Music in the Park Series - Bansuri Concert

Prasad Bhandarkar - Bansuri

Prasad Bhandarkar started learning Hindustani music when he was 8 years old. He was initiated into classical music by his mother. Prasad got his initial training on Harmonium and Hindustani vocal music. During his engineering college years, Prasad wanted to learn a solo performing instrument and happened to attend a concert by the renowned maestro Padma Vibhushan Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia in Gunidaas Sammelan in Mumbai. The simplicity of the Bansuri flute and Hariji's playing style really appealed to him. Soon he started learning Bansuri from Shri Anantrao Patwardhan of Mumbai. In 1988, he was fortunate to become student of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia. Prasad derives strong influence from Pandit Chaurasia’s emotional and soulful style of playing Bansuri. Musician by passion and engineer by profession, Prasad is now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has been performing both in solo Bansuri classical concerts and in light music concerts as accompanist.

Tanmay Bichu - Tabla

Tanmay Bichu began learning tabla from the age of 6, under Shri Manohar Pimpalaskar. He has been taking advanced training under Pt. Ramdas Palsule for more than 10 years and is now learning under Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music. He has also received guidance from eminent tabla maestros like Pt. Arup Chattopadhyay and Ustaad Zakir Hussain. He is an active performer in various Indian Classical and World Music concerts in India and the US. He has performed several Tabla solos in India and the US and is a sought after accompanist for all formats of Indian Classical Music - vocal, instrumental and dance. Tanmay holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and works as a research engineer at Apple in the Bay Area.

Host or Publisher Swara Lahari