Veena Concert by Ramana Balachandhran

November 3, 2023 7:50 pm by Swara Lahari

Event Date (mm/dd/yyyy) : cevents_startdate : 1699747200

Swara Lahari (the music wing of Yuva Bharati) presents a grand veena concert by child prodigy Ramana Balachandhran.

Ramana Balachandhran is a Veena player in the Carnatic tradition. Son of Carnatic music practitioners Balachandhran and Sharanya, his talent for music was noticed when at a young age he could identify ragas and point out nuances.

Considered a prodigious talent, he was directly awarded an A grade by All India Radio (AIR, the only grading authority in India) after auditioning at the age of sixteen. This is an honor that has been bestowed on very few musicians in AIR’s history of more than seventy-five years. Madras Music Academy, the iconic and venerated music institution in Chennai waived age requirements to invite him to be part of its annual concert series when he was sixteen.

As a trained vocalist, he sings along to express the lyrics that underlie the emotive melody. A product of methods that lie outside the normal establishment, he attempts to reach out to the deeper part of his audience by being profoundly present and being moved himself.

Vignesh Venkataraman is a mridangam artist hailing from Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman’s school of music. He was initiated into playing mridangam by Sri Anand Iyer, also from the same school. Over a period of 5 years, Vignesh traveled to India every summer to undergo advanced training under the tutelage of Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman. Vignesh has accompanied various artists, including many senior musicians, in numerous concerts all over the US and in India.

Sowmiya J. Narayanan is a student of Trichy Sri. Harikumar and Sangeetha Acharya Sri. Subash Chandran. He is a regular performer all over the USA and in India, and has accompanied many leading artists including Dr. M. Balamuralikrisha, Smt. Sudha Raghunathan, Sri. Kadri Gopalnath, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Pandit Ronu Majumdar.