About Arjun Ayyangar
Born in 1998, Arjun Ayyangar began his music studies in fall 2001 with Mr. Antonio Gandia (B.A., Berkley College of Music). Mr. Antonio Gandia recommended that Arjun study under Dr. Ray Landers, a world renowned educator in the Suzuki method. Arjun studied under Dr. Ray Landers for over a decade starting in 2002. Arjun also studied piano lessons with Miles Fusco ( B.S., M.S., The Juilliard School Fidelia Studios New York) and James MacInnes in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Arjun was among the very few and the youngest at age 4, selected to perform in a NBC's premiere prime time series show America's Most Talented Kid, after going through nationwide audition process. Arjun has been performing with the orchestra at International Music Festival, Ohio since 2003. He had master classes with Leon Bates (piano - 2005) and Cameron Carpenter (organ - 2010 ) at the festival. He has also had some Jazz Lessons with Rio Clemente in 2005. He received standing ovation initiated by the legendary opera diva, Licia Albanese, age 92, during a charity benefit concert in 2005.
Arjun performed in the famed Kimmel Center, PA and in The War Memorial Auditorium, NJ during a fundraiser for UNICEF sponsored by Steinway and Sons. As competition winner, the venues he performed at are: Merkin Hall, NYC; German Cultural Center, NYC; Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, NYC; Field Concert Hall at Curtis Institute of Music, Phildelphia; Dicapo Opera Theater, NYC, Bechstein hall, NYC; and Bosendorfer Hall, Austria. He appeared on PAX TV's America's Most Talented Kid and in Animal Planet's The Most Extreme: Tough Babies episode. He performed during halftime basketball games at Madison Square Gardens, NYC and at Continental Airlines Arena, NJ.
His harp performance won him a competition award from Music Fest (2010); Arjun won in 2009 an international piano composition competition from Golden Key of Vienna.
He was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not (Comic Strip 2008) and holds a certificate from Limca Book of Records (2008, 2009 and 2010) for playing national anthems from memory. Arjun can play anthems of ALL countries on the piano from memory. He has written piano music sheets for ALL anthems of the world.
Other instruments Arjun learned are: Organ from Dr. Ray Landers, Harp from Dr. John Sheridan, Veena from Dr. Gopal Kumar and Smt. Hemalatha Veeramani, Persian Santur and Tonbak from Maestro Ahmad Borhani and violin from Catherine Boyd.
His veena performance won him competition awards from Carnatic Music Association of North America (2008, 2010), Thyagaraja Aradhana Festival, Cleveland, Ohio (2011, 2012).
He has played santur publicly several times with Persian National Music Ensemble.
Arjun has volunteered his music at Atlanticare Regional Medical Center in Pomona, NJ as a part of the hospital's Creative Arts Healing Program and at Hospice of the Hills in Rapid City, South Dakota. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for Empower The Children - a USA registered charity organization that supports educational and food programs for slum-dwelling and disabled children in Calcutta, India and other parts of the world. Arjun has pledged to contribute US$2 to ETC (http://www.empower-children.org) for every subscriber to his youtube videos: http://www.youtube.com/ayyangar