The Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival is the largest Indian classical music festival outside of India. It was first celebrated in 1978 and has now grown to be a 12-day festival with more than 10,000 attendees with 5,000 appearing for the opening weekend. The year 2025 is the Festival's 45th year.

Schedule:

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

9:30am - 10:30am: Inaugural Concert
Akshara Samskriti (Vocal)
Prahlad Saravanapriyan of CA (violin)
Srihari Raman of MA (mridangam)

10:45am - 12:15pm: Dr B. Vijay Gopal (Flute)
Dr D. Badri Narayanan (violin)
Trichy B. Harikumar (mridangam)
Trichy S. Krishnaswamy (ghatam)

12:45pm - 2:15pm: Vivek Moozhikulam (Vocal)
Bhargav Tumkur of MD (violin)
Akshanan Mayuran (mridangam)
Sunil Kumar (kanjira)

2:30pm - 4:00pm: Flute Brothers Heramb & Hemanth (Flute)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Thanjavur K. Murugaboopathi (mridangam)
N. Guruprasad (ghatam)

4:15pm - 6:45pm: R. Suryaprakash (Vocal)
Delhi R. Sridhar (violin)
Punnur Arvind Kaushik (mridangam)
Alathur T. Rajaganesh (kanjira)

7:00pm - 9:30pm: Sangeetha Kala Sagaram R. Thiagarajan (Flute)
Kala Rathna Kamalakiran Vinjamuri of VA (violin)
B. Ganapathyraman (mridangam)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Neyveli Ramalakshmi of TX (Vocal)
Sudarshan Prasanna of GA (violin)
Navneeth Gopinath of PA (mridangam)  

Thursday, April 17, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Flute Ensemble
Students of J.A. Jayanth

9:30am - 10:30am: Jewels of Rhythm - A Grand Music & Percussion Ensemble
Presented by T.S. Nandakumar of NJ
and his students from TSN's School of NJ
with violin, flute, veena, mridangam, tavil, kanjira, ghatam, morsing, and drums

11:00am - 12:15pm: Keyboard Ensemble
Acharya Rathnakara M.S. Martin and his disciples
Punnur Arvind Kaushik (mridangam)
N. Sundar (tabla)

12:45pm - 1:45pm: A group presentation by Sruti Laya Fine Arts Academy
Students of Thanathevy Mithradeva of ON

2:15pm – 4:00pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan Presents
Thakadhimi thakita - Season 7
A Grand Percussion Ensemble - A confluence of rhythm, melody, and dance

Sangeetha Rathnakara Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (Mridangam & konnakkol)
B.V. Raghavendra Rao (violin)
N. Guruprasad (ghatam)
N. Sundar (morsing & tabla)
Sunil Kumar (kanjira & thavil)
Abilash Giriprasad (vocal)
Srivathsa Pasumarthi of CA (flute)

Dance choreography by Dr S. Divyasena, Padmini Radhakrishnan, and Meenakshi Ganesan of CA

Bharathanatyam
Meenakshi Ganesan of CA
Akila Rao of CA
Bhuvana Venkatesh of CA
Sukanya Kumar of CA
Akshaya Nivasini of CA
Tejashree Meka of CA
Shwetha Nirmal of WA
Maha Varadhan of IL
Vimina Bagavath of IN
Preetha Subramanyan of GA
Gayathri Sudhakar of GA
Gomathi Manoj of NJ
Nirupama Venkatesan of NJ
Akila Subramanyam of VA
Indhumadhi Gopalakrishnan of DE
Preethi Sathyanarayanan of TX

Kuchipudi
Sunita Pendekanti of CA
Pragnya B. Prakash of IA
Sobha Tammana of IL

4:15pm - 6:45pm: S. Saketharaman (Vocal)
Kala Rathna Kamalakiran Vinjamuri of VA (violin)
Sai Giridhar (mridangam)
Sowmiya J. Narayanan of VA (ghatam)

7:00pm - 9:30pm: Akkarai Sisters S. Subhalakshmi & S. Sornalatha (Violin)
Kulur U. Jayachandra Rao (mridangam)
Dr Ravi Balasubramanian of OR (ghatam)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Shardul Krishnakumar of NJ (Vocal)
Karthik Subramanian of TX (violin)
Aashrith Aravind of IL (mridangam)

Friday, April 18, 2025

9:00am - 5:00pm: Music Competition

8:00am - 9:00am: Advanced Pallavi Competition Winner
Sasanka S.N. of VA (Vocal)
Sanjith Narayanan of VA (violin)
Srikar Chittari of VA (mridangam)
Samyuktha Sreeram of VA (ghatam)

9:15am - 11:30am: Prof. B. Balasubrahmaniyan of CT (Vocal)
Vittal Rangan (violin)
Vinod Seetharaman of MI (mridangam)
Dr Ravi Balasubramanian of OR (ghatam)

11:45am - 12:45pm: Concert Competition Winner
Shruti Govindarajan of IL (Vocal)
Dr D. Badri Narayanan (violin)
Punnur Arvind Kaushik (mridangam)
N. Sundar (morsing)

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Dr Keerthana Sankar of CA (Vocal)
Mithuran Manogaran of ON (violin)
J.P. Suriya Nambisan (mridangam)
Srikrishna Prasannan of OR (ghatam)

2:15pm - 4:00pm: Kala Rathna Aishwarya Shankar (Vocal)
Rishabh Ranganathan of IL (violin)
Ethirajan Ramanujan of MN (mridangam)
Toronto S. Surenthar of ON (morsing)

4:15pm - 4:45pm: Ceremonial Procession and Mallari
Traditional Kolattam by students of
Nrithya Seva Mani Sujatha Srinivasan, Shri Kalaa Mandir, OH

4:45pm  6:45pm: Kala Rathna Abilash Giriprasad (Vocal)
Sahana Vasudevan of NJ (violin)
Sangeetha Rathnakara Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (mridangam)
Kala Seva Mani Dr David Nelson of CT (mridangam)
N. Sundar (morsing)

7:00pm - 9:30pm: Krishna Leela Tarangam  A Dance Production
Choreography: Jayanthi Subramaniam
Music: Dr Seetha Rajan & Nandini Anand
Dancers: Disciples of Nrithya Kala Sagaram Jayanthi Subramaniam, Nrithya Seva Mani Sujatha Srinivasan of OH, Vani Iswara of TX, Nrithya Seva Mani Sushmitha Arunkumar of IL, Nrithya Seva Mani Chitra Ramaswamy of NJ, Dr S. Divyasena, and Kala Rathna Pooja Kumar Shyam of MI

Saturday, April 19, 2025

7:00am: Puja and Worship
7:15am: Mangala Isai
8:00am - 8:45am: Bhajans by Children
9:00am - 10:45am: Pancharathna Krithis Group singing of Thyagaraja's five greatest compositions

11:15am - 12:15pm: The Sishyakulam Epic Choir
Conceptualized by Sangeetha Rathnakara Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan, this ensemble brings together musicians from across North America for the grandest stage event in Carnatic music

12:30pm - 1:30pm: Vivaadita Anunaadam Consonance in Dissonance
Concept and Presentation by Jay Shankar Balan of MI

1:45pm - 3:30pm: Sherthalai Dr K.N. Renganatha Sharma (Vocal)
B.V. Raghavendra Rao (violin)
Myan Sudharsanan of WA (mridangam)
G. Chandrasekara Sharma (ghatam)

4:00pm - 6:30pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara Ramnad V. Raghavan Memorial Concert
Sustaining Sampradaya Tribute to T.R. Subrahmanyam
A concert by the torch-bearers of the Cleveland Festival

6:45pm - 7:30pm: Book Release
Compositions of Spencer Venugopal
Matr Pitr Acharya Devo Bhava, by Acharya Rathnakara Dr Premeela Gurumurthy
Mahaperiyava Paamalai by Sugandhisri Krishnamoorthi
Biography of Palghat Rama Bhagavatar, by Sivapriya Krishnan

7:45pm - 9:30pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara D. Raghava Chary (Vocal)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram V.V.S. Murari (violin)
Ethirajan Ramanujan of MN (mridangam)
Alathur T. Rajaganesh (ghatam)

Drinko Recital Hall

11:00am - 12:00pm: Veena Pusthaka Dharini
A presentation by disciples of Tiruvarur S. Girish

12:15pm - 1:15pm: Thyagaraja Gurum Aashraye
Directed & Presented by Bhargavi Balasubramanian

1:30pm - 2:30pm: Swararohanam
A thematic group presentation conducted by R. Suryaprakash

2:45pm - 3:45pm: Dikshitar's Vaara Krithis
Presented by students of Kalyanapuram S. Aravind S. Venkataraman (harmonium)
Soham Kaje of IL (mridangam)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Odhuvar M. Muthukumaran (Vocal)
Mithuran Manogaran of ON (violin)
M. Sivakumar (mridangam)

Sunday, April 20, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Carnatic Harmony
Presented by Carnatica

9:15am - 10:15am: Aadum Chidambaramo
A group presentation conceptualized and conducted by Sangeetha Rathnakara Papanasam Ashok Ramani

10:30am - 1:00pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara Sudha Raghunathan (Vocal)
Vittal Rangan (violin)
Akshay Anantapadmanabhan (mridangam)
Sowmiya J. Narayanan of VA (ghatam)

1:15pm - 2:15pm: Music Competition Prize distribution

2:30pm - 4:00pm: Veena Gaanam
Naadharasa Center for Music, disciples of Nirmala Rajasekar of MN

4:15pm - 5:15pm: Bhakthi Vijayam
Presented by Gayatri Fine Arts Global
Curated by Sangeetha Kala Sagaram P. Ganesh

5:30pm - 7:30pm: Sooryagayathri (Vocal)
Adarsh Ajaykumar (violin)
P.V. Anil Kumar (mridangam)
Prasanth Sankar (tabla)
Silesh Marar (percussion)

8:00pm - 9:30pm: Nrithya Mani Mala A Thematic Presentation
Nrithya Kala Sagaram Dr S. Divyasena (Bharathanatyam)
and her disciples
Upanisha Kannan (Bharathanatyam)
Shabin Bright (Bharathanatyam)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Pranav Kikkeri of TX (Vocal)
Sanjay Suresh of WI (violin)
Akshay Venkatesan of CA (mridangam)

Monday, April 21, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Sangeetha Rathnakara N. Ravikiran's Jyotirlinga Kshetra Mala
Presented by the North American Melodic & Dance Ensemble
Music Direction: Vanitha Suresh of WI, Arohana Arts Academy

9:15am - 10:15am: Guru Samarpanam
A medley of varnams, krithis, and thillanas composed or popularized by Sangeetha Rathnakara Lalgudi G. Jayaraman
presented by students of Acharya Rathnakara Vittal Ramamurthy
Navneeth Gopinath of PA (mridangam)
Samyuktha Sreeram of VA (ghatam)

10:30am - 12:30pm: Nrithya Rathnakara Narthaki Nataraj (Bharathanatyam)
Shakthi Bhaskar (Concept & Coordination)

1:00pm - 2:00pm: S. Aishwarya & S. Saundarya (Vocal)
Rishabh Ranganathan of IL (violin)
J.P. Suriya Nambisan (mridangam)
Balaji Chandran of MN (ghatam)

2:15pm - 4:00pm: Nirmala Rajasekar of MN (Veena)
B.V. Raghavendra Rao (violin)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Thanjavur K. Murugaboopathi (mridangam)
Kala Seva Mani Sriram N. Iyer of MN (kanjira)
S.V. Ramani (ghatam)

4:15pm - 6:45pm: Kala Rathna K. Bharat Sundar (Vocal)
L. Ramakrishnan (violin)
Sangeetha Rathnakara Trichy Sankaran (mridangam)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira)

7:00pm - 9:30pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan (Vocal)
Shankara Prasad Santhanagopalan (Vocal support)
Sangeetha Rathnakara Nagai R. Muralidharan (violin)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Tiruvarur Bhakthavathsalam (mridangam)
Balaji Chandran of MN (ghatam)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Nandini Muralidharan of MA (Vocal)
Anirudh Ganesan of PA (mridangam)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Janani Iyer of IL (Vocal)
Sharada Krishnan of MA (violin)
Srivatsan Srinivasan of CA (mridangam)
Srikrishna Prasannan of OR (ghatam)

9:15am - 10:15am: Lalit Subramaniam of OH (Vocal)
Sanjay Sharma of MD (violin)
Kala Seva Mani Sriram N. Iyer of MN (mridangam)
Vivek Chellappa of CA (kanjira)

10:30am - 12:30pm: Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Delhi P. Sunder Rajan (Vocal)
Kala Rathna Kamalakiran Vinjamuri of VA (violin)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Tiruvarur Bhakthavathsalam (mridangam)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira)

1:00pm - 2:15pm: Sri Sri Sisters Sriya Srinivas & Sreeja Srinivas (Vocal)
Dr D. Badri Narayanan (violin)
Ashwinn Balachandran of ON (mridangam)

2:30pm - 4:00pm: Kalyanapuram S. Aravind (Vocal)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram V.V.S. Murari (violin)
Vinod Seetharaman of MI (mridangam)
Alathur T. Rajaganesh (kanjira)

4:15pm - 6:45pm: Amrutha Venkatesh (Vocal)
L. Ramakrishnan (violin)
S.J. Arjun Ganesh (mridangam)
Kala Rathna G. Chandrasekara Sharma (ghatam)

7:00pm - 9:30pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara N. Ravikiran (Chitraveena)
Sanjay Suresh of WI (violin)
Sangeetha Rathnakara Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (mridangam)
Akshanan Mayuran (mridangam)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Ashwin Srikant of CA (Vocal)
Laya Raghav of OH (violin)
Shyam Ravidath of OR (mridangam)

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Nandanar Charitam
A presentation by Kuchipudi Sri Sai Dance Academy of VA
Conception & Choreography: Deepa Narayanan Sashindran
Direction: Sarada Jammi & Ameya King
Lyrics: Venkat Gadepalli
Music: Sweta Prasad & Renuka Prasad
Multimedia: Janardhan Raj URS

9:15am - 10:15am: Janaki Ramanan An Ode to Ranganatha
based on Hamsa Sandesham by Vedanta Desika
Curated by Dr Soumya Iyer of IL & Lavanyaa Surendar of WI
Choreography: Lavanyaa Surendar of WI
Music Score: Rasiga D. Prasadh
Rhythm and Music Production: Dr Guru Bharadwaaj

10:30am - 12:30pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara Nagai R. Muralidharan & Dr D. Badri Narayanan (Violin)
R. Sankaranarayanan of ON (mridangam)
Vijay Ganesh of VA (mridangam)

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Himaja Samraj (Vocal)
R. Raghul (violin)
Punnur Arvind Kaushik (mridangam)
Cleveland R. Balasubramaniam (kanjira)

2:15pm - 4:00pm: Acharya Rathnakara Vittal Ramamurthy (Violin)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram V.V.S. Murari (Viola)
Sangeetha Rathnakara Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (mridangam)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira)

4:15pm - 6:45pm: Tiruvarur S. Girish (Vocal)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Delhi P. Sunder Rajan (violin)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Tiruvarur Bhakthavathsalam (mridangam)
Toronto Karthik Venkataraman (kanjira)

7:00pm - 9:30pm: Carnatica Brothers Sangeetha Kala Sagaram K.N. Shashikiran & P. Ganesh (Vocal)
Delhi R. Sridhar (violin)
B. Ganapathyraman (mridangam)
N. Guruprasad (ghatam)  

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Sruthi Ramesh of MD (Vocal)
Krish Mohan of TX (mridangam)

Thursday, April 24, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Anbe Shivam
A thematic group presentation from different composers on Lord Shiva, curated by Chithra Vaidyanathan, Dhivyadhwani School of Music, AZ

9:15am - 10:15am: Oorja Exploring Feminine Strength
Conceptualized and Choreographed by Kala Rathna Dr Janaki Rangarajan of VA

10:30am - 12:15pm: Sangeetha Rathnakara Papanasam Ashok Ramani (Vocal)
Sangeetha Rathnakara Nagai R. Muralidharan (violin)
Sangeetha Rathnakara Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan (mridangam)
Sunil Kumar (kanjira)

12:30pm - 2:00pm: Sruti Sarathy of CA (Violin)
Punnur Arvind Kaushik (mridangam)
Vivek Chellappa of CA (kanjira)

2:15pm - 4:00pm: Vasudha Ravi (Vocal)
Aditya Satyadeep of CA (violin)
S.V. Ramani (mridangam)

4:15pm - 6:45pm: Sankari Krishnan (Vocal)
R. Raghul (violin)
Sai Raghavan (mridangam)
N. Sundar (morsing)

7:00pm - 9:30pm: Kala Rathna K.S. Vishnudev (Vocal)
B.V. Raghavendra Rao (violin)
Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Thanjavur K. Murugaboopathi (mridangam)
Kala Rathna G. Chandrasekara Sharma (ghatam)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Srinidhi Puccha of OH (Veena)
Sumedha Mahesh of OH (violin)
Vageesh Nanduri of NC (mridangam)

Friday, April 25, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Ainthothum Anandam
A Dance Production with music composed by R. Suryaprakash.
Dance Gurus: Akila Subramanyam of VA, Chitra Ramaswamy of NJ, Aler Krishnan of CA

9:15am - 10:15am: Seerkazhi Moovar Rare Compositions of Muthuthandavar, Marimuthu Pillai, and Arunachala Kavi

Choreography by Akila Subramanyam, Salangai Arts, VA

Dancers
Neha Asuri of VA
Kyra Kishore of VA
Anamika Nair of VA
Gowri Potti of VA
Kaavya Karthik of VA
Vilasini Gopal of VA
Priya Baskar of VA
Priyanka Mosur of VA
Ananya Magesh of VA
Arya Bharath of VA
Hasene Devi of VA
Hasini Dilliraj of VA
Sanjana Rachakonda of VA
Maya Kamat of VA
Rhea Sharma of VA
Varsha Shankar of VA
Aegna Santhosh of VA
Esha Butna of VA
Sanjana Sudheer of VA

10:30am - 12:30pm: Sangeetha Kala Sagaram V.K. Manimaran (Vocal)
Delhi R. Sridhar (violin)
B. Ganapathyraman (mridangam)
S.V. Ramani (ghatam)

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Lakshmi Vijayaraghavan (Vocal)
Aditya Satyadeep of CA (violin)
Mauran Manogaran of ON (mridangam)
Sathya Ganesan of CA (ghatam)

2:15pm - 4:15pm: Chinmaya Sisters Uma & Radhika (Vocal)
Kamalakiran Vinjamuri of VA (violin)
J.P. Suriya Nambisan (mridangam)
Sunil Kumar (kanjira)

4:30pm - 5:30pm: Mayuri Haridas (Kathak)

5:45pm - 6:45pm: Dvayam - Yearning & Joy
Composer: Kala Rathna K. Bharat Sundar
Choreographer: Kala Rathna Aishwarya Balasubramanian of NH

7:15pm - 8:15pm: Dvayam Grief & Peace
Composer: Kala Rathna K.S. Vishnudev & Lakshmi Vijayaraghavan
Choreographer: Sumithra Subramaniam

8:30pm - 9:30pm: Dvayam Victory & Compassion
Composer: S. Adithyanarayanan
Choreographer: Kala Rathna Pavitra Bhat

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Akshay Sridhar of NY (Vocal)
Abhinav Ganesan of PA (mridangam)

Saturday, April 26, 2025

8:00am - 9:00am: Performance & Choreography Competition Winner
Lavanya Karthikeyan of NJ (Bharathanatyam)

9:15am - 10:15am: Arunagiri Aruliya Thiruppugazh Arpudha Sthalangalum Ariya Thaalangalum
by the North America Thiruppugazh Anbargal, led by Mahalakshmi Krishnan of TX

10:30am - 12:30pm: Delhi V. Muthukumar (Vocal)
Kala Rathna Kamalakiran Vinjamuri of VA (violin)
Toronto B. Gowrishanker (mridangam)
Toronto Karthik Venkataraman (kanjira)

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Rare Compositions in the Tradition of Banni Bai
A Lecture-Demonstration by Acharya Rathnakara Dr Premeela Gurumurthy
B. Ganapathyraman (mridangam)

2:15pm - 4:00pm: S. Adithyanarayanan (Vocal)
Karthik P. Iyer of IL (violin)
R. Sankaranarayanan of ON (mridangam)

4:15pm - 6:45pm: Thiruvarur Pancharathnam
Composed by Dr Rukmini Ramani

6:45pm - 9:30pm: Margam ? Dance Workshop Performance
by Nrithya Kala Sagaram Dr S. Divyasena
Dance mentors: Upanisha Kannan, Shabin Bright
Drinko Recital Hall

10:00am - 11:30am: Kadayanallur Tukaram Ganapathi Maharaj (Vocal)
Meenalochani (Vocal)
Surej Suresh (harmonium)
K. Venkatesan (pakhwaj)

Comfort Inn Ballroom

10:00pm - 11:00pm: Manasa Subramanian of AZ (Vocal)
Deekshitha Balaji of MI (violin)
Madhav Parthasarathy of IL (mridangam)

Sunday, April 27, 2025

8:30am - 2:30pm: Dance Competition Advanced Categories

2:45pm - 3:15pm: Dance Competition Prize Distribution

3:30pm - 4:30pm: Hare Rama Hare Krishna
Bharathanatyam by students of Meenakshi Ganesan of CA
Music Composed by Sangeetha Kala Sagaram K.N. Shashikiran

Date: April 16, 2025 - April 27, 2025

Location: Various Venues in Cleveland, OH

Buy Tickets

Click Here For More Information