Vasanthi Kannan (vocals)

Vasanthi Kannan hails from a musical family. Initially trained by her father Shri P.V.Natarajan, she later learned music from Smt. T.R.Balamani. A recipient of many awards and medals in Bombay, she has performed extensively in the Bay Area since 1983. Vasanthi has been very closely associated with the Abhinaya Dance Company. She provided the musical accompaniment for fourteen Abhinaya arangetrams from 1984 thru 1994. She also composed the music and sang for most of Abhinaya’s early company productions, including Shiva the Cosmic Dancer, The Rhythm of Life, Splendor of the Infinite, Epic Emotions, Women Triumphant, Krishna the Enchanter and In The Spirit. Vasanthi has also performed for a number of benefit programs in the Bay Area. She runs a school of music in the Bay Area.

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B. Kumar (vocals)

Hailing from a family of music lovers, Kumar was an avid listener of Carnatic music until 1976 when he had the opportunity to start formal training under Professor Ranganayaki in Illinois. He has continued to train under Asha Ramesh since 1993. He has sung for Abhinaya's productions from 1986 to 1990 and recently gave vocal accompaniment for the restaged Shiva-the Cosmic Dancer in 2004.

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Dr. P.T. Narasimhan (flute)

Dr. P.T.Narasimhan has a deep interest in Indian music and has been playing the flute for many years. He has provided flute accompaniment for several dance troupes in the US and has given many solo performances in India and US. A former Professor and Chairman of the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, Dr. Narasimhan is presently at the Beckman Institute at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, CA. He has played for many of Abhinaya’s productions since 1992.

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Srikanth Chary (veena)

Accomplished veena artist, Srikanth Chary began his training at the age of six in Bombay under Devakottai Sri Narayana Iyengar and Smt. Kalyani Sarma. For the last nineteen years, Srikanth has been receiving advanced music training from the music maestro Padmashri Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. Adapting the captivating Lalgudi style to the Veena, Srikanth has given many concerts in the United States, India and Australia and has received excellent reviews. In 1989, Srikanth established a music school - Nada Nidhi to pass on the rich heritage of Carnatic music. In 1996, Srikanth released a C.D. entitled "Janani", which has won rave reviews from music connoisseurs everywhere.

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P.V. Natarajan (vocals)

P.V.Natarajan hails from a family of musicians. His father Sri Venkitachala Iyer was himself a musician and a Harikatha exponent. Sri Natarajan had his initial training under his father and later obtained a music diploma with The Krishna Music Academy, Bombay. Sri Natarajan is a graded artiste of All India Radio, Bombay and has given numerous concerts all over India, the U.S., and Bahrain .In addition he is also a kanjira and mridangam player and has had the distinction of having accompanied the flute maestro T.R.Mahalingam on the kanjira. He has composed over a hundred songs, many of which have been incorporated in dance programs. Currently Sri Natarajan imparts music to a few students in the Bay Area.

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Nachiketa Sharma (vocal)

Nachiketa Sharma has trained in the Hindustani vocal tradition under Shri B. N. Simha, Shri B. Hanumantachar and Padmabhushan Pandit Basavraj Rajguru. He has performed extensively in India and the US under various auspices. He runs the Rajguru Sangeet Vidyaniketan school of music in the Bay Area.

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Ben Kunin (sarod)

Ben Kunin has been studying sarod and North Indian classical vocal music with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan at the Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) since 1983. He has also studied tabla with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri since 1987. Ben has produced three CDs of original compositions for sarod, guitar and tabla and has performed the sarod throughout the Bay area. In 2004 he released another CD entitled “Raga and Blues”.

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