SMC Monthly Concert - May 2017
4:00 PM Vocal concert by Kum. Vishnupriya Mallela, accompanied on Violin by Sri. Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda and on Mridangam by Chi. Balu Mallela
5:10 PM Vocal concert by Chi. Sudarshan Ravi, accompanied on Violin by Sri. Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda and on Mridangam by Sri. Sivakumar Sethupathi
Artiste Profiles:
Chi. Sudarshan Ravi
Sudarshan has been an avid student of music for the past 19 years, starting out in Sydney by learning under Uma Ramu Ayyar. Later, he began to come under the tutelage of Sri Malladi Ravikumar of the Malladi Brothers and, more recently, has been fortunate to learn from Sangeetha Kalanidhi Padma Bhushan Dr TV Gopalakrishnan as well. Currently, he learns under both gurus.
He is profoundly inspired by his guru parampara and his style mirrors the respect for classicism and musicality that his gurus have passed on to him.
He performs in Chennai annually and has given concerts in esteemed sabhas such as Brahma Gana Sabha and Vani Mahal, as well as in Sydney. He was awarded the Runner-up at the 2019 Times Tyagaraja Awards, conducted at the Music Academy’s TTK auditorium and 3rd place at Sri Sankara TV’s Sangeeta Yaatra. With the blessings of his gurus, he performed at the Tiruvayyaru Tyagaraja Aradhana in 2017 and considers this as one of his cherished musical memories. Currently, he is a final year medical student at UNSW.
Kum. Vishnu Priya Mallela
Vishnu Priya Mallela is from Auckland, New Zealand and is currently working as a Technical Analyst at the University of Waikato. She finished her Diploma in music from London Fine arts society at the age of 14 and gave her arangetram in Carnatic vocal when she was 15. She was trained in Carnatic music by her mother since the age of 6. After completion of her Diploma, she parallelly started further training from Prof. Radha Venkatachalam, a Senior lecturer at Delhi University and Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna. She was the recipient of “Sangeetha Sudha” from Vipanchii trust in Chennai. Vishnu Priya is a frequent performer at the Chennai music season during December and January. She performs in various prestigious sabhas such as Hamsadhwani, Sarvani Sangeetha sabha, Music Education Trust and Vipanchii to name a few. She has is a frequent performer in Auckland for various shows in Carnatic and also Film genres.
Sri. Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda
Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda had his initial training in music with Sri P.S.S.R Jagannatham and Sri N. C. Ramanujam. He had advanced training under eminent vidwan Sri Dwaram Satyanarayana Rao at Hyderabad. He is currently under advanced tutelage in vocal from Hyderabad Brothers and violin from Parur Sri M A Sundareswaran. He has a vast experience in accompanying local and visiting artistes for various concerts across Australia. He also developed interest in percussion and has undergone training in mridangam and kanjira from Sri Kaliprasad Babu, Melakaveri Sri K Balaji and Sri Nerkunam Sankar. He continues to learn mridangam from Maestro Sri Patri Satish Kumar. He founded Geervani Academy of Performing Arts and teaches Vocal, Violin and Mridangam in Sydney.
Sri. Sivakumar Sethupathi
Siva had his training in mridangam under Guru Sri T.S. Janakiraman, a disciple of Sri Palani Subramania Pillai. He was a recipient of music scholarship awarded by the Centre For Cultural Resources and Training, Government of India. He is a sought-after mridangam artiste for Carnatic music programs, Bharatanatyam recitals and Sampradaya Bhajans in Australia. He has accompanied several leading artistes from India. Siva is a founding member of Sydney Bhajan Mandali.
Chi. Balasubrahmanyam Mallela
Balu is a passionate percussionist and has learnt the mridangam under the tutelage of Dr Suresh Ramachandra from Auckland. He continues to learn from Dr Ramachandra and Shri Peravali Jayabhaskar from Hyderabad. Balu is also a trained vocalist, under the mentorship of his mother Dr Padma Govardhan. He is currently studying in his 3rd year of a Double degree in Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine at the University of Sydney.