The Vaadhya Vidhyaalayam Academy of Strings and Rhythm is a 501c3 registered nonprofit organization in the Bay area in CA, USA. It was founded in 2016 by Gurus Smt. Sandhya Srinath and Sri. Srinath Bala when they moved to the area. The school imparts South-Indian Carnatic lessons to Bay Area students of all ages in Instrumental (Violin, Flute, Veena) and Percussion (Mridangam, Ghatam, Kanjira, Morsing) fields and organizes events in the community.
The school has presented students who did their arangetrams (public debut 3-hour concert) in Violin, Flute & Mridangam. The students of this school have collaborated with various other music schools and won in many music competitions at various venues and organizations like the Cleveland Aradhana, Papanasam Sivan competition, Sapthami, OOSAT to name a few.
The school is well known for nurturing talent through teachings, workshops and lecture demonstrations by the 2 Gurus. The school itself is run as a non-profit organization to foster Indian culture and promote Classical South Indian Music. To organize music events, the school raises funds through the school students, by creating public awareness and via public fund raiser events. Please contact us to know more!
Guru Smt. Sandhya is an innately talented artist who showcases her true talent in every bow! A gold medalist in her masters program in music and an early A-grade awardee for the All India Radio, Sandhya has firmly established the school of Late Shri V. Janakiraman of AIR, Delhi. She learnt, and skillfully absorbed the styles of maestros, late Shri. Lalgudi G Jayaraman and Prof. T.N. Krishnan within her. With over 40 years of performances, and along with top solo performances worldwide, she has also accompanied many senior musicians and dancers. Some of her coveted awards include the Best Young Violinist, Music Academy, Chennai, India; Individual Artist Award from both PG Arts Council and the Maryland State Arts Council. Sandhya has also received titles such as Naada Brahma Kala Bhooshanam, Naada Brahma Kalai Mani, Vaadhya Kala Bhaarathi, Kala Shreshtha, Paramparaa Rakshak and Kala Vichaarana. She has numerous recordings to her credit and her versatility has led her to take on instrumental ensembles, jugalbandis with Hindustani artists, and fusion concerts with western musicians. Known for her sensitive renditions and scintillating artistry, she is a very highly sought after artist. She also actively teaches Violin to students all over the US.
Visit http://sandhyastrings.com for further information and clips.
Guru Sri. Srinath is a versatile percussionist with varied styles blended rhythmically into one! Having been initiated by Late Sri. Krishnan (Palghat Sri Mani Iyer style), he received intensive guidance under Sri. R. Ramesh (Karaikudi Mani Style) in Chennai, and later, under Maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman.
To his credit, he has uniquely combined the kannakku and naadam aspects from various gurus. He has accompanied the topmost senior artists performing in India, Canada, Zambia, Singapore and the US, and also played in Jugalbandis and TalaVadya Concerts to showcase the solo percussion aspects. He has various recordings and has given lecture- demonstrations on ‘LAYAM’. In 2006, he presented a TalaVadya concert titled “Music Through Membranes”. Being a recipient of the PG Arts award, MSAC Artist Awards, and titles ‘Kala Shreshtha’, ‘Kala Vichaarana’ and ‘Paramparaa Rakshak’, he has over 35 years of concert experiences and is an extremely well sought after artist for Music and Dance Concerts. He has been teaching students for many years and successfully trained many students, who currently play Mridangam, Ghatam, and Kanjira actively in various music circles.
Visit http://srinathlayam.com for more information and clips.