Award-Winning Vocalist, Aditya Prakash Returns To Segerstrom Center For The Arts

Award winning vocalist Aditya Prakash will return to Segerstrom Center for the Arts on July 31, 2022, bringing his unique musical and cultural emulsion to the Samueli stage. Known for his powerful and emotive voice, Prakash's 20 + years of learning and performing music has marked him as one of the foremost young virtuosos of Karnatik music, the traditional style of South India.

Joined by Kamalakiran Vinjamuri on violin and Rajna Swaminathan on mridangam, his concert will feature traditional repertoire, as it is practiced today, as well completely improvised sections and his own crafted-arrangements, something not commonly done in Karnatik music. This traditional style of music is about abstracting emotion through raga (melody), tala (rhythm) and sahitya (lyrics, both linguistic and non-linguistic). It is not a prerequisite to know or study the art form to appreciate it. All that is required is an open mind and heart to receive the sound.

Tickets for "Aditya Prakash" at Segerstrom Center for the Arts start at $25. They are available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. Group discounts for groups of 10 or more are available at (714) 755-0236. The Center offers many services for patrons with disabilities including removable wheelchair locations, binoculars and assistive listening devices. To learn more visit SCFTA.org/accessibilityinformation.

Aditya Prakash, a Los Angeles based award-winning vocalist known for his powerful and emotive voice, is one of the foremost virtuosos of Karnatik music.

At only 16 years of age, he 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.

Currently, Aditya is under the advanced mentorship of prolific artists and scholars, TM Krishna and RK Shriramkumar. He began his initial vocal training under Sugandha Kalamegham, Rose Muralikrishnan and Debur Shrivathsa. He later came under venerated gurus, and torch-bearers of the "Semmangudi-style" Sri PS Narayanaswami and Sri Palai CK Ramachandran.

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 most recent album, "Diaspora Kid," garnered praise from Songlines, KCRW and was featured in the top 15 albums on the Transglobal World Music Chart in May 2020.

Aditya has been performing Karnatik vocal concerts since the age of 13, and has performed Karnatik concerts at prominent venues throughout India and USA such as The Music Academy (Chennai), Shanmukhananda Sabha (Bombay), Gayana Samaj (Bangalore), Ravi Shankar Institute for Music and Performing Arts (New Delhi), Chicago World Music Festival (Chicago), National Folk Festival (Montana) among many others. Aditya has been awarded by leading institutions of Karnatik music, gaining recognition for his impressive performances.

Recently, Aditya produced and composed the musical score for the NEFA awarded production - "She's Auspicious" by Mythili Prakash. One of Aditya's produced songs for the album "HOME," by Sushma Soma, was selected to be featured on BBC at the Earthshot Awards. Aditya's current focus in production and composition lies in pushing boundaries within the "classical" tradition.

Accompanying Aditya Prakash:

Kamalakiran Vinjamuri - Violin

Kamalakiran Vinjamuri started learning from his grand-father, Sri. Parthasarathy Iyengar. Then he had some training from Smt. Malladi Vijayalakshmi. His father Sri.Subhash Vinjamuri, started teaching him the violin at the age of 7. He has been under the tutelage of Sangeethakalanidhi A. Kanyakumari for the past 14 years. He has won many awards in prestigious venues and has been accompanying several leading artists across India and the US. Kamalakiran regularly gives solo concerts across the US, India, and most recently completed a tour of Europe.

Rajna Swaminathan - Mridangam

Rajna Swaminathan is an acclaimed mrudangam artist, composer, and scholar. Her artistic trajectory blossomed through a search for resonance and fluidity among musical forms and aesthetic worlds. She leads the ensemble RAJAS, writing expansive, boundary breaking music for herself and like-minded improvisers, spanning multiple musical approaches. As a composer, Rajna has received commissions from the LA Phil, Chamber Music America New Jazz Works, and Bang On A Can Marathon, among others. She holds a PhD in Music from Harvard University, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts.

Learn more at www.SCFTA.org

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