Instructor Bio

Native of San Jose, California, Gayatri Venkatesan's interest in music began at a very young age.  Starting with piano lessons at age five, her love and studies in music only continued to grow as she got older.  She began her study of voice in Indian Classical music at the age of eight under Smt. Jayashree Varadarajan, and later at the age of 15, took her first voice lesson with renowned coloratura soprano, Patrycja Poluchowicz.  Since then, she has studied and coached under Ron Valentino, Dr. Erin McComber, Susan Gundunas, and Dr. Julia Nielsen.

​

Operatic highlights include performances of Eurydice in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, and Leila in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles.  She has also been seen in the Silicon Valley Opera Chorus in productions of Puccini's Madama Butterfly.  In addition to her operatic performances, Ms. Venkatesan has found solid ground as the soprano soloist at Union Church of Cupertino, under the direction of Dr. Ross Hoksbergen, and additionally, has been featured in the chorus of Andrea Bocelli's 2012 and 2018 concerts at the SAP center in San Jose.  She was also in the top 15 in the Classical Singer competition in Boston, MA in 2018.  Ms. Venkatesan's latest endeavors include performances with Lamplighters Musical theater in their production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers, and performances with San Francisco Renaissance Voices, where she lent her voice as one of the soprano soloists. She also presented a full-length concert at The 2018 Sunset Music & Arts festival in San Francisco, CA.

 

In addition to working as a Financial Analyst, Ms. Venkatesan runs a busy voice studio in the SF Bay Area.  Her students have enjoyed lead roles in several community theater productions, and in addition, have received gold medals at the state and national level in the Royal Conservatory of Music annual examinations.  Ms. Venkatesan is also active in the Royal Conservatory of Music and NATS communities.

 

Outside of her performance and teaching schedule, Ms. Venkatesan enjoys traveling, watching shows on Netflix, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends.

Gayatri Venkatesan