Participants
Elevate Their Artistry, Elevate Their Confidence
All Participants
Deetya Aravind
🏷️ #Vocal, #Dance
Deetya is an incoming freshman at Briar Woods High School in Virginia. She began her musical journey at the young age of five under the guidance of her Guru, Smt. Radhika Rajesh. Deetya has been a regular performer at various music festivals across the DC Metro area, and at platforms like Trimurthi Gaana Sabha in North Carolina, Mahaperiyava Manimandapam in New Jersey, and the renowned Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana festival.
Her talent has earned her numerous accolades in competitions hosted by organizations such as Kaveri Idol, ISKCON India, Silicon Andhra USA, Hariharapura Maṭha in Karnataka, the Malaysia International Carnatic Music Festival, and the AKKA Idol by the America Kannada Kootas Association.
In addition to her musical pursuits, Deetya is also training in Bharatanatyam in the Pandanallur style under Guru Smt. Vani Ramesh.
Devika Shreehari
🏷️ #Vocal
Devika Shreehari is an 8th grader at Mary G. Porter Traditional School. She started her Carnatic music journey at the age of 6 under the guidance of Jayashree Rajeev. She learned basics from Smt. Lavanya Gantashala, Cherthalai Arunadharan, and she is currently learning from Smt. Krupaa Lakshmi.
Devika has won many prizes, including first prize in Carnatic Music during KAGW Talent time. She has performed mini-concerts around the DMV area and has participated in the Cleveland Thygaraja Aradhana.
Outside of school, she enjoys reading books and watching TV shows.
Gopika Shreehari
🏷️ #Ghatam, #Violin
Gopika Shreehari is an 8th grader at Mary G. Porter Traditional School. She started her violin journey at the age of 6 under the guidance of Sri Subhash Vinjamuri .
She has won many prizes, including first prize in Violin during KCMSW Festival. She has performed around the DMV area and accompanied multiple school annual day programs.
Gopika is also learning Ghatam under Vid. Samyuktha Sriram .
Kadambari Ramachandran
🏷️ #Violin, #Vocal, #Dance
Kadambari Ramachandran is a sophomore at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She has been learning violin from Shri Subhash Vinjamuri, vocal from Sumithra Vasudev, and bharatanatyam from Meena Telikicherla.
Kruttika Gopal
🏷️ #Vocal
Kruttika Gopal is a vocalist based in Washington, DC. Originally from Milford, Connecticut, she started learning Carnatic music under the tutelage of Smt. Janaki Ramanan. She has been recognized by the Raaga Club of Connecticut and the All-National Honor Ensembles, and is a singer for Nootana, a live Indian classical music and dance ensemble in DC. Kruttika is currently a student of Smt. Raji Gopalakrishnan. She completed a bachelor’s degree in environmental science at American University and now works in environmental protection.
Nahar Gurudatta
🏷️ #Vocal, #Violin
Nahar is a freshman at George Mason University majoring in Business and Finance. He has been learning vocal music and violin since the tender age of 6. Currently he is learning vocal from Dr. Gokul Chandramouli Iyer and violin from Shri. Subhash Vinjamuri and Kamalakiran Vinjamuri.
Prakash Padmanabhan
🏷️ #Mridangam
Though Prakash developed a keen interest in percussion right from childhood, often providing rhythm support for his brothers’ singing in self-taught methods, the opportunity to learn mridangam materialized only after coming to the Washington area when he began taking classes from Sri. P.K. Swaminathan of Burtonsville, Maryland, at the still tender age of 33. Over the years , he has also received training from Sri Srinath Bala, Sri Guruvayur Sanoj and is currently from Sri Cherthala Krishna Kumar. Prakash has had the good fortune to play for famous visiting artists from India including Jaya Vijaya, Kavalam Sreekumar and Vishnu Dev. He has accompanied many young artists in the DC area for their mini concerts and actively participates in annual music festivals in the area. He also plays the tabla and aspires to be a full-time percussionist after retirement.
Raaghav Sriram
🏷️ #Vocal
Raaghav Sriram is a 8th grader. He started learning Carnatic vocal music at age 8 from Guru Shri Hari Kappiyoor. Currently, he is learning from Guru Shri Chandramana Narayana Namboothiri.
“Carnatic music makes me happy and delighted. I also love to learn new manodramam patterns.”
Ramani Krishnamurthy
🏷️ #Mridangam
Ramani Krishnamurthy, a software engineer from Richmond, Virginia, was first introduced to the art of playing the mridangam during his school days in India. Though his early training was short-lived, his passion for the instrument remained. After moving to the United States, Ramani longed to reconnect with this tradition, and his journey came full circle when Vidwan Sri Vijay Ganesh graciously accepted him as a student about two years ago.
Alongside his continued learning under his guru’s guidance, Ramani has been actively accompanying young artists at music events in Richmond, VA. He remains deeply committed to advancing his skills, performing whenever possible, and cherishes every opportunity to support fellow musicians.
Sahana Aravind
🏷️ #Vocal, #Dance
Sahana Aravind is a 16-year old, senior at Madison High school, Virginia. Sahana has been learning Carnatic music for the past 12 years. She is currently a disciple of Vid. Amrutha Venkatesh. She has been performing across the US and in India including the Chennai marghazhi music festival season. She has won various awards/prizes across North America over the past 10 years. Some of her recent awards include the 1st prize for kriti rendering from “Thamizhum Naanum” judged by Vidwan Sri. Sanjay Subramanian, the overall title winner of the Indian Raga Carnatic music competition series, finalist in Guruguhaamrta Dikshitar Kritis Competition, to name a few. Sahana also has been learning Bharatanatyam for the past 12 years and she plays varsity tennis for her high school.