Sarode - Atish Mukhopadhyay
Tabla - Tejas Tope
Atish Mukhopadhyay
Atish Mukhopadhyay is a highly talented sarode player and Musician with extensive experience in entertaining live audiences and teaching. He has been studying with the affectionate guidance of his guru Ustad Aashish Khan Sahab since 1991 and also studied with the late Mrs. Aameena Perera who was the daugher of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Sahab. He is now considered to be a direct representative of the Maihar Senia Gharana of Baba Allauddin Khan of North Indian Classical Instrumental Music and is one of the leading torch bearers of this tradition in his generation.
Atish has performed around the world at many concerts and conferences. He also is a talented composer, having developed the music for several albums. He is also involved with several World Music projects As a teacher, he has participated in many workshops and demonstrations and taught students in India, the U.S.A., and Russia.
He is an empanelled music teacher for both Instrumental and Vocal music at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. He is currently on tour on behalf of the Government of India.
Tejas Tope
Tejas Tope has been learning tabla from his Guru Pt. Samir Chatterjee since the age of five. At the ages of 7 and 12, with the blessings of his Guru, he participated in three tabla ensembles at the 5th and 10th and 16th Annual All Night Concerts held in New York City, organized by Chhandayan (www.tabla.org). He has also accompanied Samarth Nagarkar at Chhandayan All-night concert.
Tejas received First prize in the instrumental category in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 at the annual Vedic Heritage’s Holi Youth Talent Competition held in Hempstead, Long Island, NY. In the summer of 2006, he played at the 6th Marathi European Sammelan in Almelo, Netherlands, at the 13th BMM Convention in Seattle (June 2007), and 15th BMM Convention in Chicago (July 2011). In October 2007, Tejas had his Rangamanch Pravesh and presented tabla solo as a part of Chhandayan Concert Series. Tejas received first prize in the Swardhara Competition held by Marathi Vishwain 2010. Tejas received Chhandayan’s prestigious Jyotsna Award in the student category in 2011.
At the age of 11, he recorded his compositions in a CD album entitled ‘Guru-Arpita – A Dedication to Pt. Samir Chatterjee’ as a token of his affection, respect, and gratitude to his Guru. The CD album contains fifty-six compositions presented in structured tabla solo format in six taals. A booklet of his compositions accompanies the CD album.
Tejas has been performing across the U.S. and India for the past several years. In addition to playing tabla solo in various venues in USA and abroad, Tejas has accompanied Pta. Mita Nag (sitar), Pt. Steve Gorn (flute), Kunal Gunjal (santoor), Kedar Naphade (harmonium), Samarth Nagarkar (vocal), Pta. Lalita Dantale-Kurulkar (vocal) over the past several years. His recently toured India, where he was featured as a soloist and accompanist and won appreciation from all. He is a Junior at NYU Stern, studying Finance.