Navarathiri Chamber Concert by Kailash Hemachandra

Laya is an upcoming multi-faceted artist who received advanced training in Indian classical music from Sangeetha Kalanidhi Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. Laya began her musical journey at a very young age and learnt under accomplished teachers from illustrious lineages, who imparted a deep understanding of classical music. In addition to winning top prizes for over a decade in various competitions held by notable organizations such as the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival, Chicago Thyagaraja Utsavam, and SaMaa Arts, Laya has performed vocal & violin solo concerts and violin accompaniments across prestigious platforms. Laya has been a violinist and vocalist in the orchestra for many Indian classical dance productions, arangetrams, and rangapraveshams. Also, a passionate Bharathanatyam dancer, Laya is under the guidance of Guru Smt. Sujatha Srinivasan. Laya, a rising sophomore at The Ohio State University, is majoring in Neuroscience and aspires to share her zeal for Indian music and dance with a global audience.

Dr. Ajay Ravichandran began studying the art of mridangam at a very young age in Minnesota, under the guidance of Sri V. Srinivasan – a disciple of the late Sangeetha Kala Acharya Kumbakonam Sri Rajappa Iyer. He continued his pursuit under the guidance of Guru, Dr. PK Swaminathan in Maryland, of the Padmavibhushan Sangita Kalanidhi Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman School of Mridangam. Ajay has received advanced training from his Paramaguru’s school, and additionally received mentorship from vidwans Kumbakonam Sri KR Ganesh and Anoor Sri Ananthakrishna Sharma. After his arangetram in Washington, DC in 2008, Ajay has been privileged to accompany many prominent musicians and dancers across the US and in India. More recently, he has been receiving advanced training with Vidwan Dr. Patri Satish Kumar. Besides mridangam, Ajay also plays a variety of other percussion instruments across many genres. During his undergraduate studies at University of Maryland – Baltimore County, he studied Western percussion and jazz drum set under the tutelage of Tom Goldstein, as well as Tabla from Ustad Hamid Hossain. Outside of music, Ajay is a physician and currently practices in Ohio.