New England Music Students Excel at the 44th Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival

Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, the largest carnatic music festival outside India, celebrated its 44th festival between April 10th and 24th 2024. This festival pays homage to Saint Tyagaraja, one of the Trinity composers of Carnatic Music, is attended by over 5000 attendees and also brings in the finest musicians and dancers from all over the world. Similar to prior years, competitions were held in various music and dance categories featuring over 1000 participants. As with other years, several Carnatic music and Bharathnatyam students from the New England area enthusiastically participated in competitions and events and won numerous prizes.

Carnatic Music

The following New England music students won prizes in various Carnatic Music competitions

Nandini Muralidharan:

Nandini is a  passionate carnatic student and performer. She is a student of Anubhava School Music. She has been learning under Guru Tara Anand for past 12 years. In 2024 Cleveland Aradhana,  Nandini won the first prize in senior swaram singing, second places in senior Alapana and Neraval categories.

Janani Sriram :

Janani Sriram is a 10th grader at Acton Boxborough Regional High School. Janani has been learning Carnatic music under the tutelage of Guru Tara Anand for the last 8 years. Prior to learning from Guru Tara Anand, Janani also learnt from Guru Aparna Balaji.

In the 2024 Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, Janani won second place in the senior keerthanam and contemporary composers category. She also won third  place in senior swaram and alapana competitions. Janani is very passionate about Carnatic music and has won prizes at CMANA,NJ  and other local area competitions. She is also an active participant in all workshops and events organized by her Guru. Apart from vocal music, Janani is also adept in playing the Carnatic violin. Janani aspires to work hard and continue her journey of learning and finding joy through music.

Sahana Sankar:

Sahana Sankar is a  Sophomore at Shrewsbury High School, Shrewsbury, MA. She hails from a musical family and was  initiated into music by her mother Smt. Uma Sankar and then continued to learn from Smt Uma Prakash( India) Currently She is under the guidance of Smt Kamakshi Kalyanasundaram from Glastonbury, CT. She recently was part of the Divine project Abhirami Andhadhi completing 100 slokas in 100 ragas along with her guru for the youtube channel Jagati Krithi. She has participated and performed in many events. She recently won the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana for  Viruttham in Senior category, 2nd place.

Siddharth J Sama:

Siddharth is a freshmen in Farmington High school, is born into a musical family and receives training from his father Vidwan Shri Jithendra Kishore. He has been learning vocal from Vidushi Smt. Kamakshi Kalyanasundaram. He started learning at the age of 5 and continues to practice at the advanced level of Carnatic Violin and Vocal. He is passionate about Carnatic music and wants to expand the same in his academic career and beyond.

He has given multiple performances in and around CT.

He has won several prizes in violin & vocal competitions from well-known sabhas such as Raga club CT, Sivan Fine Arts Academy NJ, JK-Yog CT and many others. He recently received 3rd place in Junior violin competition conducted by the Cleveland Thyagara Aradhana this year.

He learns western violin at Farmington high school. He also holds a second degree black belt in Taekwondo. Siddharth wants to pursue his education in aerospace related majors.

MohanaKrishna Narayanan

Mohanakrishnan Narayanan, a sixth-grader from a bhagavatha family immersed in harikatha and bhajans, began his harikatha training at four under his father's guidance. He's performed widely across North America. Alongside, he diligently studies mridangam, Carnatic music, and keyboard since pre-K, enhancing his Sampradaya bhajans and Radha Kalyanam practice. At the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, he clinched 3rd place in the junior Carnatic keyboard category, displaying his talents in padam/javali, harikatha, and keyboard competitions. Under his mother's tutelage, he delves into Madhuragithams and rare Oothukadu krithis. He also excels in chess, boasting a FIDE rating in the 1700s. He is also proficient in Tamil, Sanskrit, and Spanish languages.

Lalitha Kalyanasundaram

Lalitha Kalyanasundaram is a disciple of Smt Kamakshi Kalyanasundaram (Vocal) and Sri R Raghul (Violin). She has participated in competitions and performed in several events. Recently she won the first prize in vocal and second prize in violin sub-junior category.

Thryakshari Siva:

Thyrakshari Siva  is a disciple of Smt.Kamakshi Kalyanasundaram and lives in Hartford County, Connecticut. Thryakshari is a Third Grader and enjoys playing Veena as well. She has participated and won competitions including the  recent Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival 2024 [2nd Prize in Vocal].

Pradyun Ramkumar:

Pradyun Ramkumar, aged 8, hails from Shrewsbury Massachusetts, whose heart beats to the rhythm of music. From a tender age, he exhibited deep passion in learning the intricacies of music - be it playing the piano, composing with Garage band,  drumming or singing Indian carnatic music. Recently, he participated in Cleveland Tyagaraja Festival, a national level Carnatic music competition held in Cleveland, OH. He won 2nd prize in the Varnam and 3rd prize in Kriti categories. He has been learning music since he was 4 years old under the guidance of Smt.Uma Sankar from Sruthilayaa School of Music, Shrewsbury,MA. His other hobbies include reading,playing soccer and exploring science.

Several New England area children took part in musical events organized by the aradhana committee:

Thematic Presentation of compositions of Harikesha Muthaiyya Bhagavathar:

Orchestred and Conducted by Kalaimamani.Dr R. Suryaprakash:

This year Sruthilayaa students along with few other students from different parts of the US participated in a thematic presentation of the compositions of Shri. Harikeshanallur Muthaiyya Bhagavathar. The compositions were handpicked by Dr. R. Suryaprakash and was very beautifully orchestrated to suit the compositions.

There were 10 students from the Sruthilayaa School of Carnatic Music,  Shrewsbury who  participated including Ananya Arvind, Avyaya Arvind, Ritika Sunchu, Avani Kashalikar, Lavanya Ganapathy, Sahana Sankar, Anish Pochiraju, Srividya konda  Sahasra Govindra and Surya Savitri Nishar. These students were coached and  trained by their teacher Smt. Uma Sankar.

Sustaining Sampradaya - KVN stream

The Cleveland Utsavam celebrated the centenary year (2023) of the legendary musician K.V.Narayanaswamy through the Sustaining Sampradaya program this year.

Vedanth Srivatsan is a sixth grader at Conant elementary school in Acton. He is a disciple of Vidushi Smt. Tara Anand.  He was selected to train in this educational series. From a young age, Vedanth has held a profound faith in his Guru ; her rigorous training and constant emphasis on a strong work ethic. This has deepened his appreciation of the art form and kept him grounded during the demanding multi time zone sessions and grueling eight hour rehearsals culminating in a two and a half hour concert style presentation as a tribute to the legend. He hopes the immersive experience at the Utsavam will help broaden his sense of musicality and musicianship. Vedanth is also a student of the western violin and performs at the New England Conservatory’s Baroque and string ensembles.

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