Nilan Chaudhuri is a Bay Area based percussionist, educator, and performer. Initiated into the tradition of Indian Classical Music at the age of five by his father, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Nilan has been performing as a tabla soloist and accompanist for nearly two decades. Prior to beginning his formal training with his father in 2000, Nilan studied tabla with Brad Van Cleve, Tim Witter, and Uttam Chakraborty, all of whom are senior disciples of his father. Drawing inspiration from his father’s innovative approach to classical tabla solo, Nilan was determined from a young age to be a soloist. He presented his first public tabla recital at the age of eleven, at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, in the presence of Maestro Ali Akbar Khansahib. It was during these formative years that Nilan was introduced to the world of Tabla accompaniment by Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, providing rhythmic support for his vocal and instrumental classes at the college. As a teenager, Nilan was inspired by the Jazz-fusion Band ‘Oregon’ a group spearheaded by his cousin, multi-percussionist, Collin Walcott. The band’s music influenced Nilan to broaden his rhythmic studies, and in 2003, he began learning the drum set with Sly Randolph, of Richmond, California. Today, Nilan experiments regularly with bridging the two styles of Indian and American drumming, and plays a hybrid kit that fuses together the tabla and drum set, and incorporates electronic percussion instruments like the Roland HandSonic, and Ableton Push. Since 2007, Nilan has had the incredible opportunity to attend tabla-centric rhythm workshops conducted by Ustad Zakir Hussain. He has also attended South Indian percussion classes taught by ghatam Vidwan Subhash Chandran, kanjira Vidwan Ganesh Kumar, and Jim Santi Owen. Since his debut performance in concert with his father in Queens, NY, in 2005, Nilan has had the privilege of sharing the stage with some of Hindustani Classical Music’s most celebrated artists, like Ustad Amjad Ali Khansahib, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Pt. Ramesh Misra, Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya, and Alam Khan, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Fillmore, The Monterey Pop Festival, The Richmond Folk Festival, Fox Theater, The San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, and The Kennedy Center. His genre-bending collaborations include performances, projects, and recordings with the likes of conductor Michael Morgan and the Fremont Symphony, pop star, Beck, sitarist, Arjun Verma, sarodist, Manik Khan, violinist Raaginder Singh Momi, The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, George Brooks, Dennis Chambers, Miles Schon, and DJ Teeko. In addition to maintaining a rigorous performing schedule, Nilan teaches Tabla throughout the Bay Area as a faculty member at the Ali Akbar College of Music, in San Rafael, and as the Director of Percussion at Chitresh Das Institute, in San Mateo. He also serves as an archivist at the Ali Akbar College of Music, where the construction of a musical archive spanning 40 years of his Father’s work, is underway. It’s his lifelong mission to contribute to the preservation and enrichment of Indian Classical percussion.

Jay Gandhi is a multifaceted artist and one of the foremost contemporary voices of the bansuri (North Indian bamboo flute). A senior disciple of the legendary Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jay’s music reflects decades of deep study in Hindustani classical music while also drawing from jazz and other global traditions. He is an internationally touring performer, educator, adjunct professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, and a founding member of both Brooklyn Raga Massive and The Brooklyn Court, two pioneering musician collectives in New York City. Jay began his musical journey with vocal training under Smt. Kum Kum Sanyal, and later studied bansuri with Pt. Ronu Majumdar and Pt. Raghunath Seth, receiving further guidance from Pt. Vidyadhar Vyas and Pt. Nayan Ghosh. His work across genres has led to collaborations with luminaries such as Wynton Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and the late Pharoah Sanders. He has appeared at major venues worldwide and on acclaimed recordings including Ragas Live Retrospective, Coltrane Raga Tribute, Alam Khan’s Grand Tapestry, and Adam Rudolph’s Ragmala. Most recently, he recorded for the forthcoming Hollywood feature Prisoners of Paradise.

Dr. Rohan Krishnamurthy, as an Indian-American percussionist, composer, and educator, is one of the leading voices of Indian classical and cross-genre music in the South Asian diaspora. Acclaimed a "musical ambassador" by The Times of India, he received mridangam training from the legendary maestro, Sri. Guruvayur Dorai. Distinguished as a soloist, composer, and collaborator, Rohan performed with legendary Indian classical musicians and Grammy Award-winning global artists. Rohan leads The Alaya Project, an Indo-jazz-funk collective featuring celebrated saxophonist Prasant Radhakrishnan and keyboardist Colin Hogan. The group's recently released debut album has been praised by Jazziz Magazine, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, and more. Rohan holds a Ph.D. in musicology from the Eastman School of Music and directs the RohanRhythm Percussion Studio with students from across the globe. Rohan is the recipient of international awards and grants including commissions from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Foundation, and Goethe Institute (Germany). He has taught at renowned institutions and his patented RohanRhythm drum tuning system is available worldwide.

Roopa Mahadevan is a leading second-generation Carnatic and crossover vocalist in the American diaspora. Hailed a “stirring voice” by the New York Times, Roopa seeks to express joy, humility, and tradition as radical – and essential - antidotes to modern life. In addition to being a multi-genre vocalist, Roopa is a teacher, dance accompanist, composer, choir director, comedienne and more. Her signature crossover project Roopa in Flux and numerous collaborations in jazz, soul, free improv, and dance/theater have taken her to venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, MET Museum, SFJazz, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Jacob’s Pillow, and more. Roopa is also known for her innovative leadership of the NYC-based Carnatic choir Navatman Music Collective. A Fulbright scholar trained under Asha Ramesh and Suguna Varadachari, Roopa has earned recognition for her Carnatic vocal music from Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, which titled her “Kala Ratna” and the Music Academy, where she has performed during the prestigious December music season in Chennai. She has been in residency at Joe’s Pub, the Banff Center, Hedgebrook, and Ryder Farm, and was a soloist on Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award-winning album Calling All Dawns. In a previous avatar, Roopa worked in public health policy, following degrees from Stanford University.

Neel Murgai is a multi-instrumental performer, composer and teacher, and Co-Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Raga Massive, a raga inspired musician's collective and 501c3 non profit. He is a graduate of Goddard College's MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program. His journey into sitar and Indian classical music began with Pundit Ravindra Goswami in Banaras, in 1994 and has continued with Pundit Krishna Bhatt since 2000. In addition to sitar, Neel has studied overtone singing with the Buriyat performance group Uragsha and Harmonic Choir member, Timothy Hill. Western composition, Neel studied with Edgar Grana. While dedicated to Indian classical music, Neel is passionate about creating original music and contemporary cross-cultural collaborations that are rooted in his many influences and studies. Neel’s latest band Quadrature is a psychedelic raga rock outfit featuring Neel’s work with sitar and effects. They will be releasing their debut album in 2025. Neel composed and conducted for a global orchestra of 25 musicians in Brooklyn Raga Massive’s 2021 release, “In D”, an homage to minimalist maestro Terry Riley. His 2020 release “Reorientation” features his compositions in a chamber setting with Neel Murgai Ensemble as well as experiments in overtone singing and looping. Neel also directed BRM’s tribute to Pundit Ravi Shankar and live score for the film Fantastic Planet. Neel performed in the orchestra of Disney’s musical theater production of the Jungle Book, starring Andre DeSheilds. He has toured around the world with the Bill T. Jones Dance Company, performing in their multi-media show, “Blind Date". Neel has performed on Late Night with David Letterman with Wyclef Jean, Cyndi Lauper and DJ Rekha. Neel was in Will Smith’s 2022 Super Bowl commercial. He also appeared in Morgan Spurlock’s documentary of the Simpsons, performing the iconic theme song. Other artists Neel has worked with include Taylor Swift, Adam Rudolph, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Karsh Kale, Samir Chatterjee, Daniel Bernard Romain, Ellen Stewart, Sameer Gupta, Marc Cary, Jay Gandhi, Arun Ramamurthy, Laraaji, Yuerba Buena, Baba Israel, Raz Mesinai, Mission on Mars, Akim Funk Buddha, Loren Conners, Louis Bellogenis and Cosmo Vinyl. He has performed at venues ranging from the Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center to jazz clubs such as the Blue Note and at festivals around the U.S including Globalfest, Ragaslive, Art Wallah, Arts Plosure, Masala! Mehndi! Masti! and many others. Neel has composed music for numerous film, TV, video, theater and dance projects including the features, “The Yes Men Fix the World", which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and "A Decent Arrangement". His music has been featured in the BBC series, “Holiday’s in the Danger Zone", and TBS programs, “Women of the Ink", and “Spotlights". As a teacher, Neel offers private lessons in sitar, overtone singing and percussion. He leads workshops and lecture/demonstrations combining all his skills in colleges and schools around the NYC area. Neel's group Raga Kids teaches about Indian music to toddlers offering sing-alongs of original music and kids classics.

Samarth Nagarkar is a virtuoso singer, educator and author, known for his mastery of Khyaal, the preeminent form of Hindustani Raga music / North Indian classical vocal music. His performances are noted for their meditative artistry, technical finesse and emotive depth. Samarth has performed at major venues worldwide, including Lincoln Center NY, LearnQuest Music Conference Boston, Schoenberg Hall, LA, and NCPA, Mumbai. Samarth is the author of the acclaimed book Raga Sangeet, and has several solo and collaborative albums to his credit. As a dedicated educator and advocate for global musical dialogue, he presents lectures, courses and masterclasses at institutions like NYU, Manhattan School of Music, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Samarth’s music represents a unique blend of three traditional gharana styles of Gwalior, Agra, and Jaipur, as a result of his rigorous training under distinguished gurus Ulhas Kashalkar and Dinkar Kaikini. He is a former scholar of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata. Beyond traditional Raga music, he performs with blues, jazz and Maqam musicians, African ensembles, and organic orchestras, seamlessly weaving together diverse genres and musical traditions while staying true to his craft. He is a voting member of The Recording Academy (Grammys) and has received prestigious awards like the Excellence in the Arts Award from NAKA, USA and a Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Samarth presently runs Raga Sangeet Creative and is a co-founder of Brooklyn Raga Massive. He pioneered the use of digital platforms like Patreon in Indian classical music for enhanced audience engagement, music education and mentorship.

Taniya Panda is a Carnatic vocalist who accompanies for Bharatha Natyam arangetrams and teaches young children, while she also performs dance duets with her husband, Puneet. A completely self-made artist, Taniya began her training in the Carnatic style of Indian classical music in Toronto, Canada, from Smt. Vijayalakshmi Seenivasagam. In her early teens she moved to Chennai to take more intensive training from the acclaimed Veena Vidushi Smt. Padmavathy Ananthagopalan. Taniya is also an accomplished Bharatha Natyam dancer having undergone training with Guru A.Lakshmanaswamy. She has performed solo, duet and group productions in India, Canada and the US both as a dancer and supporting vocalist. She is currently continuing her vocal training with Kyvalya Chilla (Secunderabad). She is based in Marietta, Georgia, where she and her husband have also begun to independently present accomplished artists. Taniya is a wonderful example of using your expertise in these art forms to have a range of reach while raising a family.

Barkha Patel is akathak dancer, choreographer, educator, and the Artistic Director of Barkha Dance Company (BDC) based in NYC. BDC aims to uphold the traditional lineage of kathak and mindfully create contemporary works that uncover new movement possibilities and means of storytelling within the form. Barkha has performed solo and ensemble works at dance festivals in India and the U.S. Her work has had the opportunity to present at venues such as Dance Theatre Harlem, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Joyce Theatre, Little Island, 92Y, and Chelsea Factory among others. In India she has performed solo/duet works at Chidambaram Festival, Modhera Festival, India Habit Centre Delhi, Medai Bangalore, Hyderabad Literature Festival, and the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center, Mumabi. Barkha was a Dance/USA Institute for Leadership mentee and a recipient of the 2023 Juried Bessie Award. Through support of the New York State Dance Force, barkha completed her first tour to western NY. She was a recipient of the Princess Grace Dance Award 2024, a finalist for the NEFA National Dance Grant, and a Harlem Stage WaterWorks Fellow where she developed a part of her new full-length work called Ramti Aave - Her Playful Arrival. She has been a recipient of residencies with Movement Research residency (‘22 - ‘24) and Topaz Arts (‘25 - ‘26). Currently she is a residency with mentor Harikishan S Nair (Toronto) through the New York State Choreographic Institute where she is exploring how to create contemporary kathak works grounded solely within a classical Indian dance context.

Aditya Prakash, an award-winning musician and composer known for his powerful and expressive voice, is one of the foremost young practitioners of Karnatik music. His performances in the United States, India, and more than 15 countries are recognized for his innovative approach to composition, production, and performance. At sixteen, Aditya became one of the youngest musicians ever to tour and perform with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, accompanying him to such prestigious stages as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and Disney Concert Hall. Aditya has collaborated with a diverse range of innovative artists, including sitarist Anoushka Shankar, Jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, electronic experimental artist Karsh Kale, and the acclaimed dancer and choreographer Akram Khan. Aditya founded the eclectic music group Aditya Prakash Ensemble, which creates a space for dialogue between Karnatik and jazz. The Ensemble’s 2020 album, “Diaspora Kid,” garnered praise from Songlines and KCRW and was featured in the top 15 albums on the Transglobal World Music Chart in May 2020. In 2021, Aditya Prakash Ensemble performed in an NPR Tiny Desk concert curated by the acclaimed GlobalFest festival. Aditya is mentored by two prolific Karnatik artists: musician, activist, author T.M. Krishna, and musician and scholar R.K. Shriramkumar. Aditya received his B.A. in Arts from UCLA’s prestigious Ethnomusicology program. Aditya’s current focus in composition is pushing boundaries within the “classical” tradition. In his 2023 album, ISOLASHUN, Aditya explores the weight of privilege and the boundaries of tradition in an entirely new creative form. Currently, Aditya is composing the music for three evening-length dance productions by the internationally renowned English choreographer Akram Khan. Audiences will hear Aditya’s music in the Academy Award-winning director Aneil Karia’s forthcoming feature film, Hamlet, starring Riz Ahmed. Aditya's most recent work is a critically acclaimed solo gig-theatre production, ROOM-i-Nation, directed and co-written by his sister and dancer/choreographer, Mythili Prakash

Arun Ramamurthy is a violinist, composer and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Rooted in South Indian classical Carnatic music, Arun is a versatile musician, performing internationally in both traditional Carnatic and Hindustani settings, as well as blurring genres with his own innovative projects like the acclaimed Arun Ramamurthy Trio. Arun studied under the celebrated violinist brothers, Sri Mysore Nagaraj & Dr. Mysore Manjunath, the distinguished violinist Sri. Ananthakrishnan as well as many early years with western classical violinist Jim Mate. He has shared the stage with luminaries like Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Sudha Ragunathan, Reggie Workman, Kenny Werner, Jamey Haddad, Flute Shashank, Amir ElSaffar, Hamid Drake, Mashkoor Ali Khan, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Al-Saadi, Subhankar Banerjee, Martha Redbone, Awa Sangho amongst others. He has performed and recorded with a wide range of musical genres including Jazz, Arabic Maqam, Afro-Cuban, Malian, American folk, Western classical, and other creative and improvisational styles. Arun's music has brought him prestigious stages like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Celebrate Brooklyn and many more. He leads the Arun Ramamurthy Trio, an ensemble that brings a fresh approach to Carnatic classical repertoire and features Arun's original composition work. Praised by All About Jazz as “a beautiful, exotic, ear-opening listening experience" ART is about to record their 2nd studio album in December 2022, featuring newly commissioned music. He also co-leads a violin duo project with wife and violinist Trina Basu, reimagining string chamber music through the lens of Indian classical raga. The duo released their debut studio album “Nakshatra” in January 2022. Other notable projects Arun is involved with include Raga Maqam (ensemble with Amir ElSaffar bridging the worlds of Raga and Maqam) and Ragmala Go: Organic Orchestra & BRM (large ensemble led by percussionist / composer Adam Rudolph). As a composer, Arun has created new works for his Trio (ART) and duo project with Trina Basu, scores for theatrical productions such as Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink, composition for Indian classical dance, and for the pioneering musician's collective Brooklyn Raga Massive. Arun was recently commissioned by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant to create music for his ensemble, Arun Ramamurthy Trio. Arun was also commissioned through New Music USA to compose original work for Malini Srinivasan's 'Appeasing Radhika', an ambitious project investigating Devadasi lives in Indian Classical performing arts. Arun is a founder and co-Artistic Director of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a progressive genre-bending collective of musicians rooted-in and inspired-by the classical music of India. He created and produced the innovative series Carnatic Sundays at the iconic West Village haunt, Cornelia Street Cafe. Throughout his career, Arun has curated and performed in hundreds of concerts bringing together music from all over the world. Arun also is a dedicated educator, teaching Carnatic music privately to children and adult students, professional string players and instrumentalists from various genres. He conducts workshops and has held teaching-artist residencies working with student ensembles at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College’s Jazz & Big Band program, NYU, Yale University, Sarah Lawrence University, and many others.

Internationally acclaimed Kathak dancer and choreographer Parul Shah of the parul shah dance company expands the classical medium beyond cultural boundaries. With a focus on excellence, Shah builds upon the dance form’s mythological storytelling roots to share narratives based on her lived experiences. The nucleus of her work as a choreographer and performer has been to disrupt narratives and cultural trappings that undermine the dignity of South Asian women. Shah draws upon the rich tradition of the North Indian classical dance, Kathak, for resistance, artistry, and personal agency. Her work tells stories of women pushing against their boundaries, women who have been forgotten, and women whose labor is often invisible. To tell these stories, she has created a dance language that expands the technique of Indian dance to uproot male-dominated and Eurocentric narratives while forging resiliency and healing. Trained in India by the late groundbreaking choreographer Padma Vibhushan Kumudini Lakhia, Shah has created unique ensemble and solo works that seamlessly blend her South Asian and American identities, contributing to a richer tapestry of Asian American artistic expression. Shah has presented her work around the world and at home to critical acclaim, including City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival: NYC, the New Victory Theatre NYC, the Kennedy Center: Washington D.C, Asia Society: NYC, Jacobs Pillow, Inside/ Out series: MA, Metropolitan Museum of Art: NYC, World Music Institute: NYC, Lincoln Center/Damrosch Park: NYC, Museum of Fine Arts: Boston, the Japan Forum Foundation: Tokyo, and Suvarna Parva: India, Ahmedabad. Committed to outreach and education, Parul’s studio is home to both the parul shah dance company and her training facility, where she has been building community for more than 20 years. Central to her work is fostering awareness and dialogue through artistic creations. She is currently an adjunct professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey, a teaching artist for City Lore in New York City, and a member of the dance faculty at Kulture Kool in New Jersey. Shah has guest lectured and held residencies at several universities, including A&M University, New York University, Rutgers University, Hunter College, Barnard College, Amherst College, Vassar College, and Nichols College, among others. In addition, she has served on the faculty at Rutgers University, Marymount College, and Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition to her educational career, Shah has been a curator for over 15 years and has served as a co-curator for the Erasing Borders Dance Festival in New York City. She has also been an Artist in Residence at Mass Mocha, a Teaching Residency for The Yard, and the Fresh Tracks’ Residency at New York Live Arts. Shah earned a B.A. in Political Science from New York University and an M.A. in Dance and Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently a doctoral student in the Ed.D. Dance Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University, through the interdisciplinary specialization track. Shah’s research focus is to challenge Eurocentric dance institutional policies and recognize diverse perspectives in dance education. Her other research interests include examining dance as a cultural construct that reflects and embodies political, social, and national ideologies.

Malini Srinivasan is a third-generation Bharatha Natyam artist and the disciple of world-renowned artist Sri C.V. Chandrasekhar. She began learning Bharatanatyam at a young age with her mother Radha Srinivasan and grandmother Komalavalli Mani. She started studying the Kalakshetra style in 2000 with Smt. Savitri Jagganath Rao and performed her Arangetram (debut) under the guidance of Meena Raman. Malini grew up in Maryland, and lived in Chennai from 1999-2004 to pursue her study of dance and its allied art forms such as Nattuvangam, Carnatic vocal music, Kalaripayattu, Yoga, Sanskrit and Tamil. A critically-acclaimed soloist, Malini has presented solo Bharatanatyam to audiences in the U.S., India and Europe. She has also performed with groups including the Padmini Chettur Group, Ragamala, Rajika Puri and Dancers, Thresh, and Kala Nivedanam. Malini has choreographed solo and group Bharatanatyam pieces, including Being Becoming, Ode to Love’s Arrows, Tejas-Luminous, and Ask Hafiz. She was awarded the Dance in Queens Residency (2009) the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center Residency (2010), and the Queens Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018) and a New Music USA Grant (2016). Based in Queens, NY, Malini is committed to spreading a deep understanding of Indian classical traditions through teaching. She founded the Gitanjali Dance School in 2009. She has been a visiting artist/lecturer at Princeton University, Wellesley College, UNC Asheville, Brooklyn Friends and Colgate University. From 2006-2016, she served as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Asian & Asian-American Studies Department at SUNY Stony Brook. She is the School Programs Manager and a Teaching Artist with City Lore.

Nadhi Thekkek is a dancer, choreographer, and the Artistic Director of Nava Dance Theatre. Nadhi uses the South Indian dance form of Bharathanatyam to navigate place, identity, and politics through the lens of her lived experience as a child of immigrants and an unapologetic South Asian, diasporic woman. She reimagines how Bharathanatyam can serve marginalized narratives that need to occupy space in the US right now. Her nationally touring work “Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies” sources community interviews, historical texts, and poetry to explore the intersections of labor, agency, and belonging in our South Asian ancestry. Nadhi’s body of work has been supported through the NEFA National Dance Project, The MAP Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, and others. Through Nava, Nadhi also produces and co-facilitates the Unrehearsed Artist Residency Program, where South Asian dancemakers create art that challenges the status quo. She is one of the co-founders of Varnam Salon and serves on the board of the Western Arts Alliance. Nadhi has learned Bharathanatyam from Guru Smt. Sundara Swaminathan (Kala Vandana Dance Company, San Jose) and Guru Smt. Padmini Chari (Nritya School of Dance, Houston). As of 2012, she has continued training under Guru Sri. A. Lakshmanaswamy (Chennai).