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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Chitravina N. Ravikiran
Chitravina N Ravikiran was hailed as an unprecedented phenomenon when he took the music world by storm at the age of two (in 1969) and again when he presented his first recital, a 3-hour vocal concert at age five.He gave his first instrumental concert on the Chitravina when he was 11 and a record setting 24-hour non-stop recital with no breaks when he was 18.
Today, he is renowned as one of the preeminent virtuosos in the world who has taken slide instrument techniques to unsurpassed heights. A versatile
composer who has composed over 500 pieces, Ravikiran is the creator of Melharmony, an exciting concept that has added color to world music.
Also lauded as a vocalist of class, Ravikiran has set standards that have inspired several others to emulate him. He is constantly out to expand his horizons, be it through collaborations with top-notch world music maestros or designing new instruments such as the navachitravina.
His accomplishments, though widely reported and documented across the world, read like a fairy tale. But they are not the sole reasons for his uniqueness. He is a multi-faceted genius with far-reaching goals and objectives.
The media acclaim Ravikiran:
Infinite capacity for micro-tonal shadings reminiscent of the human voice the core of Carnatic music played with teasing precision (The New York
Times);
...an impressive solo on the wonderfully resonant chitravina (The BBC Music Magazine, UK;
"...one of the world's greatest slide players - whose instrument is NOT a guitar! ...an amazing slide player in anybody's language. "; Radio National, Australia)
Jayshankar Balan
Jayshankar hails from a family of musicians. He learnt violin from Alamelu Subramanian and later from T.S.Krishnaswamy and N.S. Chandrashekaran in Bombay. Presently he is under the guidance of Madurai Sundar. He has worked with several leading artists such as Shri T.N. Seshagopalan, Dr Yesadas, Nedunuri Krishnamoorthy and Ravi Kiran. He is a graded artist of AIR and has represented India in major international cultural festivals. He holds a Masters in Computer Science and a MBA in International Finance and is settled in Michigan
Rohan Krishnamurthy
Master Rohan Krishnamurthy, who lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, began learning mridangam at the age of eight under Damodharan Srinivasan. Rohan met the famous Guruvayur Dorai in Michigan and the latter agreed to train him. Rohan has performed in many concerts in the US and won first prizes in several competitions held by various Thyagaraja Aradhana festivals, in particular the junior and senior prizes in Cleveland. Since 1998, Rohan has been a constant presence in the annual Chennai music festival . He has accompanied leading musicians both in India and in US and has drawn rave reviews. He was conferred the title yuvakala bharati by Bharat Kalachar in 2003.
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