Interview with Sandhya Sridhar, Nashua, New Hampshire



Sandhya Sridhar is a teacher and performer of Carnatic music based in Nashua, New Hampshire. Growing up in Matunga, Bombay, she studied at the Shanmukhananda Sabha arts center and under the tutelage of Smt.Alamelu mani. In New Hampshire, she founded the Aradhana School, a studio devoted to preserving, propagating, and increasing awareness of Carnatic music. In addition to music lessons and interactive lecture-demonstrations, the studio also sponsors performances at community events. Sandhya has taught students who have performed in several premiere venues of the Greater New England area and have won many prestigious prizes. Sandhya has been a grantee of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program at the New Hampshire State Council of the Arts, and has been inducted into the Council’s Board. She also serves on the board of directors of MIT’s MITHAS, an organization that hosts Hindustani and Carnatic Classical music concerts in the Greater Boston area.
Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/23/2020.

Interview with Lezlie Webster, Concord, New Hampshire



Lezlie Webster is a Scottish Highland piper and dancer based in Concord, New Hampshire. A native of Ontario, Canada, she began her training in Ontario and Nova Scotia, and studied piping and Scottish highland dancing in Scotland. Lezlie has won many piping competitions in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., and is a graduate and examiner of the Institute of Piping. She is also an adjudicator for the Easter U.S. Pipe Band Association. Lezlie and her husband, renowned piper Gordon Webster, were co-founders of the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts in Manchester, NH, Lezlie and Gordon were invited to represent Scottish Highland piping and dance traditions for New Hampshire’s presentation at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and again for the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. Lezlie has been honored by the St. Andrew’s Society for her contributions to the Scottish Community.
Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/19/2020.