Sarada Karthik, Founder and Artistic Director

A classical musician in traditional Indian attire, sitting cross-legged and playing a sitar against a dark background.

Ranjani School of Music in TX was founded by Sarada Karthik in 2023 to promote and preserve carnatic classical music in USA.

Born in a family of music connoisseurs, Sarada Karthik was initiated into Carnatic Music at the age of 4. She is an accomplished concert artist and a passionate musician with over 30 years of experience in performing Carnatic music. 

Trained under Smt.Raji Srinivasan (disciple of Vidwan Voleti Venkateshwarulu) till concert level, she has been a recipient of several prizes in youth competitions held in Mulund Fine Arts, Chembur Fine Arts, Shanmugananda Sabha, Tamil sangam Mumbai, IIT Kanpur etc. at various stages of her training. 

She is a disciple of legendary Sangeetha Kalanidhi Vidwan Neyveli Santhanagopalan. She has received advanced training sessions from legendary Sangeetha Kalanidhi Vidwan GJR Krishnan.

Gifted with a mellifluous voice, her traditional,” bhava-oriented” music and creativity has attracted rasikas in the US and India.  Her hard work, passion and dedication to the art form have received special mention from many senior artists in the Carnatic field and she has been privileged to share the stage with some. 

Her creativity and style of singing (“paatandharam”) have been favorably reviewed in a Tamil Magazine “Kungumam” and other media articles. She has also been featured in “Lekha”, and the prestigious “Sruti Magazine”. She has been actively contributing to all musical activities in the Dallas community for 26 years.  She is also a strong supporter of local arts organizations through regular attendance of their concerts since many years. She has also reviewed concerts online and for IFAA.

She has performed several concerts in India and USA. She has been regularly performing during Chennai “margazhi” December season since 2012 in esteemed sabhas. In India, she has performed in prestigious venues, such as Shanmugananda Hall in Mumbai, Mulund and Chembur Fine Arts Mumbai, Vani Mahal, Mylapore Fine Arts, Krishna Gana Sabha, Brahma Gana Sabha, Karthik Fine Arts, Hamsadhwani , IFAS etc. In USA, she has performed concerts in prestigious Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana and Dallas, Austin, Arkansas, Chicago, Phoenix, New Jersey, Bay Area for esteemed organizations. She was invited by “Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation” to curate a one of a kind collaboration with jazz musicians to perform a Carnatic concert.

She is the founder of “Ranjani School of Music” and has been teaching for the past 22 years. Her students have won top prizes in several local and inter-regional competitions including Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana. Her senior students perform regularly in festivals in Dallas, and in India too. Some are performing during the Chennai Margazhi festival. Many of her students regularly perform in Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana group productions every year. 

Her passion is in making students understand and master subtle nuances that breed higher involvement into the artform. 

She is also a rasika and encourages students to listen to good quality music to become better rasikas and hence dedicated to take the art form to people.

She has received the “DroneAcharya” award from Sangeet Samrat series.