Dr. Sharad Gadre, himself a disciple of two stalwarts of the Gwalior Gharana, the late Pt. Yeshwant Sadashiv Mirashibuwa, and the late Pt. Nagesh Khalikar has been involved with music for over 45 years. He has been actively teaching Indian Classical Music in the Seattle area for over 20 years and also has developed software – RagaParichaya for teaching music. In this concert, two of his accomplished students – Gaurav and Vibhuti will be singing, accompanied by Mausam (Harmonium) and Manoj Biswas (tabla).

Gaurav Chanda began his musical training at the age of seven from Smt. Anita Roy. He then learnt from Smt. Shanti Sharma of New Delhi where he developed a Kirana-Indore style of khayal gayaki. Since he moved to Seattle in 2005, he has been learning from Shri. Sharad Gadre, who has helped him imbibe rich Gwalior traditions in his music. Gaurav holds degrees in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and IIT-Delhi. He works for Amazon.com.

Vibhuti has been learning music from her father since the early age of 5. She holds Sangeet Vishaarad (B.Mus) degree in Hindustani classical vocal. She is presently learning from Shri Sharad Gadre. She has also taken sessions with Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty. She has given performances with the musical group Swarvedh in India and is now a member of various musical groups in Seattle. Her biggest audience so far has been around 50,000 during the function Maharashtra Kesari in Nagpur. Apart from singing she is a Cosmetologist by profession and loves dancing & painting.

Manoj Biswas is a promising Tabla player based in Seattle. He currently studies the art with Sri. Kuntal Roy and Sri. Vishal Nagar. He performs regularly in Seattle and the northwest as an accompanist for both classical and light music programs. He holds a masters degree in Computer Science and is presently employed as a software engineer at Microsoft Corporation.

Mausam is a born rasik of music and plays both harmonium and tabla with great feeling. He has accompanied both the Seattle area artists as well as visiting musicians from India. A Faculty member in the Computer Science dept at the University of Washington, he has also been active in organizing music concerts through Ragamala, Pratidhwani and Spic Macay. Currently, Mausam studies vocal music from Shri Sharad Gadre.