The Monthly Concert series at the Lakshmi Temple in Ashland presented the first of its performances on September 29th, 2007 with the junior and senior students of Durga Krishnan. Students displayed their talent and skill with an interesting ensemble of vocal, veena and mridangam accompaniments in the Carnatic Style.
Students who participated were NandaKumar Mohan, Siddharath Mohan,Aditya Kota, Sahitya Kota, Sridhar Sivapurapu, Kaustubh Garimella, Pranathi Chimani, Rupa Ravi and Sachita Ganesa in the Junior group and they were accompanied on the mridangam by Ullas Rao, student of Pravin Sitaram. In the senior group, Amritha Mangalat, Srivani Ganti, Swetha Dravida, Vishnupriya Samudrala and Raj Kiran Patnam participated.
Each month, students of local area teachers will present music and dance performances in both Carnatic and Hindustani styles. Dances will be in various classical styles ranging from Bharatha Natyam, Mohini Aattam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri and Kathak.
The occasion also marked the announcement of scholarships to students awarded by the temple. According to KG Narayanan, each year a scholarship will be given to one student who will be graduating from High School. There will be one scholarship for music and one for dance. The dance students will be chosen from those who participate in the Nrityanjali programs at the temple and the music students will be chosen from the Composers day and Trimurthy Day participants.†We hope to include students of Hindustani music and North Indian Dance teachers in the near future†says Durga Krishnan who is one of the organizers for the program.
The monthly concert idea was conceived by the Youth Cultural wing of the Temple and was approved by the general body. The YCC’s newly elected chairman Sri H Rajagopal and the temple with the help of Durga Krishnan chose the participants on a first come, first basis. The series is open to students only and shorter programs in a group setting rather than solo is recommended.
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