Annual Holiday Concert - 2021 Brochure

Anish Dharam  is learning Harmonium under the guidance of  of Dr Kedar Naphade, a senior disciple of Pt Tulsidas Borkar. Prior to that Anish leaned from Shri Hemant Kulkarni for over 7 years. Anish also learns Keyboard under the guidance of Shri Bobby Chatterjee. Anish is a 16 year old 11th grade honors student at J P Stevens high School in Edison, New Jersey. Besides music, Anish enjoys reading, practicing Jiu Jitsu, and doing math.

Sagar Deshpande is 13 years old and has been learning harmonium since the age of 6. For the first few years, Sagar took his harmonium training from Shri. Hemant Kulkarni and began his journey with Dr. Kedar Naphade since 2017. Apart from harmonium, Sagar pursues cello and is a cellist in Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey.

Manav Khurana is 16 years old and has been learning tabla for the past 4 years. His initial training was under the guidance of Shri Kumar Raj Gandharva, and he subsequently learned from Sabir Hussain of the Punjab Gharana. For the past 3 years he has been studying with Shri Dibyarka Chatterjee of the Farrukhabad Gharana, who is the son and disciple of Pandit Samir Chatterjee. 

Aditya Phatak is a young student of Indian music, with special aptitude in Tabla. He started playing tabla at the age of two, even before he was tall enough to reach the drums. He was initially inspired by his grandfather Deepak Phatak and guided by his uncle Shivraj Phatak. Since February of 2008, when he was four years old, he came under the loving mentorship of Pt. Samir Chatterjee in the formal Guru-Shishya (master-disciple) relationship. His music is certainly worth listening to. Aditya has also been studying Hindustani Classical vocal music with Smt. Rucha Jambhekar for the past eleven years.

Maitreyi Mehta  recently turned twelve and is in the 6th grade. She has been learning Hindustani classical music with Smt. Mitaliji for the last 5 years. She is also learning kathak with Guru Archana Joglekar and enjoys swimming, reading, crochet, and painting in her free time.

Aarushi Mehta is 8 years old and is in the third grade. She has been learning Hindustani classical music with Smt. Mitaliji for about 3 years. She is also learning to play piano and enjoys swimming, bike riding, reading and drawing in her free time. 

Sara Deo is 14 years old. She has been learning Hindustani classical music for 9 years from Smt. Lalita Mathuriji from Mewati Gharana. She also has a strong liking toward western pop music and  has been learning western music for 4 years. She has learnt piano for several years and loves to play it as an accompaniment during singing.  She has participated in various vocal competitions and events.

 Shankhadip Chakraborty is a fourth year student at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. He has been learning Hindustani classical vocal music from Smt Mitali Bhawmik for the past twelve years. He has won several accolades in Indian classical music, including the Chhandayan Jyotsna award for best student of Indian classical music in 2014 and a vocal music award from the Sangeet Jagat Music Institute in New York in 2016.  He was accepted for a one-year Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant in both 2019 and 2021 for his achievements in Hindustani Classical Vocal music.  He also enjoys following the news, politics, and a variety of sports.

Aratrika Dey is a junior at The College of New Jersey. She started her training at an early age, from Smt. Sukla Nag in Hindustani Classical. She is now under the tutelage of Smt. Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik in New Jersey. Aratrika has participated and won several music contests, including receiving first place in the prestigious vocal competition, “SaReGaMaPa Li’l Champs, NA, 2015” by Zee TV. She also had the honor of performing for the Pandit Jasraj Institute of Music. In her spare time, Aratrika enjoys reading and writing poetry. 

Indrani Chakraborty's journey into the musical world began when she was about 6 years old. She began learning vocal music from Mrs. Shukla Dam in Shillong back in India. During her training with Mrs. Shukla Dam, Indrani learnt various forms of Bengali Music and completed her Visharad in Rabindra Sangeet with distinction under the tutelage of Mrs Shukla Dam. Since last 19 years, Indrani has been learning Hindustani Classical music from Mrs. Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik. With her guru’s able guidance Indrani has been a recipient of the Folk Arts Apprenticeship awarded by the “New Jersey State Council on the Arts” for four years for pursuing Hindustani Classical Music. Indrani also received “Ragini” Award from the North American Bengali Association for her dedication and talent in Hindustani Classical music.

Shriya Bhaumik, 13 years old, is an 8th grade student.with a passion for dance seeking the opportunity to acquire more skills in dance and gain acceptance into a school of performing arts. She has received training in Bollywood and Hip Hop dance at Marigold Dance Studio under Garima Bhatia and performing in various events for the last 5 years. After starting Bollywood and Hip Hop, she became interested in KATHAK to improve her dance skills and joined BHARATIYA KALA KENDRA to learn Kathak dance under the training of renowned KATHAK maestro Maya Misra for the last 4 years.

Anaisha Kundu is 10 years old. She enjoys singing and ballet. In her free time, she loves to bike ride with her friends. She has been learning singing from Mitali Bhaumik ji for almost 4 years.
Ananya Roychowdhury is 12 years old and in 7th grade. She is very passionate about music and dance. She is learning Hindustani classical music from Smt. Mitali Bhawmik ji for the past 7 years and Kathak from Smt. Rita Sharma ji for 7 years. She also likes to paint and read books.

Gayatri Phatak is 13 years old and has been studying Hindusthani classical vocal music for the past seven years from Smt. Rucha Jambhekar. Gayatri has performed at several cultural programs within New Jersey and has also won accolades in the Marathi Vishwa Swar Dhara competition. Outside of classical vocal singing, Gayatri enjoys singing in the school choir, playing saxophone in the jazz band, playing classical piano, and studying jazz, tap, and ballet styles of dance. 

Kalashree Gopal has been learning music with Mrs Mitali Bhaumik since last three years, prior she has learned from Dr Mohan Deshpande since age 6.

Shounak Ghosh is freshman in South Brunswick high school. He has been learning Hindustani classical music for 8 years under the tutelage of his Guru Mitali Bhawmik. Other than vocal music he has been also learning Cello at school and Piano for several years and achieved several prizes including MAMTAG and Little Mozart. He has also played piano in Carnegie Hall, New York.

Shreyansh Singh is 8 yrs old and he has been learning music from Mitali Di for last one year. He loves to play Guitar and Piano as well.

Neha Tolpadi is a current Freshman at Hillsborough High School and has been under the able guidance of Guru Smt Mitali Bhawmik for the past 3 years.

Sangeetha Krishnan was born and raised in a musical family in Chennai, India and was initially trained in Carnatic music by her mother Pushkala Mahadevan and uncle Shri. T.S. Radhakrishnaji. She then went on to develop a strong interest in semi-classical devotional music and performed all across South India with her uncle’s music group Thyagabrahmam. She also won numerous light music competitions at the state and national level.  Her most memorable musical achievements are auditioning for A.R. Rahman as a young teenager and winning the Shankar Mahadevan Academy US talent hunt competition to perform with the Shankar Ehsan Loy team at the NJPAC in 2013. She has been learning Hindustani Classical from Mitali-ji since 2020. 

Sagar Deshpande is 13 years old and has been learning harmonium since the age of 6. For the first few years, Sagar took his harmonium training from Shri. Hemant Kulkarni and began his journey with Dr. Kedar Naphade since 2017. Apart from harmonium, Sagar pursues cello and is a cellist in Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey.

Aishwarya Gadicherla has been learning Bharatanatyam from her Guru, Smt. Thejeswini Raj of Shiva Jyothi Dance Academy, for the past five years. She has been privileged to present her NrithyaSeva at places like Bridgewater, the Flushing Temple of New York, as well as Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham Seva Nyas. Aishwarya has participated in many dance competitions and won awards for both group and solo performances. 

Rhea Vasanthavada is 12 years old and a middle schooler who has a strong passion for music. She has been learning Hindustani Classical under the tutelage of Smt Mitali Bhawmick for the the last 6 years. She loves to play the piano and the violin and is a part of her school Philharmonic orchestra. She hopes to carry the light of music and spread the joy.

 Asmi Haldar is a 9 year old fourth grader from Millburn, New Jersey. She loves to sketch and do art work. One of her creations were shown at COP26 this year at the Glasgow Climate Summit.  Asmi is a natural story letter. She is the last person to go to school because she likes to dim in the lights and sneak in her blanket to read books till late at nights. She loves to sing & dance and her favorite music band is the BTS. 

Ishaan Tangirala is 14 years old and started learning classical music at the age of 4. He recently won the Gaan-Nipun Spardha organized by Pandit Jasraj Institute of Music in both Classical and Semi-Classical categories. Ishaan has won many awards and competitions across USA including winner of Shankar Mahadevan Academy World-Wide Talent Hunt, SAMMAAN 2020 in Hindustani Classical Music category and Winner of “MERI AAWAZ SUNO AMERICA” contest.

Mrinalini Kaul is 13 years old and in the eighth grade. She has been learning music under the teaching  of Guru Mitaliji for 4 years now and previously learnt from guru Astha Sharma. Apart from studying,  she enjoys programming and playing volleyball.

Krisha Bhatt is a passionate singer. She has been learning Hindustani Classical and Bollywood music for past 7 years.

Eshani Das has been learning piano since the last 7 years with Ms Naomi. She likes to play classical and contemporary music and Beethoven is her favorite composer. Besides piano, Eshani loves to swim and is part of the Blue Dolphin swim team. She simply adores dogs and wants to be a vet. She has won various International competitions like Little Mozart International, Crescendo International, Golden Key festival and Charleston International Music competition and as a winner she got opportunities to perform in the prestigious Carnegie Hall a few times.

Amoli Joshipura is 11 years old and lives in Boston, MA. Amoli likes music, art, spending time with her friends and playing tennis. Amoli has been learning from Mitaliji for last 6 years and is excited about what the future holds as she progresses on her musical journey!