Russia and the Middle East. He is a
graded artist of AIR (All India Radio). He holds a Masters in Computer
Science and a MBA in Finance.
Sri Tanjore Murugabhoopathi
Murugaboopathi
belongs to a family of artists and musicians. He had his initial
training under Mridangam Vidwan and Lecturer in the Tamilnadu
Government Music College Sri T.R.Srinivasan. 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. He 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. Murugabhoopathi can adopt his playing to any style of
singing or instrumentals and has won the appreciation of the artists as
well as the rasikas. He regularly accompanies leading artists such as
Sangeetha Kalnidhi Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr.
N. Ramani, Mandolin Srinivas, Sanjay Subramaniam, Sudha Ragunathan, and
Aruna Sayeeram, to name a few. He has performed with these artists in
Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Germany, Spain, USA, UK,
Switzerland, Australia, Dubai, Muscat, Doha, Belgium and Scotland.
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