SMC Monthly concert June 2025
Dear Music Rasikas,
Sydney Music Circle would like to invite you with family and friends to our Monthly Concert to be held on Saturday 28th June 2025 at the Banksia Room, Wentworthville community centre, 2 Lane Street, Wentworthville.
We continue with featuring the Guru-Shishya series in our monthly concerts. This month is by Guru Smt. Lakshmi Kumaraguruparan and her student.
4.45pm to 5.45pm: Vocal concert by Kum. Divya Pavalan, accompanied by Chi. Ratan Venkatesan on the Violin and Chi. Arun Muruganantham on the Mrudangam
6pm to 8pm: Vocal concert by Smt. Lakshmi Kumaraguruparan accompanied by Smt. Mahathi Balajee on the Violin and Sri. Janakan Suthanthiraraj on the Mrudangam
Artiste Profiles:
Smt. Lakshmi Kumaraguruparan
Lakshmi Kumaraguruparan is a disciple of Dr. Manjula Sriram, a retired Professor from the Teacher's College of Music, Music Academy, Chennai. She had her initial training from Smt. Padmavathy Anantagopalan, who built a strong foundation and interest in Carnatic Music for Lakshmi. She has also had the opportunity to hone her skills from Kalaimamani Srimushnam V Rajarao and Smt. Padma Chandilyan. Lakshmi was brought up in a family that treated Music as God. She was exposed to Carnatic Music when she was three, by her grandmother who was one of the granddaughters of Sri Ambi Dikshitar. Thus, Lakshmi being a seventh generation descendent of the Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar, had a very supportive environment to develop her interest. Her guru Dr. Manjula Sriram has encouraged and taught her many rare varna and krithis of various composers. Her reportoire includes the entire Kamalamba Navavarna krithis, Navagraha Krithis, several Utsava Sampradaya keerthana etc. She has performed several thematic concerts in the past and is passionately pursuing her interest to increase her reportoire. Lakshmi is a graded artist in the All India Radio Chennai and has performed several programs and music related chat shows on the radio as a child artist. Encouraged by Sri. Srimushnam V Rajarao, she has also had the chance to perform in Jaya TV's Margazhi Maha Utsavam in 2008 and many other TV shows and concerts. Lakshmi has taken part in several competitions conducted in various Sabhas and has won many prizes to her credit. She has won the prized Tambura Awards from Indian Fine Arts Society Chennai, Tamil Isai Sangam and Raja Annamalaipuram Bhakta Jana Sabha.
Smt. Mahathi Balajee
Mahathi was introduced to Carnatic music by her grandmother Vidushi Padma Veeraraghavan. She then continued to learn from Smt. Yamini Ramesh and later from Sri. O.S. Thiagarajan. She currently learns vocal music from Vidushi Seetha Narayanan and Smt. Yamini Ramesh and violin from Sri H.N. Bhaskar. She also learnt western classical violin and piano for several years. Mahathi was a regular performer in various cultural and musical shows in Wellington (New Zealand) and now regularly performs in Sydney. She is also actively involved in Yuva Sangeetha Margam - an initiative to promote Carnatic music among students and rasikas in Sydney. She completed a Certificate in Carnatic music (organised by the Madras University) upon completion of four grades of New Zealand Carnatic Music exams with distinction, and has won first place for vocal performance in a Carnatic music competition conducted in New Zealand.
Sri. Janakan Suthanthiraraj
Janakan was first introduced to the Mridangam and the wider realms of Carnatic music under the guidance of his father and guru, Sri R.Suthanthiraraj, and credits his musical accolades to his father’s passion and dedication to the classical arts. From there, he pursued extensive training in Mridangam under Mridanga Virtuoso Sri Ravi M.Ravichandhira and advanced training under Maestro Guru Kaariakkudi R.Mani. Janakan, is currently under the guidance of Mridangam "Nada Oli" Melakaverri K.Balaji.
Janakan had the privilege of performing with Flute Maestro Dr N.Ramani in a full feature length concert and since then has performed alongside other notable artists including: Padma Vibushan Dr K.J Yesudas, Padma Shri A. Kanyakumari, Malladi Brothers, Rajesh Vaidhya and Violin duo Ganesh and Kumaresh.
He is a regular accompanying artist at musical forums in Sydney including: Sydney music circle, Karpahavalli and Yuva Sangeetha Margam and has been a performing artist at the prestigious Swara Laya - Sydney Musical Festival.