​A leading Indian classical and crossover vocalist of the South Asian diaspora, Roopa Mahadevan is known for her powerful, emotive voice and creative re-imagination of the classical Carnatic art form. Roopa performs unique works with musicians and dancers from classical, jazz, world music, experimental, and R&B/soul genres. Roopa’s “hurricane wail and command of infinite minutiae” has taken her to diverse audiences from Chennai’s prestigious Music Academy, to New York City’s Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum, and to various cultural centers of American suburbia. Roopa often brings a critical commentary, humor, and searing authenticity to her work, invoking her talents in dance and theater.

Roopa is acclaimed for her versatile vocal abilities in crossover ensemble Roopa in Flux and her leadership of groundbreaking choir, Navatman Music Collective. Following numerous years of Carnatic training in the Bay Area, California under Asha Ramesh, Roopa was granted the Fulbright scholarship for further study in Chennai, India under Suguna Varadachari. She has performed in all major venues in Chennai during the iconic December festival and has received the award Kala Ratna from the well-established Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana. Roopa is a featured voice with projects like Brooklyn Raga Massive and IndianRaga, and is a soloist on several albums, including Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award-winning Calling All Dawns and the Facebook Sound Collection. Roopa has been selected for premiere programs including the Hedgebrook Singer/Songwriter residency and the Resonant Bodies and Jazz and Creative Music programs at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. Roopa is a member of Joe's Pub Working Group class of 2020 and recently released her debut album Roopa in Six Yards: A Carnatic Playlist.  She has degrees in public health from Stanford University and is based in New York City.

​Asha was introduced to music and dance in Rishi Valley School where she had the good fortune to study under Dr. M.L. Vasanthakumari and Sri Calcutta Krishnamurthy. While there, she learned Bharatnatyam and took part in several dance dramas and was also involved in theater and acting. Subsequently, she learned the Veena from Sri M.K. Kalyanakrishna Bhagavatar and continued dance and music from various teachers in Kerala. After a gap of several years, she  resumed her musical training under Smt. Kamini Dandapani. As a member of the Navatman Music Collective, she continues to learn and grow musically with the support and guidance of Roopa Mahadevan and Shiv Subramanian. She resides in New York and works in the Queens Public Library. Her other interests include reading and writing.  

​Bhargavi comes from the family of renowned musicians T L Venkatraman Iyer and Muthaiah Bhagavathar and started her formative training in Carnatic music at the age of four under Smt. Sukanya Jayaraman. Having grown up in the musical milieu of chennai gave her the opportunity to hone her art under the guidance of gurus Smt. Geeta Raja, Smt. S Sowmya, Smt. R Vedavalli and Smt. Padma Narayanaswami. She has performed in Thiruvaiyaru and Oothukaadu during their annual festivals and has won several competitions conducted by the prestigious Madras Music Academy and the Mylapore Fine Arts, amongst others. Bhargavi currently lives in New York, where she leads the product user experience team for a financial startup and runs the Visualizing Finance Lab at Parsons New School of Design.

Divya has trained in Carnatic music for over 10 years. Her main guru has been Smt. Muthulakshmi Vedanarayanan, disciple of Sri Yagneswara Bhagavatar (nephew of the Sri Muthiah Bhagavatar). She currently lives in the New York area and continues to train under Mrs. Kamini Dandapani. Divya has a background in cancer research and currently works in a biotech company, leading strategic analysis efforts in immuno-oncology.

​Kamini Dandapani has had extensive training in Carnatic vocal music, Western Classical music (piano) as well as in Bharatanatyam. She studied Carnatic music for over 20 years with some of the leading teachers and performers in the field, including Vidwan Madurai N. Krishnan (who was a discipline of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar), Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, Smt. T. Muktha, Smt. Lalitha Sivakumar and Smt. Vedanayaki. She was a student of Bharatanatyam with renowned gurus Adyar Sri. K. Lakshman and Kalanidhi Narayanan. At the same time, she studied classical piano, and holds a Licentiate from Trinity College of Music, London. Simultaneously learning and being immersed in these two different classical traditions has given her a not-often-encountered perspective on the similarities and differences between them across many dimensions including the theory, history, performance, performers and trends. Kamini is a guest faculty member at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York. She is also a faculty member at the International Vocal Arts Workshop held every summer in Croatia. She also writes extensively on South India – history, travel, music, dance, short stories, science and anything else that catches her fancy – on her blog, Tales of South India. She is currently working on a book on the Cholas.

​Preetha started learning Carnatic music at the age of 6 has had various Carnatic music teachers since then as she moved from country to country. Preetha learned music from Sivasakthi Sivanesan in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London. Under her tutelage, Preetha was also able to learn from greats such as TV Gopalakrishnan and Dr. Balamuralikrishna. Preetha performed her music arangetram at the age of 15 in Chennai. She is an avid pop culture fan, and loves music in all its forms. She currently works as a database engineer in New York City and learns classical music from Kamini Dandapani.

​Prithvi grew up in Chennai, in an atmosphere highly charged with and invested in the classical arts - Carnatic music in particular. As a result, his immersion and training in the vocal art form began at an early age. His formal gurus include his late aunt Indira Ramanathan, T.S. Seshadri at Rishi Valley School, and Vasantha Sundaram at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Delhi. He was one of two male backing vocals supporting Vidushi Bombay S Jayashri in the album ‘Shravanam’ (2003). More recently he had the opportunity to train in Hindustani vocals at the American Academy of Indian Classical Music, under the guidance of renowned exponent of the Kirana gharana and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan as well as Sandip Bhattacharjee. Prithvi also sang Tenor in his high school and college choirs; represented St. Stephen's College, Delhi, at inter-varsity music competitions - Indian and Western, while serving as Secretary of the Music Society and subsequently as Cultural Secretary of the Students’ Union. He currently works in the field of Mathematical Finance in New York.

Samyukta is an awarding-winning singer of classical South Indian (Carnatic) music. She began her training under Sangita Kalacharya Bombay S. Ramachandran at age 8 and had begun singing in the South Indian music circuit by age 13. Just a few years later began solo performances at several historic venues across the region. Since then, her experience as a classical Indian singer has been bolstered by an active performance career that included many cities in South Africa and the United States. She received The Brinda Repertory Centenary award in 2015 for her work in Carnatic Music. She is now learning Hindustani vocals under Pt Sanjoy Banerjee of the Kirana Gharana.
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Currently, Samyukta is collaborating with the best musicians from around the world on her solo album “The Wandering Poet”(https://soundcloud.com/srnathan). The project arranges 12th century Sanskrit poetry (Ashtapadis) in several genres including Latin, jazz, electronica, hip-hop and pop.
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​Shobana Ram is a singer/dancer/elementary educator from Queens, NY who has studied Carnatic vocal music under Chennai-based gurus Jayalakshmi Santhanam, K. R. & Meera Kedaranathan, the Bombay Sisters, Rajalakshmi Shankar, and Marathi music from Oscar-nominated vocalist Bombay Jayashri.  Shobana has performed in choral, gospel, and A Capella vocal ensembles, including the award-winning Virginia Sil’hooettes. She has also trained in and performed Bharata Natyam dance extensively, under her guru, Smt. Rhadha of Chennai, performing in solo recitals as well as group productions Shiva Shakti and Jaya Jaya Gokula Bala. Shobana has provided vocals and nattuvangam for choreographers Malini Srinivasan and Maya Kulkarni. The NY Times described Shobana’s vocals for contemporary choreographer Parijat Desai’s work, ”Quiet Fire”, as a “gently unstoppable force of nature.”  Shobana was thrilled to lend her voice to Grammy-award winning composer Christopher Tin’s performances of “Calling All Dawns” at Carnegie Hall (2014) and at Lincoln Center (2013 and 2016).  Shobana has worked extensively as a Teaching Artist in NYC public schools for arts organizations such as Symphony Space, Young Audiences and LEAP. Shobana is a Second Grade Head Teacher at the Dalton School in NYC.

​Shiv is a Carnatic vocalist based in New York City. He is a regular performer in Chennai's annual December music festival and also performs elsewhere in India and the United States. Shiv has received training from three gurus: Lakshmi Balasubramaniam (his grandmother), Vani Sateesh, and P.S. Narayanaswamy. He is a member of the Navatman Music Collective, a choir dedicated to developing a collaborative approach to Carnatic Music. Shiv holds a doctorate in Sanskrit literature at Columbia University. His dissertation focuses on the shifting cultural significance of Kalidasa at different periods of Indian history.

​Vignesh is a young and upcoming Carnatic Vocalist in the New York City area. He is a student of Kalaimamani V. S. Balamurali in Pondicherry, India. He is currently under the mentorship of Shanmuga Sangeetha Sironmani Vishnudev Namboothiri and Kala Ratna Roopa Mahadevan in New York City. He has won awards in various state and national level Carnatic music competitions, including the "Young Talented Child" award from the Government of Pondicherry and "Yuva Kala Bharati" from the Yuva Kala Kendra trust in Pondicherry. He also performed Indian film music in many venues in India and the US. When he moved to US, Vignesh performed his formal arangetram in Carnatic vocal music in 2015 under the auspices of Navatman in New York City and under the guidance of Kamini Dandapani and Roopa Mahadevan. Vignesh is a member of the NYC-based vocal ensemble Navatman Music Collective and frequently performs for dance productions in the New York City area. Vignesh is a Bioinformatician who works at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York investigating rare genomic mutations in familial cancer.
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