SHRI RANGANATHA TEMPLE, POMONA PROUDLY PRESENTS On Monday, May 31 tst , 3PM S.Prasanna Venkatesh (Carnatic Vocal) accompanied by Suhas Rao (Violin), Kumar Kanthan (Mridangam) Preceded by Invocation song from Sruti and Vidya Kanthan

Srirangam S. Prasanna Venkatesh, Carnatic Vocalist and disciple of Madurai Sri T.N. Sesha Gopalan has been learning music for the past 20+ years and is a B-High graded Carnatic Vocalist in the All India Radio, Prasar Bharati.

Born in Bhooloka Vaikuntam, Sri Rangam, Prasanna had his initial training under Smt. Kannammal Rengarajan and Sri T.V. Ramanujacharlu, Violinist, AIR Trichy. He is also trained to play on the Veena by Sri B. Sivakumar, Veena artiste, AIR Trichy.

Prasanna has participated and won several prizes in the field of music. He was awarded the citation “Sangeetha Sree” in the year 1994 by Sri Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Tiruchirapalli. Also, he has bagged a special award and an award for “Pallavi Singing” from Sri Gana Sabha, Chennai.

Prasanna has performed in several Sabhas in Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Bangalore, Mysore, Nagpur, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Florida, Nebraska etc. Some of the Sabhas include Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha, Ayodhya Mandapam, Mudhra, Nungambakkam Cultural Academy, Gana Sabha, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Gana Sabha, Indian Fine arts, Tamil Isai Sangam - Karaikkudi, Tamil Isai Sangam – Bhilai, Bhagavad Pada Sabha – Nagpur, Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana etc. Prasanna was also awarded a scholarship for music, by the Government of India. His areas of interests include singing Ragam Tanam Pallavi, tuning Divya Prabandhams, Composing Keerthanams and Varnams, etc.

Suhas Rao is a versatile and talented performer on violin. He has been a student of well known teacher of New England, Smt. Tara Anand since age 6. He is also learning Carnatic vocal from Smt. Geeta Murali of Norwood, MA. He is also receiving advanced training from Sri Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Prof. T.R. Subramaniam, and Smt. A. Kanyakumari in Chennai. He has won many awards and prizes in all major competitions in the U.S. like Cleveland Aradhana and CMANA of NJ, including the Gottuvadyam Iyengar award for creativity. In 2007, he was awarded the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to further his training in Carnatic violin. He has performed throughout the U.S. and in India as both a solo artist and an accompanist, performing with eminent artists like Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. R.K. Srikantan, Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Prof. Trichy Sankaran, Carnatica Brothers, and Prof. Venkatachalam. Lately, Suhas has been teaching both vocal and violin to many students. He is currently a sophomore at Harvard University.

Kumar Kanthan began learning mridangam at the age of 8 from Nagarajan of Delhi. He later continued his tutelage under Ravichandra of London. Since 1985 he has been receiving advanced training from the renowned vidwan Guru Karaikudi R. Mani . Kumar has performed in concerts in the USA, Europe and India and has accompanied many senior artists including B. Rajam Iyer, T.K. Govinda Rao, Trichur Ramachandran, Jayalakshmi Santhanam, Bhushani Kalyanaraman, Charumathi Ramachandran and Mysore Manjunath.

Kumar, a Yale graduate, resides in New Jersey with his wife and two kids and works in the field of finance. He teaches the sought-after Kaaraikudi Mani style of play to select and dedicated mridangam students. Kumar has been teaching mridangam for over 20 years and has taught students to the arangetram level and beyond.

Sruti and Vidya are disciples of Srirangam Prasanna S. Venkatesh. They have both won prizes in several music competitions, most notably Sruti winning the first prize for Pallavi singing for three years in a row at Cleveland, and Vidya winning first and second prize for kriti singing on multiple occasions at CMANA and Cleveland respectively. They have been performing at the prestigious Chennai December Music Season for the past two years. Sruti and Vidya will be accompanied for their invocation song by Keshav Nelavai on the mridangam. Keshav is a disciple od Shri Kumar Kanthan and has also been learning directly from Guru Kaaraikkudi R. Mani. Keshav has also won 1st prize at the mridangam competition in Cleveland.

For further details, contact Usha Chari at [email protected] or 914-739-5513.