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April 1 2023, Saturday 6:00 PM

Carnatic Instrumental Quartet
Mylai Karthikeyan (Nadaswaram)
Sreya Devnath (Violin)
Jeevanandam (Thavil)
Praveen Sparsh (Mridangam)

Temple Auditorium
Hindu Temple of Minnesota, Maplegrove, MN



Tickets: Admission is FREE for this event

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Mylai Karthikeyan (Nadhaswaram)
Mylai M Karthikeyan is a young torchbearer of the Nadaswaram tradition. He started learning Nadaswaram at the age of eight from his father Mylai Sri S.Mohanraj, and then proceeded to learn from Nadaswaram Vidwan Mylai Sri Rajendran, at the age of ten. He then joined the Adyar Music College, and went on to complete his Diploma in Nadaswaram under Nadaswaram Vidwan Vysarpadi Sri G. Kothandaraman. He remains under the tutelage of Sri Vysarpadi Kothandaraman, with a view to further enhance his skills. Karthikeyan completed his Diploma from Adyar Music College, as a Gold Medallist. He was subsequently awarded the title “Vaadya Visaaradha”. He has also been awarded the titles of “Vaadhya Kalaimani” and “Nadaswara Eilaval”. He is an A Grade Artiste of the All India Radio, winning the 1st place in their annual competitions. He was also awarded the Bharat Ratna Dr. M.S.Subbulakshmi Fellowship Award from Sri Shanmukhanada Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai.

Sreya Devnath (Violin)
Shreya Devnath is a student of the legendary Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman and strives to be a worthy representative of this prestigious school of music. She is a well-established solo violinist, who has earned much appreciation for her distinctive music. She balances alongside, a parallel track, as a regular accompanist to various artistes, to name a few Vijay Siva, Sikkil Gurucharan, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Gayathri Venkatraghavan, S Mahathi, B Kannan (veena) and many others. She also presents diverse instrumental duets. Her recent collaborative ventures include Violin-Nadaswaram duets, Violin-Chitravina duets, Violin-Flute duets, Violin-Sitar duets and a collaboration with Tabla Virtuoso Ms. Anuradha Pal in the prestigious Chakradhar Samaroh Festival in Raigarh. Shreya also curates, performs and tours with “A Carnatic Quartet”, an Carnatic Instrumental Ensemble, as also “An Experiment with Sound and Music”, a duet with musician Praveen Sparsh.

A capable vocalist, and committed teacher, Shreya handles students from different parts of the world. She was most recently invited as Violin Faculty of the prestigious Summer School Program (Violin) of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London. Shreya has toured the US and UK extensively, as also Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Dubai for concerts and workshops. She has also toured extensively with the productions of noted writer, playwright and musician Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan, including “MS Subbulakshmi: Born to Sing”, “DK Pattamal: Her music Her life” and “Songs of Peace - A tribute to the Mahatma”. She also scored and performed the music for Dr Ramnarayan’s play “Kurukshetra: When Things Fall Apart”, staged at the prestigious Madras Music Academy.

Shreya is the architect of two outreach programmes: The Special Project for the Armed Forces, is dedicated to taking music to the base camps of the Armed Forces, wherever they may be stationed. The second is a Music Appreciation Program for underprivileged children, taking them on a journey from sound, to music, to classical music. The intent behind both these initiatives, is to spread and share the joy that music brings us far, wide and deep. Recognition has also come in the form of awards and titles like the ‘Bharat Ratna Dr. MS Subbulakshmi Fellowship’, ‘Parur Sundaram Iyer Award’, ‘Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Award for Youth Excellence’, ’Yuva Kala Bharathi’, ‘Nada Ratna’, ‘Visesha Pratibha Puraskaram’ ‘RMKV Award of Excellence’, ‘Best Performer Award’, ‘Yuva Shakthi Youth

Achiever Award’, ‘Best Violinist’, ‘Best Instrumental Artiste’, ‘Outstanding Woman Achiever’, ‘Ministry of Culture Scholarship for Young Artistes' amongst others.  Shreya holds a Masters Degree in Economics. She is a gold medalist with a brilliant academic record. She is also a talented painter, poet and a short story writer. She was awarded the RK Narayan Award for Creative Talent and her work of fiction was chosen by famed author Ruskin Bond, for publication in a collection of short stories. However, her interest in other art forms aside, she remains deeply passionate about music. Her music is characterised by substance and freshness with paramount importance given to aesthetics. It is music for the mind and soul, a journey for the artiste and the audience.

Jeevanantham (Thavil)
R. Jeeva is a well regarded Tavil artiste, and a disciple of Gurus Sri Sozhavaram Nathan and Sri Vetharanyam V.G.Balasupramaniyam. He has completed his Music Diploma in Raja Annamalai Mandram, earning the title Vaadya Visaaradha upon completion. He has also been awarded the title of Sangeetha Seva Rathna. Jeeva is a ‘B High’ graded artiste of the All India Radio.

Praveen Sparsh (Mridangam)
Praveen Sparsh is a multi percussionist and a music producer who started learning the art of Mridangam playing at the age of 5 from Mridangam Maestro Guruvayur Sri Dorai. He is the grandson of Mridangam exponent Tanjore Sri Upendran and great grandson of Tavil exponent Valangaiman Sri Shanmugasundaram Pillai.

Praveen is one of the most sought after Mridangam exponents in the field of Carnatic music, and performs regularly with stalwarts like Sri TM Krishna, Smt. Aruna Sairam, Smt. Bombay Jayshree, Smt. Sowmya, Sri. Sikkil Gurucharan, amongst others. He has toured the United States extensively, as also, countries like Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, Amsterdam, Singapore, Malaysia, Jakarta, Sydney, Melbourne, Israel and Palestine.

Praveen has most recently, released his solo percussion album, ‘UNRESERVED’, a mridangam centric album that explores the sounds of everyday life. The album has since received critical acclaim from the music and entertainment fraternity at large.

As a music producer, Praveen has scored and performed music for the play ‘Kurukshetra - When things fall apart’, directed by noted playwright Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan where he single handedly played instruments like the Mridangam, Kanjira, Guitar, Cajon, Darbuka along with Konnakol (Vocal Percussion) and and other ambient percussion instruments. He has also scored music for short films and ad jingles, and has worked with famed director Rajeev Menon.

Prestigious awards and titles from revered institutions in the field of Carnatic Music have also added to the recognition he has earned. These include “Laya Ratna”, “Palani Subramania Pillai Memorial Award”, “Bharat Ratna Dr.M.S. Subbulakshmi Fellowship in Music”, “Yuva Kala Bharati”, “Best Performer Award”, “Palghat Mani Iyer's Endownment Award”, “Central Govt Scholarship for Mridangam”, “Best Mridangam Artiste” and “The carnatic idol”, amongst others.

Praveen has collaborated and toured with world music bands like, “House of Waters”, “Sid Sriram live”, “Sean Roldan and Friends”, “Aditya Prakash Ensemble”,“Poorvaa”, and many others. He has performed in various independent music festivals like the NH7 Weekender, Frostbite Festival, Riff Festival, Covelong Surf Festival, DAM Festival and MAD festival. He curated and led a percussion ensemble with Parai artistes (traditional folk percussion) at the Urur Olcot Music Festival. At the same festival, he also presented a performance with a group of students from Avvai Home, a school for underprivileged girl children, that he trained for upto 3 months prior to the performance.

Praveen also performs as part of the Carnatic instrumental ensemble, ‘A Carnatic Quartet’, as also ‘An Experiment with Sound and Music’, a duet with violinist Shreya Devnath. Shreya Devnath and Praveen Sparsh have also curated a Music Outreach program for economically underprivileged children. In addition, they have curated and performed a concert exclusively for the Armed Forces of the country, in their ‘Special Project for the Armed Forces'.

Praveen, along with a team of sensitive artistes, curated “No’mad Projekt”, a platform for musicians where they are placed in a pristine environment and recorded with a single microphone capturing the ambience and the music as one. They then, proceeded to curate, “Orisai”, an offset of No’mad Projekt which brings the listener an immersive concert experience in a minimalistic concert design through ambient micing.

Praveen has also been performing with his Indo-Fusion music band called the ‘Sparsh Quartet’, for the last five years. He is an avid trekker and traveller and does a music travelogue called ‘Projekt Peragro’.   His perception of music is as nuanced as it is precise, and his boundless artistic curiosity reflects in his wide array of musical explorations.


About the Venue:
Hindu Temple of Minnesota is located at : 10530 Troy Ln N, Maple Grove, MN 55311

To get to Hindu Temple of Minnesota, follow the directions provided here


Acknowledgments:

IMSOM's Spring 2023 Concert Series has been made possible, in part, by voters of Minnesota through grants from The Minnesota State Arts Board and The Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  Support also comes from UHG "Dollars for Doers" Grant, matching grants from Honeywell and US Bank, generous donations from Dr Dash Foundation, late Dr V Premanand & Family, generosity of IMSOM's members and donors.  All concerts are co-sponsored by KFAI Radio (90.3 FM/106.7 FM) and localfiles.com.
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For further information contact:

Ameeta Kelekar ameeta.kelekar@gmail.com
Abhinav Sharma
toabhinavs25@gmail.com
 
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