Karthikeyan Ardhanareeswaran
Chief Executive Officer
Karthik is a sophomore at Yale University and has been training in Carnatic (South Indian classical) music since the age of 6. He has provided vocal support to his guru Shri O.S. Thyagarajan in over 45 concerts and has given over 20 solo concerts. Karthik has a passion for promoting Carnatic music in the US especially amongst youngsters and thus his interest in the Raga society. Prior to YRS Karthik was the President of Swaralaya Music in Morisville, NC and Co-founder/Vice President of the North Carolina Youth Classical Arts for Charity. He has also served as an associate board member on the Indian Classical Music and Dance Society of North Carolina. Karthik is a prospective Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry major.
Isra Syed
Chief Financial Officer
Isra Syed is a sophomore in Morse College and is a new member of the Yale Raga Society this year. She is extremely interested in Hindustani classical music, and has been studying vocal music for the past six year, in the Benarasi style of singing. She is also a sitarist, who has been learning under the performer Shaiq Chishty, for the past five years.
Alex Shiarella
Chief Technology Officer
Alexander Shiarella is a junior in Pierson College and is an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major. Born and raised in Hawaii, he developed a longstanding appreciation for various forms of traditional/folk music and dance. In middle school, he became especially interested in Indian classical music and continues to explore and share this interest through the Yale Raga Society.
Vijay Narayan
Co-director, Student Outreach
Vijay is a sophomore in Timothy Dwight College majoring in Mathematics and Physics and has been passionate about Carnatic Music since the age of 6, currently undergoing advanced training from Sri. Ashvin Bhogendra. Vijay gives vocal concerts regularly in the Tri-state Area (NJ, PA, NY), as well as during the Chennai Music festival, awarded Bala Kala Nipuna in Chennai 2009, and Concert Competition winner at Cleveland 2010. Founder member of Yuva Sangeetha Lahiri, a NJ Youth Carnatic group.
