BIOGRAPHY
Vidya Subramanian, is a disciple of Padmabhushan Lalgudi
Sri Jayaraman for Carnatic Vocal music. She had her initial training
under Smt. Rukmini Rajagopalan. Vidya began her lessons under Sri
Lalgudi Jayaraman in 1993 and has performed numerous concerts in
India and the USA, including ones at prestigious locations such as the
Mylapore Fine Arts, Narada Gana Sabha, Music Academy, Sri Krishna
Gana Sabha and Karthik Fine Arts. In the USA, she has performed at
the Cleveland Thyagaraja festival as well as in several centers
including Boston, Phoenix, Buffalo, Los Angeles and Albany. Vidya is
a recipient of a merit scholarship for Vocal music from the Government
of India and is also a graded artiste of All India Radio, Chennai. Vidya teaches vocal classical carnatic
music at her Clifton Park residence.
Sri Shivkumar Kalyanaraman began his violin training in 1983 at
the Secunderabad Music College under the guidance of Sri Peri Sreeramamurthy,
a top violinist in Hyderabad. . He continued his training with Smt T.Rukmini in
Madras during his studies at IIT Madras. He has also been mentored by vocalists
Shri M N Subramanium of the Semmangudi school and Shri BRC Iyengaar of the
Ariyakudi school. He has performed several concerts in Albany and other parts
of USA and has accompanied visiting artistes like T R Subramanium , Ashok
Ramani., Jayalakshmi Ramachandran, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Ravi Kiran and
others. He is a regular contributor to music concerts and lec-cum-demos in the
Capital District. He conducts violin and vocal carnatic music classes at RPI. He
has an extensive web site consisting music classes and songs (website obtained by a google search on
Shivkumar and carnatic)
Gaurishankar Chandrashekar has learnt the mridangam for 15 years and has
over 10 years of accompaniment experience for Carnatic music and dance
concerts in Bombay, India and the New England region of the United States. He
had basic mridangam training for 6 years from Sri. Kalyanakrishnan, a prime
disciple of Sri. Tanjore Upendran. Gaurishankar had his intermediate training
from the late Sri. Trichy Raghava Iyer of Bharatiya School of Music and Arts in
Matunga, Bombay. Sri. Trichy Raghava Iyer was the elder brother of Sri
Panchapakesa Iyer, a genius in his own field of vocal music. He also had the
great opportunity of advancing his mridangam skills under the able guidance of Kalaimamani Tiruvarur
Bhakathavatsalam during his recent visit to the United States. Tiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam appreciated him
for his kala pramanam and ease with which he handles the instrument. Gaurishankar plays other percussion
instruments such as the dholak, congo and kanjira with expertise. He teaches mridangam to interested
students from the following locations: Residence in Framingham, MA; LearnQuest Music Academy in
Waltham,MA ; Chinmaya Maruti Center in Andover, MA.
Directions to Venue: Academy Hall, Auditorium (2nd Floor). RPI
The Hall is located at the corner of 15th and College Avenue. Academy Hall is old school 14. There is
parking at academy hall (you can also park in Visitor center near the walk bridge) and
it is within two blocks of visitors information center. From I-87 Northway , take exit 7 for Rt 7 East
towards Troy. Proceed on Hoosick street (RT 7 East) and turn right on to 15th street. Proceed through four
traffic lights. The Academy Hall is on the right after you go under sky walk bridge and pass the new
BioTech Building on the right.