2025 Events

Kala Darpan is beginning its Spring 2025 with an extremely talented Hindustani vocal artist Smt. Shashwati Mandal !!!

Shashwati Mandal upholds the finest aspects of the Gwalior gharana, the oldest surviving style of khayal singing. She was born into a family of successful musicians - her grandfather Balabhau Umdekar 'Kundalguru' was a Scindias court musician in pre-Independence times. She studied under the demanding tutelage of her mother Kamal Mandal, Balasaheb Poonchwale, and has also delved into the Gwalior gharana’s ancestry by studying Dhrupad with the Gundecha Brothers.

Her style is also influenced by detailed study of other traditions including ghazal, thumri, Carnatic pallavi, and the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. She is considered to be one of the finest exponents of tappa - a semi-classical style derived from Punjabi camel-riders with fast, distinctively angular melodies and lyrics which typically depict the emotional outbursts of a lover.

She will be accompanied by Shri. Nishad Kanhere on Tabla.

Sunday February 9, 2025 at 4 PM

Venue: TBD

India Dance Festival

This is the most awaited dance festival in Austin dance students. The program invite talented Indian classical and folk dance students and enthusiasts from the community.

March 1, 2025

Venue: Carver Museum Austin

Kala Darpan is thrilled to bring an unique concert titled Sur Sadhika presented by the eminent artist of current generation Vidushi Devaki Pandit !! Devaki ji need to introduction. She is among the foremost vocalists of the country. She is a disciple of Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar and Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki. Her gayaki is thus influenced by her legendary gurus and their unique aesthetic approach to music.  

Sur Sadhika is an unique concert that pay a tribute to the legendary women singers from India. The program is based on all popular compositions, songs, ghazals, Thumri etc. by the greatest women from Indian Music field such as Smt. Kishori Amonkar, Smt. Lata Mangeshkar, Begum Akhtar, Smt. Shobha Gurtu, Abida Parveen, Madhurani, and Farida Khanum. Austin music lovers should not miss this event.

She will be accompanied by Shri. Harshad Kanetkar on Tabla and Shri. Abhinay Ravande on Harmonium.

Saturday March29, 2025 at 5 PM

Venue: Covenant United Methodist Church, 4410 Duval Rd #6808, Austin, TX-78727 

Keeping our promise to the next generation artist, here is a great concert which brings three young talents in both individual and duet forms of presentations.
Megha Rawoot is a Mumbai based sitar player. Currently she is a disciple of Sitar Maestro Purbayan Chatterjee. She has taken the training in sitar from Mrs. Deepti Mishra and Pt. Madan Shankar Mishra also. She has done her Bachelor’s degree in Hindustani music (sitar) from Miranda house, Delhi University and completed Masters in performing arts (sitar). She is an awardee of National scholarship for junior category in the field of sitar by CCRT, ministry of culture and an awardee of Scholarship for young artist in the same field by Ministry of culture. She has performed in many national and state competitions in India. She was runner up in 19th national youth festival “Bandhav” and represented Delhi, held in Assam. She has been an artist in All India Radio. She has performed in 140th Harivallabh sangeet samaroh. She has performed National and International stages.

Ninad Daithankar is a promising Santoor player of his generation. Having born into a family of musicians, Ninad was fascinated by the sound of Santoor from early childhood. At the age of 12, Ninad started receiving his formal training in Santoor from his father & Guru Dr. Dhananjay Daithankar ( Disciple of Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma) and he has been learning Santoor for past 12 years. Ninad has also completed M.A. (Santoor) from Bharati Vidyapeeth's performing centre with distinction. He has performed extensively in various prestigious Music festivals. 

​He is a recipient of many prestigious awards which include Citi-NCPA scholarship, Ajay Bakshi Smruti Puraskar, Indumati Kale Yuva Vadyavadak puraskar.

Both will be accompanied on young talented Tabla by Pravan Gurav. He started his Tabla lessons from his father and then got tutelage of great Tabla maestros such as Pandit Nana Mulye and Shri. Suresh Samant. Currently, Pranav is honing his skills and learning nuances of the Tabla art from one of the leading Tabla player Dr. Aneesh Pradhan, an exponent of Farrukhabad Gharana. 

Saturday May 5, 2025 at 5 PM

Venue: Covenant United Methodist Church, 4410 Duval Rd #6808, Austin, TX-78727