Sridhar Chari has been associated with the Australian music scene for over two decades. He has a rich musical background imbibed through his mother and furthered by many years of musical training when he took up the art of Mridangam playing. Today, he is a leading percussion player for Indian Classical music in Australia and has been performing the Mridangam for the past three decades, winning international acclaim. Rich tonal quality and dynamic improvisation are characteristics of Sridhar’s artistry. He attributes his mridangam playing skills to the tutelage and the rich tradition imparted to him by his Gurus, the celebrated mridangam maestro, Dr. Umayalpuram Sivaraman and the artful teacher Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer.
In his conquest to gain deeper insights into music, he took up flute playing from Sri R. Thyagarajan, son of the renowned flute maestro, Dr. N. Ramani. This is a passion that has now become his other obsession over the last decade. Over the past few years, Sridhar has presented several flute recitals in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. He has been featured at the Annual Thyagaraja Utsavam in Melbourne for the past several years.
Apart from his own indulgence in music, Sridhar established the Laya Vidhya Centre in 1994, where he teaches the art of mridangam and flute playing to a number of dedicated students. In recognition of his services to the community, Sridhar was awarded the Victorian Multicultural Award of excellence in 2011.