THE YOUTH FESTIVAL PROJECT Since 1997 the Nateschwara Theater has staged and hosted innumerable events of Indian dance and music. For the first time in Switzerland Vijaya Rao is initiating a cultural festival for the youth routed in the two cultures, Indian and Swiss. With the “Youth Festival” project, Vijaya Rao and the Nateschwara Theater would like to encourage youth of Indian origin in Switzerland, and provide a platform for talented Girls and Boys who learn both Indian and Western music and dance arts under professional guidance in order to be able to present their artistic skills on stage.
On July 1, 2023, 16:30 hrs girls and boys of ages 11 to 21 will present Western music as well as classical Indian music and dance at the Nateschwara Theater in Baden.
The talented youth engaged in learning and practicing Indian Classical Arts today are the future artists and bearers of our culture. In this country, where they are surrounded by Swiss culture, it is their right and good to deal with Western music and to feel at home with it. It is that which enriches our culture. Enjoy the variety of music and dance arts practiced in Switzerland. – Welcome to this first Youth Festival of Cultures in Switzerland! –
Anand Bansal Rao (Mridangam & Guitar/Pop and Vocal)
Anand is 14 years old and attends the Limmattal Kantonsschule. He began to learn the guitar at the age of 7 and started only a little later to compose melodies and write lyrics for them. He is the lead singer in a school band initiated by his guitar teacher Mr. Daniel Notter. In 2019, Anand won a singing competition to take part in a workshop in Los Angeles, which he attended in 2022 and was coached by vocal coaches who have worked with the likes of Béyonce and Ladya Gaga. At the age of 4 he also began taking mridangam lessons with his grandfather Anton Tönz. At the age of 9 he switched to the well-known Mridangam teacher Shri Chidambaram Narayanan.
Arushi is 21 years old and studies at ETH Zürich. She began taking piano lessons at the age of eight. Under her teacher Mr. Stephan Langenbach she took part in many competitions and achieved first place at the Aargau Music Competition and a place among the top three at the Swiss Youth Music Competition. 2014 Arushi began studying under Vidushi Smt Vijaya Rao Bharata Natyam and will complete her basic training in September this year with her Ranga Pravesha.
Nandini Iyer Belawat (Kathak & Clarinet/Jazz)
Nandini was born in Switzerland in 2010 and now attends the canton school. Her father is the well-known Indian percussionist Chidambaram Narayanan. Nandini has been learning kathak for more than 5 years, initially under Poonam Panchwagh and currently under Anvita Pandey. She has also been learning Klarinette with Valentin Vogt at the Musikschule Zug for 3 years.
Atharv Koppole (Carnatic Vocal & Keyboard/Pop)
Atharv is 12 years old and grew up in the canton of Basel Land. He has been learning Carnatic vocal music from Uma Kumar in Aesch since 2015. He has participated in multiple Carnatic music festivals that were organized by Mrs. Kumar since 2017.Since 2017 he has also been learning western music on the keyboard from Christian Gutfleisch at the music school in Binningen-Bottmingen (MSBiBo). Atharv is a member of the youth band ‘Thumb’ in Bottmingen.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
