McHenry County Youth Orchestras

Russ Vinick, Music Director, Intermezzo & Symphony Conductor
Janet Kvam-Holub, Prelude Conductor

Cathy Ames, Orchestra Operations Manager

Rohan Pops Concert

The McHenry County Youth Orchestras proudly presents South Indian percussion soloist, Rohan Krishnamurthy as featured in their Pops Concert “Rhythm Time” at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake on Sunday, 24 February 2008 at 4:00 pm.  For ticket information, please call the Raue Box Office at 815-356-9212.

Rohan Krishnamurthy

Acclaimed an “international performer and promoter” of the South Indian pitched drum, the mridangam, by USA Today, Rohan Krishnamurthy is today considered a young musical ambassador in the Indian music scene. Having initially received mridangam training with Damodaran Srinivasan over a telephonic setup in the U.S. and continuing advanced training from the mridangam maestro Guruvayur Dorai in India, Rohan has performed in hundreds of concerts in North America and India since the age of nine with leading Indian musicians.   He has been invited to perform for ten consecutive years during the celebrated December Music Season in Chennai, India and has spearheaded numerous cross-musical ventures with well-known symphony orchestras, jazz ensembles, and world percussionists. Most recently, he presented a weeklong performance of “Echoes,” a novel concerto for mridangam and string orchestra, with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, an event that attracted nearly 13,000 schoolchildren from across Michigan. “Echoes” has since been programmed by several professional orchestras in the U.S. Rohan has presented numerous Indian percussion summer camps, workshops, academic lecture-demonstrations, and ambassadorial events throughout the U.S. and India, and is the recipient of several awards, including USA Today’s “All-College Academic Second Team,” “Young Artist of India” by Bharat Kalachar (Chennai, India), Thomas Siwe Scholarship from the Percussive Arts Society, and “Prodigy in Performing Arts” by the Indo-American Center in New York City. An innovator, Rohan has redesigned the ancient mridangam to make it more user-friendly and durable. His work resulted in a publication in the premier music journal, Percussive Notes, last year. This past summer, Rohan conducted acoustical research on his new design at Coe

College, Iowa, and was invited to present his work at the Acoustical Society of America’s

annual conference in New Orleans, where his presentation received the Best Student Paper award.  Rohan’s multifaceted accomplishments earned him a one-on-one meeting and performance for the President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, at the presidential office and estate in New Delhi. The President commented, “You an expert in your field and are doing wonderful things to bridge cultures through music. You have a very bright future!”

Rohan is currently a fourth-year Heyl Foundation Scholar at Kalamazoo College double majoring in music and chemistry.