A Journey to the Five Rivers In Search of Thyagaraja
Dr. Mark Harbold is an educator, composer, author, and performing musician. At Elmhurst, Dr. Harbold taught courses in music theory, history, technology, appreciation, composition, and Indian music. In 2017 -2018 he was a Fulbright – Nehru scholar at Madras Christian College in Chennai. Dr.Harbold traveled to India 14 times between 2005 & 2020, taking students with him five times. He has given talks on music at many South Indian conferences and universities, including a lecture series for Dr. L. Subramaniam’s music degree program at Jain University, Bengaluru. Dr. Harbold has attended the Thyagaraja Aradhana in Thiruvaiyaru eight times.
Dr. Harbold’s major publications include his 8 editions of the Instructor’s Resource Manual for Joseph Kerman’s LISTEN, a popular music appreciation textbook.
Vocal concert by Ramakrishnan Murthy
Ramakrishnan Murthy began his Carnatic music training from Smt. Padma Kutty in Irvine in 1997. In 2001, he began to take advanced lessons from veteran violin artist Delhi P. Sunder Rajan. Ramakrishnan also spent brief periods of time learning from Vairamangalam Lakshmi Narayanan, CR Vaidyanathan, Vaikom Jayachandran and Chengleput Ranganathan. He is currently under the tutelage of R. K. Shriramkumar.
After completing his undergraduate education, Ramakrishnan moved to Chennai permanently and began pursuing Carnatic music full time. He has, since, performed regularly in Indian and international music festivals and famous sabhas, including the Madras Music Academy and has been accompanied by most of the notable names in the field of music today.
He has won many awards and accolades.
Ramakrishnan has also done playback singing for films, debuting with the song “Nalla Nanban” under composer Harris Jayaraj for Shankar’s 2012 film Nanban.
Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (violin)
Kamalakiran Vinjamuri started learning the Indian carnatic violin from his grandfather, Sri. Parthasarathy Iyengar. He then received training from Smt. Malladi Vijayalakshmi. His father, Sri. Subhash Vinjamuri, started teaching him the violin at the age of seven and he received advanced training from Sangeethakalanidhi A. Kanyakumari.
Kamalakiran has won several awards and accolades including the Best Performer Award from Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Chennai. The Lalgudi G. Jayaraman Award for Best Violinist and also the Best Violinist award from the Music Academy in Chennai to name a few.
Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Trichy Sankaran (Mridangam)
Professor Trichy Sankaran is an Indian music scholar and composer, and the founding director of Indian music studies at York University. In his 6 decades of concert experience in Carnatic music, he has accompanied all top rank artists of India. He has performed in jugalbandhis with famous Hindustani musicians.
In addition to his usual traditional settings and numerous solo recitals, he has performed with Nexus, gamelan, jazz, electronic, African music ensembles and world drums, as well as his own group, Trichy’s Trio.
In 2012, Dr. Sankaran received the most coveted honour of ‘Sangita Kalanidhi’ from the prestigious Music Academy of Madras.
Professor Sankaran has published numerous articles, as well as two major textbooks: The Rhythmic Principles and Practice of South Indian Drumming and The Art of Konnakkol.
G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
G.Chandrasekara Sharma is a disciple of his uncle Sri T.H. Subash Chandran. He grew up with his uncles, the legendary ghatam maestros T.H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakram and T.H. Subash Chandran.
He has also been learning vocal lessons from Shri Vijay Siva since a young age and is an accomplished performer. He is the son of Late T.R. Harihara Sharma, founder of The Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidhyalaya. His father, a noted Violinist, inculcated him intoCarnatic music at age 5 years and gave him beginner’s lessons for playing the Ghatam. With the blessings of his parents, his guru and his uncle Shri T.H. Vinayakram, he has taken to playing the Ghatam on a professional level. A “B”grade artist at the All India Radio since 2008, he performs concerts regularly.
He has won many awards and accolades and has had the privilege of performing in front of Shri Abdul Kalam, then The President of India, at the Rashtrapathi Bhawan, New Delhi.
