1st Set - Harmonium Solo:
Harmonium - Rohan Prabhudesai
Tabla - Sarangdev Vaidya
2nd Set - Hindustani Vocal:
Vocal - Rahul Thandla
Harmonium - Rohan Prabhudesai
Tabla - Dibyarka Chatterjee
Rahul Thandla
Rahul Thandla is a promising young vocalist who has been training under Mrs. Mamta Bhargava in the Agra Gharana style from the tender age of 4 years. Over the past seven years, he has trained under Pandit Nagaraj Rao Havaldar of Bangalore, India to learn the nuances of the Kirana Gharana style. After his first solo concert ten years ago, Rahul has performed several times in Buffalo, Rochester, the U.K., and India. His first professional CD album was recorded and released in July 2014. As a result of his steady commitment throughout his high school, college, and medical school years, Rahul has made a mark in the field of Hindustani classical music. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Western Music (Vocal Performance) as well as a Bachelor of Science in Biology from SUNY Geneseo. He is currently in his last year of medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. Although he will be starting residency training in anesthesiology this upcoming July, Rahul intends to pursue Hindustani classical music to the fullest extent possible.
Rohan Prabhudesai
Rohan has been actively studying music for the past 18 years. He began his training in Indian Hindustani classical music on the harmonium on one of his trips to India at the Goa Kala Academy. Later, he continued this musical pursuit under the guidance of Dr. Kedar Naphade, a senior disciple of Pt. Tulsidas Borkar. At the same time he started learning harmonium, he studied classical piano with Mr. Edwin Lopez, the concert master and conductor of Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church music program. He has studied classical contemporary composition at NYU Steinhardt and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
Sarangdev Vaidya
Sarangdev Vaidya started playing Tabla naturally when he was 4 years old. He received early training from his father Mahesh Vaidya, a great Vocalist and Tabla player. At the age of twelve he started learning from Pandit K. Paramjyoti, a prominent student of Ustad Amir Hussain Khansaheb. For the past 5 years he has been learning from Shri Suryaksha Deshpande, a foremost student of the late Pandit Arvind Mulgaonkar. He currently attends Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and is pursuing a career in ophthalmology.
Dibyarka Chatterjee
Dibyarka Chatterjee is a young Tabla player from the Farrukhabad Gharana, and is the son and disciple of Pt. Samir Chatterjee. Having grown up in a musical environment, his natural inclination towards Tabla became apparent early in his childhood. At the age of five he was initiated by his father into the ancient system of pedagogy called the guru-shishya parampara (master-disciple tradition).
Dibyarka was born in Kolkata, where even in his childhood he was already performing in concerts as well as on Akaashbani Kolkata's Children's Section (National Radio - Kolkata Station). At the age of ten he moved to New York City with his family; since then he has continued to perform regularly with both Indian and Western music. Dibyarka has had the honor and privilege of performing with renowned musicians like Pandit Jasraj, Pdt. Budhhadev DasGupta, Pta. Lakshmi Shankar, Utd. Shujaat Khan, Pta. Joya Biswas, Utd. Mashkoor Ali Khan, Pdt. Ramesh Mishra, Pta. Shubhra Guha, Pta. Tripti Mukherjee, Pdt. Suman Ghosh to name only a few.
He has collaborated in world music projects with groups like the Dance Theater of Harlem (in 'South African Suite'), the Battery Dance Co. (in “Songs of Tagore”), and with fusion musician/composers like Salman Ahmad (Junoon), Douglas Cuomo, John McDowell (on the award-winning documentary “A Son’s Sacrifice”), Gary Lucas & Najma Akhtar (on their collaborative album "Rishte") etc. He has composed music for, and performed in, two off-Broadway theatrical productions (Nuraldeen's Lifetime & Lee/gendary). He has also performed in many prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, the United Nations General Assembly, Lincoln Center & Asia Society in NYC, Place des Arts (Montreal), the Google Amphitheater (Palo Alto), Salt Lake Music Conference (Kolkata, India), Pratishruti Festival (Bhopal, India) etc. He has also appeared on numerous radio shows such as The Leonard Lopate Show and New Sounds on NPR, Raag Aur Taal on WKCR etc.
Dibyarka has a Masters in Fine Arts from Goddard College (VT). His academic pursuits are mainly focused on the history, theory, and philosophy of Indian Music. As a guest lecturer, Dibyarka has conducted classes and lecture demonstrations at numerous institutions such as Columbia University, Dartmouth College, New York University, Manhattan School of Music etc. He also teaches Tabla classes regularly at various institutions and locations in NY & NJ.