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Bhavani

Western Voice

Bhavani Anantha Subramanian is a singer, performer and a highly enthusiastic vocal coach. Born in Thanjavur, she began to sing at the age of 4 with her father - who was her first guru. She then went on to pursue her training in Indian classical music for ten years in Tiruchirappalli. Her love and passion for the opera brought her to Chennai, where she trained in western classical music under the tutelage of Mr. Gilles Denizot. As part of A.R. Rahman’s opera collective 'Sempre Libera', she has performed at the NH7 Weekender music festival in Pune, and has since been a part of numerous plays produced by Creashakthi and The Madras Players. She is also an active recording artist and lends her voice for various film and commercial recordings. She currently teaches Western Vocals at the KM college of Music and Technology.

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Padmavathy

Piano

Padmavathy Divakaran is presently a piano faculty at KM. She graduated with her BA (Music) degree with a distinction (first class honours) from Middlesex University, London (August, 2019) and her Diploma in Music with a merit from KM (August, 2017). During her course of study, she was awarded tuition scholarships each year along with awards like the Best Overall Achievement award (2014-2015) and the Best Western Performer award (2015-2017). Her major performance experiences include playing Walter Piston's Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra with London Firebird Orchestra in London (March, 2019) and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major with Sunshine String Orchestra in Chennai (May, 2018). Apart from performing and teaching piano, Padmavathy also makes electronic music. She has composed and produced music for a couple of animation films, dance films and advertisements and was also one of the members of AR  Rahman's Roli Hollywood Tribute Team that gave performances in London, Mumbai and Delhi (2016-2017) globally launching the electronic instrument Seaboard Rise.

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Karthik

Composition

Karthik Manickavasakam is an independent-musician/music educator hailing from Chennai. He has a Music Diploma from KM Music Conservatory, specializing in Western Contemporary Music Composition under Dr. Jimmy Bunch. He has experience of working, workshopping with the German National Youth Orchestra and the Dr. A R Rahman’s Sunshine Orchestra. He was part of No Parking tour 2018, a 3 weeks tour to the Central state of France performing music from the album No Parking, an Indo-French collaboration project which featured songs composed by him. He has transcribed music and recorded background vocals for various projects by Dr. A R Rahman. He also directs the KM based acapella group Harmony Bunch. 

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Asawari

Hindustani Voice

Asawari Waikar started her training under her father the Late Dattatreya Kelkar, and the journey continues with the blessing of her other Gurus Late Vasantrao Gurav, the Late Smt Rekha Deshpande, Smt. Meera Savoor and Pt. Vyasmurti Katti. She completed Sangeet Visharad from the Akhil Barateey Gandharv Mahvidyalaya. During 1996 she won first prize in Hindustani Classical and Light Music category at University level youth festival, and has also won many other prestigious competitions in Classical, Semi Classical and Light Music.

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Rajesh

Tabla

Rajesh Dhavale was trained in the art of tabla playing by his grandfather, Veerana Kamkar of Mehboob Khan Sahib Gharana, the recipient of the much coveted Sangeet Ratna Award from the State Government of Karnataka. At the age of 13, Rajesh was himself awarded a CCRT National Scholarship to further his training in classical percussion and he went on to study under Ustad Hidaayat Khan Sahib from Jahangir Khan Sahib Gharana and to receive the ‘Vidvat’ in Tabla from the Government of Karnataka. Rajesh has accompanied many renowned artistes on the tabla, including Smt. Lakshmi Shankar on vocals; the late Shri Vishveshwaran on the santoor, Shri Janardhan on the sitar, Sri M.S Gopalakrishnan on the violin and Sri T.V Gopala Krishnan on vocals. He is also a Bhigh grade artiste at All India Radio. Recently, Rajesh presented a programme of music at the Hamsadhwani, which he had conceived and directed himself. It was called ‘Tal Bol and Laya’ and featured a solo performance and a jugalbandi with shehnai and sitar. His website can be found at www.dhavaletabla.in. Over the last 15 years, Rajesh has trained many students in tabla. At KMMC, he teaches Hindustani percussion to students on the Preparatory, Foundation and Diploma programmes.

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Prem

Audio Engineering

After completing his Diploma in Audio Engineering at the renowned S.A.E. Technology College in Chennai, back in 2001, Premkumar went on to build a successful career as a professional audio technician, live production sound specialist and post-production engineer, as well as teaching all aspects of audio technology and gaining experience in academic administration. Most recently he was Head of Department for Audio Engineering at S.A.E. Technology College for over eight years. Premkumar has also worked on a number of projects and films in the South Indian film and music industries. As a music director, his output includes the films Ee Bhoomi Aa Bhanu (Kannada, 2013), Neeye En Kathali (2010), and Saahtanai (2005).

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Tajmeel

Piano

Tajmeel Sherif is a 2013 piano graduate of Trinity College London. Trained under his mentor Mr. Abdul Sattar, who is one of the senior piano teachers in Chennai. Tajmeel is versatile in a wide variety of genres including: western classical & modern film music. He is also a freelance composer, singer and an active youtuber. Tajmeel has a gift and love for teaching, passing on his passion for music to his students in a way that motivates them, whether young or old, and tailoring lessons to meet their needs and goals. Tajmeel has taught piano lessons for over 10 years to both children and adults. 

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Abhijith

Hindustani Voice

Hailing from Kerala, Abhijith has explored a significant width and depth of music education at KM conservatory. Accomplishing training and performances in Hindustani singing, Western singing, and Piano, he has recorded and performed for a variety of music projects in the film, and independent music spaces in Chennai. With an interdisciplinary understanding of singing technique and music practice, he is passionate about guiding and enabling aspiring singers, primarily based on Hindustani vocal practice tradition. 

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Sreedev

Guitar

Sree Dev graduated from Middlesex University, London with Bachelor’s in Music Performance and Composition. Prior to Middlesex, he was trained by faculties at KM Music Conservatory, Chennai, where he worked with a wide range of styles from Baroque Classical Guitar repertoire with Sunshine Orchestra in Chennai to Progressive metal, specifically the works of ‘Dream Theatre’, with numerous performances in India and UK. He also works in Tamil movie and Theatre industry in various roles such as recording artist, live performer, and assistant music director.

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Tavan

Piano

Tavan Shah was born on 16th March 1998. He started to learn Indian classical vocals and harmonium at the age of 5, under the tutelage of Shreemati Ramilaben Ichchhapurya, in Vadodara. He started formal piano training at Ahmedabad with Mr. Saurin Upadhyay, at the age of 13 and cleared grades 7 and 8 with distinctions in the following 2 years. He then had lessons with Mrs. Blossom Mendonca in Mumbai. He appeared for Trinity College London’s Advanced Certificate exam in 2015 and received the Blossom Mendonca prize for securing the highest marks for the year 2015. In August 2016, he participated in the Chetham’s International Summer School for Pianists, Manchester and worked with Peter Donohoe, Vladimir Tropp, Murray McLachlan, and Peter Lawson. He won the first prize in The Pianist Competition which was organised by Casio in Chennai in November 2019. He received a full scholarship at the KM Music conservatory in 2018 for his proficiency in piano playing and is studying piano with Dr. Adam J. Greig.

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Santhosh

Piano

N.D. Santhosh has completed his foundation course from KM Music Conservatory in 2012, and he is currently teaching piano in KM in the preparatory department. He has assisted Mr. A.R.Rahman as a recording engineer in few films including Kochadaiyan, Highway etc., and also was a part of his Live Concerts’ post-production team. He was selected as one of the composers for “Qutub e Kirpa”, an ensemble of musicians consisting of KM alumni, and has scored music for a Hollywood film “Lake of Fire” along with 5 other composers. His song “We Party All Night” and the score of the film were shortlisted for the Oscars in 2018 under the Best Original Song and Best Original Score categories respectively. 

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Arshith

Piano

Born in Kerala, Arshith P. Kurian was brought up and educated in  north India. Growing in diverse culture, he found interest in music. He started learning keyboard from the age of 8. While in school, he took part in various district and national level music competitions and came out victorious. Before completing his bachelors in Commerce from Aligarh Muslim University, he obtained Prabhakar (bachelors) in Hindustani Vocals and a certificate in performance in Tabla from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad . He then pursued further studies in music from KM Music Conservatory, Chennai. There, in the Foundation Course, he majored in Vocals under the guidance of Prof. Eric Föster. In the subsequent two years, he specialised in piano under the guidance of Dr. Adam Greig. Apart from  piano, he has shown interest in different art forms like theatre performance. As a multi-instrumentalist, he is skilled with keyboard, guitar, tabla and drums.

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Divya

Western Voice

Divya Iyer is a vocalist from Mumbai who has undergone training in Carnatic, Hindustani and Western vocals. She has pursued her Diploma in western classical music from KM. She played the lead role (Rosalinda) in the opera production of Die Fliedermaus by Johann Strauss which was staged at KM Music Conservatory in 2017. She has won a silver medal for western vocals in national level youth festival which was conducted by AIU (Association of Indian universities). She has participated in the masterclasses conducted by Patricia Rozario and Benjamin Appl. She has been a part of the Stop-Gaps choir and was also a part of the Indian-fusion band Folkswagon. she has also been part of various collaborations and bands like the East wind Quartet, Quadrophobia, Dotmp3 and indieXchange 2018 and has performed in various venues and music festivals like The Madras Jazz festival , The Catamaran beach festival, Fête De La Musique and so on. In 2019 Divya was featured as one of AR's Super 8 in AR Rahman's Facebook Original series. 

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Shameer

Piano

Shameer is a pianist, composer and a programmer who has been playing the piano for over 20 years and has learnt under the reputed teacher, Mr. Abdul Sattar with further training in piano at KM under Mr. Brian Clarke and Mr. Aron Tringali. He has recorded for and performed with Dr. A.R. Rahman for his documentary “Harmony with A.R.Rahman”; conducted a workshop for the finalists of YouTube show “ARRived”, and is also featured in an episode of the renowned web series, “Creative Indians”. He has been a part of the pop/opera ensemble Sempre Libera, performing at NH7 Weekender (Pune) and also been a part of the world’s foremost Seaboard ensemble performing at the ROLI headquarters and Founders Forum in London, Google India in Delhi and Apple in Mumbai. He has also composed for various short films and promo videos and has directed music for many plays produced by popular theatre production companies like Crea-Shakthi and The Madras Players.

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Mira

Hindustani Voice

Mira is trained in Hindustani classical vocal and belongs to the Patiala-Kasur Gharana of the immortal Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahib. Initially taught by her grandfather Sunil Sengupta later she learned with Anirban Chatterjee, Brajeswar Mukherjee and Kaushiki Chakraborty under the music school Shrutinandan before ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata. Since November 2013, Mira is being brought up in the traditional Guru-Shishya Parampara lifestyle and taalim by Shantanu Bhattacharyya, the renowned classical vocalist and Guru. Mira is a Graduate with a First Class Honours in Hindustani Vocal Music from the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. Mira is a much appreciated performer and her many recitals for the music institution Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani have won her memorable accolades from the topmost Gurus Late Shankar Ghosh, Vijay Kumar Kichlu, Sanjukta Ghosh, Ajoy Chakrabarty, Tejendranarayan Majumdar and Samar Saha; as also regularly from the Press.

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Humble

Hindustani Voice

Humble Shine is a Carnatic and Hindustani vocal performer, ghazal singer and voice trainer who has been active since 1997. He is a PhD Research Scholar on the topic of ‘Experimental Vocological Training’ at the Sree Sankaracharya University, Kalady, where he also completed his MPhil in the ‘Need of Vocological Training’, he also has an MA and BA in Indian Music from the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. He was selected for the Rotary Club Award and Parat Narayana Menon Endowment for securing the highest mark in MA Music 2004. Also he has founded a music foundation at Kottayam for the promotion of Hindustani classical music named ‘Sursagar Foundation’.

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Dinakaran

Western Violin

Mr. A. Sigamani Dinakaran was educated in an Anglo-Indian High School and graduated from The Loyola College of Chennai. His passion towards music started at the age of five when he took up the violin. He learnt both Western and Carnatic music and passed Grade 8 from Trinity College London and a Diploma in Carnatic music from the Tamil Nadu Government Music College, as a disciple of Azhalagiri Samy and M.S. Ananthraman. Much of Dinarkaran’s career has been spent working as a studio violinest for A. R. Rahman, since the days of the composer’s very first film, Roja. He has also performed with the Madras Chamber Orchestra under the baton of the french conductor, Bernard Wacheux and he regular plays in concerts with fusion groups across Chennai and elsewhere in India. He has worked with many celebrated musicians during his career. Dinakaran has also been teaching the violin for many years, helping to nurture young talent in Chennai. At KMMC, Dinakaran teaches violin on the Preparatory, Foundation and Diploma programmes.

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Mahen

Guitar

Mahen Joshi is a fingerstyle guitarist and enthusiastic teacher. Born in Aurangabad, he learned under Pandit Gopalji Mishra. His passion about Guitar brought him to Chennai where he trained in western classical under Matt Bacon and Rudra Dixit. 
Having experience of performing as an acoustic solo guitarist. At KM he teaches classical, acoustic and contemporary styles of guitar performance. 

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Jaganjot

Western Voice

Jaganjot is a singer from Jammu. He did his 12th from K.C Public school, and has studied Western and Hindustani classical music from KM Music Conservatory. He is also learning Carnatic music under Dr. Padmasini in Chennai. Jaganjot started singing at the age of 12, performing in local events. In 2013, Jaganjot sang for a local movie named Damini The Victim. After 12th he then went to KM Music Conservatory to study Diploma in Western Classical Music and Hindustani Classical music where he was awarded best Hindustani singer of the year 2016. Whilst being there Jaganjot performed with Dr. A.R. Rahman in the inauguration of ISL (Indian super league).and MTV Unplugged. Jaganjot has given his voice for background scores of many projects with A.R Rahman such as Harmony on Amazon prime, Marvel Anthem, Hockey World Cup song, 99 songs, Shikara and others. He has also sung a movie called Unwanted which came out in 2019 and recently he sang a song for a youtube series called Petronas Land of Light Bulbs.

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Deepan

Drums

Mr Deepan, a drum kit faculty has formally completed Grade 8 of the Trinity College Level of Certification and has been involved in teaching privately for over a period of 8 years. He has also been associated with KM Music Conservatory over a period of 3 years imparting formal education to its students in the genres of funk, freestyle, double pedal and the like. His drive to gain more knowledge has also compelled him to formally pursue ATCL Diploma in drum kit with the hope of keeping his motto, “continuous improvement”, alive.

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Nidhi

Western Voice

Nidhi Saraogi is a trained singer and performer with experience in music management. At the age of 8, she discovered her flair for singing and has been performing ever since. From gospel singing in El Fé, a Chennai-based choir, to professional recordings with renowned composers such as Dr. A.R Rahman, D. Imman and Hip Hop Tamizah, Nidhi has a diverse musical experience.

Nidhi is a trained soprano from KM Music Conservatory and went on to graduate with a BA in Music (Hons) from Middlesex University, London. While at the Conservatory, she was a singer and a manager for an a cappella band, Dot MP3. She was a core member of the KM Student Body, a Music Business representative of KMMC for Indie100 India 2019 as well as IndieEarth Xchange 2019.

Apart from music, Nidhi is a trained make-up artist and enjoys helping people look their best for a performance or a shoot.

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Shashwat

Western Voice

Shashwat has received four years of formal training in Opera performance at KM Conservatory. His life as a musician began very early when he started taking piano lessons at a young age of 5 years but then his interest gradually shifted towards vocals and he started taking Hindustani vocal lessons. Alongside voice, he has also acquired formal training in Tabla performance which has contributed towards him developing a strong sense of rhythm over the years. He's adept at playing multiple instruments like piano, guitar, tabla, bass, drums. Having assisted the faculty members in teaching the Summer-course voice students at KM Conservatory, he has experience taking individual voice lessons as well as subjects like History, Theory and Musicianship.

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Vedang

Western Voice

Vedang Parmar is a singer, performer and educator based in Chennai. He is an Alumni of KM Music Conservatory graduated with a merit. He has knowledge of varied singing styles including Western, Hindustani, Musical Theatre, Pop and Film Music. He studied Hindustani voice for over 4 years and Tabla for over 3 years from Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Vidyalaya, Mumbai. Being in KM, he majored in Western Voice under the guidance of Dr. Keisha Cook, Natalya Benjamin and Phillipa Thomas. He was a part of the Musical Theatre Ensemble for 3 years and played many roles including the lead role of “Lucentio” in the musical “Kiss Me Kate” and “American Sailor” in an act from the musical “On the Town” directed by Eric Föster. 

He has been a former member of the KM student body and has actively taken part in extra-curricular events. Vedang represented KMMC at an IPL event as the team captain and played cricket against the Delhi Capitals team in 2019. 

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Tazim

Piano

Tazim Sheikh is a pianist, composer and a music producer born and brought up in Kolkata. He started learning keyboard at the age of 5 under Jayanta Adak .He finished his Trinity 8th grade in keyboard by 2017 along with his bachelors in French and diploma in English. The following year he joined KM music conservatory and finished his Advanced Diploma in piano performance by 2020 .He was awarded scholarship in KM during his course of study and won in various festivals, competitions and in Major Reality Shows like "Ekam Satt World League". He works as a session artist, live performer, music educator and an indie music composer/ producer for himself as well as for commercials and films. He has worked with big names like A. R. Rahman as a session artist for " Harmony with A. R. ". He specialises in impressionist piano music, progressive rock and Indian-jazz fusion. He is a passionate music educator who is keen to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of musicians irrespective of their age and experience in music, with a Holistic and malleable approach to meet his student's needs.

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Biju

Piano

Music has always been in my family. I grew up watching my grandfather play accordion. As a child, my parents had an intuition that I might be good at music and so I was put into music training in piano, guitar and violin at a very young age. Most of my musical influence is from church hymnal, from where I later started teaching choir groups as a choir master and organist. 

When I joined KM Music Conservatory, Chennai, my initial idea was doing guitar major. But, when I found an amazing teacher Dr Adam Greig, I changed my decision and learnt western classical piano for 3 years under him. The best part was being a part of AR Rahman’s ROLI seaboard ensemble and performing in Apple and Google events. Also, playing seaboard with Sunshine Orchestra, and being a member of experimental music ensemble named ‘HFR’ under my music teacher Dr Jimmy Bunch. I have graduated in BA (Hons) Popular music at Middlesex university. 

Also, did music for ‘The Lying Detective’ a crime detective short movie, Young Barnet Charity Foundation Based in London, Lagos Foodscape 2050 sponsored by University of the West of London, University of Lagos and some major food manufacturing companies based in London and Lagos. Currently, I am a working as a piano teacher in KM College of Music & Technology.

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