Faculty

Instrumental Music

Phil Kaplan - Guitar

After graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1979 with a B.M. in Guitar, Phil Kaplan pursued Composition with Tom McKinley and was for several years a member of the Agbeko Drum and Dance Club under the direction of David Locke. While at N.E.C., Dr. Peter Row introduced him to the world of North Indian Raga, and since then, he has been a dedicated student and practitioner of Hindustani Classical music. He has been writing, performing, teaching and recording in the Greater Boston area, has several recordings and film scores to his credit, and remains active in the local club scene.

Durga Krishnan - Veena

Durga Krishnan earned her Sangeet Vidwan (Scholar of Music) degree and a degree in teaching of music from Carnatic Music College. Subsequently, she learned Veena from the legendary Veena Maestro Dr. Chitti Babu and accompanied him in several of his recordings. Durga has been teaching Veena in the Boston area since 1978. She works closely with the local area Bharat Natyam dance teachers, composing and performing music for dance. Her Veena students have won prizes in the Cleveland Music Festival and other music competitions

Nishikant Sonwalkar - Tabla

Nishikant Sonwalkar received his Bachelor's degree in music under the supervision of the renowned Pandit Kiran Deshpande and Pandit Sharad Khargoankar of Indore, India. In India, he has performed on All India Radio and Doordarshan (TV). While in the USA, for the past several years he has accompanied such distinguished musicians as Pandit Firoz Dastoor, Ustad Gulam Mustafa Khan, Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, Swami Gokulotsavji Maharaj, Pandit Vinayak Torvi, Pandit Ganapati Bhatt, Pandit Bhaskar Chndravarkar, Pandit Vidyadhar Vyas, Shri Sanjeev Abhyankar, Ms. Sudha Malhotra, Ms. Sujata Bhattacharya, Ms. Tripti Mukherjee and Ms. Sumitra Guha. Nishikant has also performed and made recordings with several Jazz-Fusion groups in the Boston area.

Vocal Music

Aparna Balaji - Carnatic Vocal Music

Aparna Balaji has has been training since 1985 primarily from her grandfather Sangeetha Bhushan Shri O.V. Subramaniam. She has received further training for four years from Isai Peroli Neyveli and Shri R. Santanagopalan. Lately, she has been learning from Sitha Lakshmi, daughter of Kittamani Bhagavatar and from her father Shri O.S. Thiyagarajan. Aparna has received in India numerous prizes and recognition for her musical talents. She is a graded artist of All India Radio, Chennai. She has performed extensively in music sessions in Chennai and given many concerts in other cities in India and the USA. She has also performed on Jaya TV and Sun TV. She has provided playback singing for the TV serial "Kaiyalavu Manasu" and for the movie "Bharathi". She has released an album for Kalavardhani (1999) and another album "Tribute to Trinity" for MediaDreams (2000).

Preeti Chakravarty - Hindustani Vocal Music and Harmonium

Preeti Chakravarty received her initial training in vocal music in Bhagalpur, Bihar and advanced training from Pandit Vinayakrao Patwardhan, a well-known exponent of the Gwalior Gharana. Mrs. Chakravarty has extensive experience in teaching music and curriculum development. She served as the head of the department of music in a four year college in Bihar and as the chairperson of the curriculum committee for a model music university. She was also a member of the board of examiners in various universities in the state of Bihar, India.

Shuchita Rao - Hindustani Vocal Music

Shuchita Rao, was born in a family of music lovers in Hyderabad, India. Her initial training in Hindustani Vocal Classical music was with N.K.Karhade. Later, she trained under the noted Gwalior Gharana exponent Smt. Malini Rajurkar and Shri Ajay Pohankar. She has also received guidance from Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre and Pandit Vinayak Torvi.

Pradeep Shukla - Hindustani Vocal Music

Pradeep Shukla received his initial training in vocal music in India from Shri V. V. Paranjape, who was a disciple of Pandit Vinayakrao Patwardhan, an exponent of the Gwalior Gharana. Subsequently, he continued his training with Pandit Govind Prasad Jaipurwale of Mumbai and Shri Ramchandra Patwardhan of Pune.

Sadhana Upadhyay - Semi-classical vocal and North Indian Folk Music

Sadhana Upadhyay received her initial training in Hindustani vocal music from Pandit M. K. Samant of Varanasi, India. Subsquently, she studied under the guidance of Pandit M. V. Kalvint culminating her studies at the Benaras Hindu University. Sadhana performs at the First Parish Church in Concord, MA and other area organizations frequently. She is currently working on composing folk and light music into classical forms for a recording.