Carnatic Music Certificate Course and Exams

Kalaimamani Vidwan K.V. Prasad

(Mridangam)

Recepient of ‘Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar’(President of India Award)

K.V.Prasad is the disciple of Ernakulam Narayana Iyer. He had further training from Professor Parassala Ravi, Principal of the Swathi Tirunal Music College, Trivandrum. He received advanced training from Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr.T.K.Murthy. 1958 born, K.V.Prasad, is a ‘A Top’ mridangam artiste retired from Chennai AIR with 34 years of service. K V Prasad is a versatile percussionist who can also play other percussion instruments.

K.V.Prasad is one of the most sought after Mridangam Artiste in the field. His deft fingering characteristic of the grand Thanjavur Style together with his intricate knowledge of rhythms results in scintillating performances. He stands out unique in the field for his special approach in accompanying compositions with his attractive tone and lively skills.KVP is an accomplished teacher with many students who are in the field.

Carnatic Music Live Program

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Nupur Joshi

(Vocal)

Nupur Joshi is an Indian classical vocalist, based in Mumbai. She is trained under Dr. Vikas Kashalkar and Shalmalee Joshi in Hindustani classical music and in Carnatic classical music by Shri Chitravina Ravikiran for the past many years.

She has been training students in both beginner and advanced levels in India and abroad. Nupur has won many prizes at various festivals and has performed at many venues throughout the country.Some of her concerts include those at the prestigious Saptak festival, Ahmedabad, Bhavan’s Andheri BCCA, Mumbai, Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, Aurobindo Ashram, Vadodara,`Udat Abeel Gulal’ performances at the well- known Sangeet Kala Mandir, Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad at Kolkata, and also at Shantiniketan. She has been selected thrice for the ‘Guru in Residence Workshop’ at the NCPA, Mumbai, conducted by renowned musician Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty ji.This apart, Nupur is a B.Sc in Mathematics, Statistics and Economics from St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a MA in Economics from the University of Mumbai.

Sangeet Samrat Chitravina N Ravikiran

(Director)

Sangeet Samrat Chitravina N Ravikiran, hailed as the ”Mozart of Indian Music” by the global media, made his debut at the age of two and “Gave a new meaning to the word, prodigy” (NPR, USA), inspiring sitar maestro Pt Ravi Shankar to declare, “If you don’t believe in God, look at Ravikiran”. Ravikiran presented vocal concerts from age 5, chitravina concerts from age 11 and was the youngest performer to be given the A-Top grade by All India Radio in his early 20s. He has “Brought new audiences to Indian music” (CNN TV) and is renowned as ”Perhaps the greatest slide player in the world today” (Radio Australia) for his “Teasing precision and dazzling effects” (New York Times).

Among the most successful gurus in the Indian Classical arena, Ravikiran has also mentored a large band of established and emerging performers across the world and pioneered distance education in Indian Classical music in 1990s and has been the consistent leader in propagating the rich traditional values on various platforms including Skype, Whatsapp etc, most of which has now been embraced by the entire field. Known for his award winning concept of Melharmony, Ravikiran has over 800 compositions to his credit in 5 languages. He made world history by setting to music the entire 1330 Tirukkural verses of ancient Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar in a matter of 16 hours. Youngest to win the President of India’s Award for artistic excellence (at age 38), Ravikiran has also been decorated with numerous awards in various countries.

Mylai M. Karthikeyan

(Nagaswaram & Wind Instruments)

Mylai M. Karthikeyan, an upcoming talented Nagaswaram artist started his initial training from his father Nagaswara Vidwan Mylai S. Mohanraj and then from Nagaswara Vidwan Mylai Rajendran . Later was under the tutelage by Nagaswara Vidwan Vysarpadi G. Kothandaraman for advance training in Nagaswaram. He is an A grade artist at AIR and received BHARAT RATNA Dr.MS Subbulakshmi Fellowship award and Scholarship from Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha along with many other awards. He has performed at various sabhas both in India and abroad accompanying leading artist in the industry and solo concerts too. He is a Diploma holder(Gold medallist) in Nagaswaram from Adyar Music college- Chennai.

Petreeza Sabu

(Vocal)

Petreeza Sabu is a talented vocalist, undergoing advanced training from Sangeet Samrat Shri Chitravina N Ravikiran. Petreeza commenced learning from very early on and her mentors were Shri Chandramana Narayanan Namboothiri & Dr V R Dileepkumar. Also passionate about music theory, she holds a Master’s Degree in music from Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady and MPhil from Queen Mary’s College, Chennai. A 1st prize winner for classical vocal competition in Inter University National Youth Festival 2018 held at Ranchi, Jharkhand, Petreeza has performed in various venues across India including at the Chennai Music Festival.

Archana G Upadhyaya

(Vocal)

Archana G Upadhyaya, a very capable vocalist, is a disciple of Chitravina N Ravikiran, Aravinda Hebbar and Vasanthalaxmi Hebbar. She had also the privilege of learning under the late Ranjani Hebbar. She has performed a number of duo concerts with her friend Samanvi at prestigious sabhas across India and has has also bagged many prizes and awards for both her solo and duo performances. Archana has released 2 audio albums and co-authored a book ‘Keerthanas of Karnataka’, consisting of compositions tuned by Aravinda Hebbar.

Veena Akhilandeshwari

(Veena)

Veena Akhilandeshwari, a talented performer, started her initial training under the tutelage of Dr Banumathi Nagarajan before getting for advanced lessons from Dr Veena Sivakumar, himself an A-Top grade artist in AIR, Trichy. She has rendered solo concerts and also provided veena support to her guru across India. A Gold medallist of the All India Radio competition, she is also a recipient of the Government of India’s CCERT Scholarship. Akhilandeshwari has received several awards and mentored students at various levels. She holds a master degree in Music after completing an undergraduate degree in Commerce.

Apoorva Ravindran

(Vocal and Violin)

Apoorva Ravindran is a brilliant vocalist who along with her sister Anahita have enthralled audiences globally with their prodigious talents. She started her initial training under her paternal grandmother Smt. Shanti Jayaraman and is currently under the tutelage of globally acclaimed Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina N Ravikiran. She is a gold medalist from the All India Radio.She has several awards and accolades to her credit. She is a recipient of the CCRT Government of India scholarship. She has also been conducting classes for many years and trained many students both in beginner and advanced levels.

Anahita Ravindran

(Vocal and Chitraveena)

Anahita Ravindran is a sought-after young vocalist who has received rave reviews from the music world for her outstanding performances laden with bhava and intellect. She is a Gold medallist from the All India Radio and is a graded artiste. She was awarded the ‘Best Performer’ by Krishna Gana Sabha for 2 consecutive years and is the recipient of many prestigious awards. Anahita has also been the lead Vocalist for Dr. Vyjayantimala Bali’s dance programs and has had the fortune of performing with stalwarts like Pt Birju Maharaj, Prof C V Chandrashekar, Smt Leela Samson, Smt Sudha Raghunathan, Smt Bombay Jaishree and others, apart from her Guru, Chitravina Shri N Ravikiran. She has been training students worldwide over in both beginner and advanced levels and has conducted several workshops in India and abroad, for school as well as college students.Apart from being a much sought after young vocalist, she is proficient in playing the Chitravina too.

Siva Prasad

(Vocal)

Siva Prasad, versatile in both music and dance repertoire, had intensive training in Carnatic under guru K M Krishnan and in the Sopaanam style from his father V N Narayan Nambudiri. Through his journey of innumerable stage performances with globally renowned artists over 30 years in top venues including the Central Theater in New York, he has won prestigious awards such as Mumbai Gaurav, Kalaratna and Nrtya Sangeeta Sevamani, Nadavedashree (from India) and Sangeeta Praveena in Switzerland. He also lends his voice for fusion music bands and recordings and has been featured by both All India Radio and Dooradarshan.

Bhargavi Balasubramanian

(Vocal and Chitraveena)

Bhargavi Balasubramanian, a disciple of Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina N Ravikiran is a naturally talented, multi-faceted and versatile performer in both vocal and chitravina. Her deep-rooted classical mind and her ability to handle core-Carnatic ragas with ease have won her critical acclaim, not only with rasikas but also among fellow musicians. She has performed numerous solo vocal and chitravina concerts all over the world and collaborative concerts with many reputed musicians and dancers.Bhargavi is a graded artiste of All India Radio in both vocal and chitravina and has been recognized and honored with many titles. Bhargavi is a much sought-after Guru and is well known for her contributions as a core-trainer for the ‘Sustaining Sampradaya’ programme, at the prestigious Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival. Her teaching methodologies and skills have been highly appreciated and her disciples have won several prizes in music reality shows such as Sangeet Samrat, Carnatic Music Idol, Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival and many of them are actively performing budding artists today. For more info, visit www.bhargavibalasubramanian.net

Sowmya Acharya

(Vocal)

Sowmya Acharya is a graded artist from All India Radio and a talented vocalist blessed with a melodious voice. She has made several significant contributions not only as a performer but also as the founder of Acharyanet.com, an online resource for high-quality lessons taught by great gurus. Sowmya has performed in many prestigious organizations in India and abroad and is dedicated to spreading the joy of learning music through teaching and organizing special Master Classes with renowned musicians. She has been taking advanced training from the revolutionary music educator Sangeeta Ratnakara Shri Chitravina N Narasimhan and Sangita Kalanidhi Chitravina N Ravikiran for the past decade and continues her journey with music learning, performance and teaching.