To commemorate 35 years of teaching in S. California, Ramya Harishankar, the award winning Artistic Director and choreographer of the Irvine based Arpana Dance Company presented Celluloid Classics 2 on Saturday, April 16, 2017 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Playwright, theatre director, musician and journalist, Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan will lead us on a short walk alongside T. Balasaraswati (Balamma) and her times as well as share how she was viewed by her contemporaries; both artists and connoisseurs.

As a vocalist in the Karnatik tradition, Thodur Madabusi Krishna’s musicality eludes standard analyses. Uncommon in his rendition of music and original in his interpretation of it, Krishna is at once strong and subtle, manifestly traditional and stunningly innovative.

Come and meet the artists TM Krishna, RK Shriramkumar, and K. Arun Prakash. The artists will talk about sharing art as well as the concert on the 7th. This will also be an opportunity for all of us to meet them and ask any questions we may have about music, the arts and about the interaction of the arts and greater societal issues of the day.

Ms. Jayashree has learned from respected musicians in the Carnatic style such as V Dakshinamurthy, K Raghavan, and B A Chidambaranthan. Further, Ms. Jayashree has a Master of Arts degree in Music from the University Kannur, Kerala, India. Ms. Jayashree also runs the Shree Shankaram School of Music in Kannur, Kerala, India, which currently has over 150 students.

Viraja Mandhre & Shyamjith Kiran are Indian classical dancers trained in the form of bharatanatyam at the Kalakshetra Foundation – Chennai. Previously a part of the Kalakshetra Repertory company, they are currently exploring their paths through independent pursuits.

Hailing from a musical family, Chinmayee was introduced to music at a very young age. She underwent initial training from Dr. Radha Venkatachalam. She has been under the tutelage of Sangeetha Kala Acharya Smt. Kalyani Sharma for over last 15 years now.

Pavithra Srinivasan uses music, dance and narration to tell the story of Hanuman in her presentation of the Sundarakandam, the fifth book of the Valmiki Ramayana. In this part of the story, it is Hanuman who is the main character. His valor and exploits are told and celebrated.

Ramana Balachandhran is a 16-year-old vainika from Bangalore. His talent for music was noticed when at a young age he could identify ragas and point out nuances. He has been performing from the age of 12. Ramana started his vocal training with his mother Sharanya Balachandhran.

Since his grand entrance at age two, Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina Ravikiran has enthralled record audiences (of 45,000-100,000 in some concerts) and won critical acclaim as one of the most inspiring ambassadors of Indian music and culture in the world.

Surya Ganesan, currently a freshman at the James Madison Memorial High School in Madison, WI, has been receiving advanced training in Carnatic music since 2013 under the tutelage of Shri Chitravina Narasimhan and Shri Chitravina N. Ravikiran.

In 2018 our much awaited annual Children’s Music Competition will be followed by the awards ceremony on the same day. The excitement builds as the competition day nears. The registration process is complete and we have more than 130 participants.

Dr. Padma Sugavanam is an A-graded Carnatic vocalist, and also an academician with a Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Music from the Madras University. Padma has served as a Lecturer of Music for ten years, in the Sri Venkateswara College of Music and Dance, Tirupati.

Accompanists: L. Ramakrishnan - Violin | Akshay Anantapadmanabhan - Mridangam K.V. Gopalakrishnan - Kanjira   The concert will feature Vidwans Vignesh Ishwar (vocal), L. Ramakrishnan (violin), Akshay Anantapadmanabhan (mrudangam) and K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira). All the four artists are popular and sought after in their respective arts in Chennai and have each won best performance awards […]

Nadi will be presented by the internationally acclaimed Bharatanatyam artist Leela Samson and six highly accomplished SPANDA company dancers, and performed to a professionally recorded soundtrack. Poems in six Indian languages on the River. Choreographed by Ms. Leela Samson.

Accompanists: H N Bhaskar - Violin | Patri Satish Kumar - Mridangam Abhishek Raghuram Hailing as a child prodigy with lineage deeply rooted on both sides, music is in Abhishek’s blood. Possessing a combination of virtuosity, aesthetics and intellect, Abhishek has created a new genre in the field of music that, according to critics is […]

Accompanists: Srikanth Mallajosyula - Violin | Vijay Ganesh - Mridangam Madhav Iyengar is a student of Karnatak vocal under Vidvan Sri. T.M. Krishna. Madhav began his training at the age of five with Smt. Sitalakshmi Madhavan in Pittsburgh, PA. Madhav has been giving kutcheris since 2010 for organizations around the United States. Madhav has performed […]

A lecture - demonstration by Preethi Ramaprasad Preethi Ramparasad will conduct a lec-dem exploring the relationship between music and dance and how a dancer visualises music and transforms it into a four-dimensional mosaic. This program is part of our series of events specifically organized to enable all the members of our community to be able […]