Sanjana Sankar, a sophomore at Lexington High School, won second prize in Veena Senior Krithi Category at Cleveland Thygaraja Festival held on April 14th 2017. This was the first time she participated in the Veena competition at the Cleveland Thygaraja Festival.

Sanjana has been learning Veena for the past 4 years at Upasana School of Music with Smt. Revathi Ramaswamy, an accomplished musician whose Guru was her mother Vainaka Gayaka Vidhushi late Smt.Ranaganayaki Sundararajan of Mysore.

"This competition was really meaningful as it has exposed me to the exceptional talent of my peers outside of my local community, to eminent musicians and it encourages me to really strive in the field of music,"said Sanjana." She further elaborated that," I could not have accomplished this without my Guru's blessings,generous encouragement and without the love and support of my parents. I'm also grateful to my vocal lessons Guru Smt. Aparna Balaji  and Guru Smt. Sandya Ganesh who initiated me on this musical path."

Sanjana's guru Smt . Revathi Ramaswamy commented,"Sanjana is quiet and unassuming. She also learns vocal which helps in learning Veena, complimenting each other. Her talent came across very quickly and I am very happy to guide her in the right direction. If she continues her current path she has great potential to be an accomplished Veena player.
 
Sanjana is also passionate about her studies, wants to pursue biological studies and contribute positively to the society in her own unique way through her achievements both in education and her dedication to these Art form.


Aaradhya Sivakumar won 2nd prize in sub-junior Krithi competition.
7 year old Aaradhya currently learns from Rasika Murali Mohan and cherishes her moment sharing the 1st prize trophy from the 2016 Cleveland Aradhana Geetham competition with her first Guru, our beloved Geetha Murali, who is no longer with us but has given carnatic music to so many young students around Boston. Aaradhya also won 1st prize last year in the sub junior krithi competition at CMANA.


Arvind Mahalingam won 2nd prize in junior Neraval competition.
Arvind currently learns from Vidwan Palghat R Ramaprasad and was learning from Geetha Murali before him. Arvind who is the son of Mridangam vidwan Mali Santhanakrishnan also learns violin from Rasika Murali and is a senior at Norwood Middle School.

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