19th ANNUAL SARASWATI CLASSICAL ARTS FESTIVAL

VARSHINI KRISHNASWAMY

Rooted in the cultural heritage of Chennai, she began her Bharatanatyam journey at the age of 4 years. With 18 years of rigorous training, she completed her Arangetram in 2021. Her performances span India’s Margazhi festivals to U.S. venues like Gibney Studio on Broadway.

She co-founded Jersey Adavu, a Bharatanatyam collective in Jersey City.
Continuing under the guidance of Smt. Dr. Jyolsana Menon, she blends tradition with creative expression. Varshini works at the NYSE.

AMULYA PILLA

She is a Kuchipudi dancer practicing under the guidance of Smt. Padma Sonti Garu for over two decades.

A true lover of the craft, she also briefly trained under Smt. Bala Tripura Sundari Garu in Hyderabad.

Amongst many other passionate pursuits, Amulya is also trained in Carnatic singing, a singer-songwriter performing in Brooklyn, and a freelance event manager.

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OM GUHA

A senior at Purdue University is a student of Hindustani classical music and currently learns from his guru, Shri Hemant Kulkarni. Om can perform semi-classical compositions, bhajans, light music, and more in several languages such as Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, and Marathi.

He has won various competitions on the national and international levels, such as 3rd at International Indian Icon Competition at Chicago, Top 4 in Zee Bangla Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in NYC’s Madison Square Garden, and Top 7 in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs North America in Mumbai’s Mahalakshmi Studios.

Om has also studied sitar under Pandit Supratik Sengupta Ji and Pandit Indrajit Banerjee and has used his musical talents for community service through Youth Artists for Local Impact and Sanskriti of NJ virtual concert series and has raised $4000 in funds for issues such as COVID relief and free eye surgeries.