PROFILE OF PERFORMING ARTISTES

An evening you will cherish - Grand Jugalbandhi Instrumental Ensemble By

Snehasish Mozumder (Mandolin):  Music runs in the family of Snehasish, born in 1967,  he started his musical journey at the age of 4; by playing the tabla. At the age of 10  the mandolin was added as a second instrument which he learnt from his grandfather, father, his uncle and cousin. To further hone his skill he became a pupil of Pandit Ajoy Sinha Roy and subsequently Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty.

 In November 2002 Snehasish Mozumder received an invitation from Pandit Ravi Shankar to the Royal Albert Hall (London) to participate in the George Harrison Memorial Concert (Concert for George). The modifications undertaken on his mandolin by Snehasish Mozumder and his special playing technique are increasingly taken up today by other musicians.

Sriram Krishnan (Violin):  Sriram hails froman illustrious family rich in the tradition of classical music. Son of the world renowned Carnatic Violin maestro Padma Bhushan Sangita Kalanidhi, Sangita Ratna Prof.  T. N. Krishnan, Sriram began his training in music at the age of five under his grandfather A. Narayana Iyer,and later honed his skills under the tutelage of his father. Sriram has been performing since the age of 9, accompanying his father and sister as well as other noted Carnatic musicians. He is a software engineer and lives in Irvine, California.

Subrata Bhattacharya (Tabla): He had his initial training from Tamal Krishna Chaterjee & continued under Tapan Kr. Banerjee and further onfrom Tabla Maestro Pt. Shankar Ghosh.  Subrata has accompanied stalwarts such as Pt.Budhaditya Mukherjee, Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan and  Pt. Ronu Majumdar, to name a few.  He was awarded theSangeet Prabhakar and the Gold Medal and the Sangeet Praveen by the Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad , and Sangeet Bhushan by the Bhatkhande College , Lucknow He has toured extensively and played in USA , Doha , Qatar , Muscat , Oman , Armenia , Bahrain ,etc and played in prestigious venues and events. A graded artiste of Indian National Radio and television, Subrata has also formed the fusion group, Naad.

Rohan Krishnamurthy:  Acclaimed as an "international performer and promoter" of the mridangam by USA Today and a "percussion prodigy" by The Hindu (India), Rohan Krishnamurthy is today considered a young musical ambassador in the Indian music scene. Having initially received mridangam training with Damodaran Srinivasan over a telephonic setup in the U.S. and continuing advanced training from the mridangam maestro Guruvayur Dorai in India, Rohan has performed in hundreds of concerts in North America and India since the age of nine with leading Indian musicians. Last year, he participated in a 10-city fundraising tour for Sankara Nethralaya with the violin legend Prof. T.N. Krishnan and Sriram Krishnan.

Rohan's multifaceted accomplishments earned him a one-on-one meeting and performance for the former President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, at the presidential office and estate in New Delhi. The President commented, "You an expert in your field and are doing wonderful things to bridge cultures through music. You have a very bright future!"
This fall, Rohan will begin a Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology at the prestigious Eastman School of Music as a Provost's Fellow.

Website of Rohan Krishnamurthy: www.rohanrhythm.com

Ayyappan Venkatraman: is a disciple of Prof. T.H. Subashchandran and Shri. Ganesh Kumar.  He started learning from Shri. Srinath Balasubramanian and continued with Dr. P.K. Swaminathan, and Sangita Kalanidhi Shri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman in India.  Following his arangetram in a concert with Chitraveena Ravikiran, he has accompanied many other world-renowned artistes like Violin Maestros Ganesh & Kumaresh, Sriram Gangadaran and Carnatica Brothers Shashikiran & Chitraveena Ganesh.  He has played in many concerts around the Capital area and in India.  Ayyappan was awarded the Bowles Music Fellowship to learn mrudangam at St. Albans School and music achievement awards from American Independent Music Association and the prominent Cleveland Music Competition. 

Ayyappan is currently a Senior in music in Amherst college, Amherst Mass.