Grandson of Sangita Kalanidhi Sri Viswanatha Iyer and son of Sangita Kalanidhi Sri Maharajapuram Santhanam, Sri Maharajapuram Srinivasan is an acclaimed musician in his own right. He has been giving individual concerts since 1986. He has had the good fortune of being the primary disciple of both his grandfather and father and has imbibed their rich musical heritage. He has performed all over India in all leading sabhas. He is also regularly performing for Doordarshan and AIR as an ‘A’ grade artiste. He has accompanied his father in all his concerts both in India and abroad. Endowed with a fine feeling for melody, he is striving to admirably combine the lakshana and lakshiya styles handed down to him by his ancestors.
He has received many awards including, Asthana Vidwan of Vysaraya Mutt, Asthana Vidwan of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam awarded by Sri Jayendra Saraswathi on the occasion of his 70th birthday celebrations. He was awarded Simha Dwani Samrat by Pujya Sri Swamiji of the Vysaraya Mutt, Best Vocalist in the Sub Senior category from the Music Academy in 2000 and has received rave reviews from senior music critics appreciating his performance in various concerts.
His son M.S.Ganesh Viswanathan is a child prodigy who has won the appreciation of many and has been performing individual concerts and is also accompanying his father in concerts all over the world.
Kallidaikurichi S.Sivakumar hails from a musical family. Siva Kumar had an interest in laya from an early age of five. Discovering the interest of Sivakumar, his parents took him to his guru Vaitheerswaran Koil Sri.S.Vaidyanathan. He had his tutelage from the age of seven and started accompanying concerts from the age of sixteen. Vairamangalam Sri.Lakshminarayanan, who had deep interest in Sivakumar’s upcoming, took him to the mridangam maestro, the veteran Padmasri Palghat R.Raghu.Sivakumar has played in all the reputed organizations all over the country. . He is the recipient of the first prize in the 1990 mridangam competition conducted by Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Trust.
Sivakumar has traveled widely and has accompanied senior artists like N.Ravikiran, Smt.Charumathi Ramachandran, Sikkil Sisters, Malladi Brothers and Vijay Siva.
Violinist R.Sathish Kumar is a disciple of Violin Maestro Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri.M.S. Gopalakrishnan. He has also been undergoing intense training from Vidwan Sri Palghat T.R.Rajaram. This has made him understand the subtle nuances in vocal music and thus it has enabled him to provide adept and comfortable violin support to all vocalists. Having won several prizes and awards from various sabhas and institution in and out of Chennai, he started to step into concert platform at the age of eight.
He has performed over 500 concerts throughout India. He has accompanied leading vidwans like Mandolin Srinivas, T.V.Gopalakrishnan, Nithyasrree Mahadevan and Sudha Raghunathan etc. He is also a graded artist of AIR and Doordarshan.
He has received Best Violinist Awards from Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer trust, Navras Recording Company-London, Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and Mylapore Fine Arts Club for the December Music Festivals. He was also winner of the National Level competition held by AIR – Chennai in the year 1998 and was awarded a direct graduation by the Music Audition Board.
Sundar had his initial training from his aunt Smt. Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan and his advanced training with Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan. During the five years at IIT Madras, he had the opportunity to compete in the music competitions in Chennai and also to attend music concerts regularly. Thereafter he joined the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad and got an MBA in Finance and Computer Systems. Despite the busy schedule, he found opportunities to both practise and perform carnatic music. Sundar has been pursuing a dual career at Detroit since 1989 – IT Manager and musician-cum-teacher. Along with his wife Padma he runs the Trinity Academy of Fine Arts and offer one-on-one lessons in vocal music. Sundar is a popular vocalist giving regular performances both in US and in India.
Vinod Seetharam started learning mridangam at the age of seven from Sri Ardhanareeswaran and later from Shri Umayalpuram Sivaraman. Is now having advanced training from Bangalore Arjun Kumar. Has accompanied a host of leading vidwans and vidhusis at several prestigious organizations in India, USA, and Canada. Has won many music competitions and prizes and is a graded AIR artist with many radio and television concerts to his credit. Holds a master’s degree in Industrial technology and is pursuing a career at Ford Motor Company.
Kalpana Venkat, formerly Kalpana Kishore, began her training on the violin at the age of six under her mother, Seetha Kishore and continued with Sangeetha Chudamani Smt. T. Rukmini. Kalpana has accompanied several top ranking carnatic musicians from both the senior and current generations. Kalpana has won several awards over the course of her career, including numerous awards from The Music Academy, Madras. She was also awarded the ‘Yuva Kala Bharathi’ in 1993. by Bharat Kalachar. She holds a Masters degree in Carnatic Music from Madras University. She has also released numerous cassettes and CDs of her solo and jugalbandhi performances. She is an ‘A’ grade artist of All India Radio and has performed on Indian national television and radio on numerous occasions.
