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About the Artists

Recognized as a musical prodigy at a very early age, Ravikiran debuted as a vocalist at age 5 in Coimbatore, India while under the tutelage of his father, the great Narasimhan.  At the age of 10, anticipating his voice changing, he took up the Chitraveena, presenting his first concert at age 12.  Although best known as an instrumentalist, he has since the 1980s, resumed voice training under the celebrated T. Brinda and nowadays presents both vocal and instrumental performances.  Among his unique contributions to his art are the use of a teflon slide to replace the traditional ebony and the invention of a new instrument, the Navachitraveena.

   

Guruvayur Dorai is one of India's senior-most exponents of the South Indian classical percussion instrument, the mridangam. He had his initial training under Palghat Subba Iyer and E.P. Narayana Pisharody, and later from the legendary master Pazhani Subramanium Pillai. Initiating his concert performances at the tender age of eight, Guruvayur Dorai has performed on the concert platform for the past 60 years. His wide range of efforts in the field of mridangam and music have helped propogate the art around the globe.
 

 

Ravi Balasubramanian has been playing the ghatam for about 11 years and learnt the art from great teachers like Palghat P.K. Sekar (Ranganathan), Sangitha Kalanidhi Dr. T.K. Murthy, and V. Suresh. In December 2003 he received the title 'Yuva Kala Bharati' from Bharat Kalachar in Chennai. He has played in many concerts in India, USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia and accompanied a host of prominent musicians. Ravi is a welcome presence on the concert platforms both in U.S. and India. He is a graduate student specializing in robotics at the Carnegie-Mellon, Pittsburgh.
 

 

Akkarai S. Subhalakshmi, a child prodigy started giving violin solo and vocal programmes at the tender age of eight. She had her initial two years training at Nadha Brahma Vidyalaya of the late guru V. Janakiraman, New Delhi.  She is now under the guidance of Swara Raga Sudha Violin School run by her father Akkarai S. Swamynathan. She is not only an expert violinist but also a well recognized vocalist. She is learning vocal music from Padma Bhushan P.S. Narayanaswamy and Chithra Veena N. Ravikiran.