She is quite an extraordinary 18-year-old. Not only because she is so accomplished for her age–– Aishwarya Raghunath, the Carnatic vocalist/student is making music critics and sabhas sit up and take notice of her talents. But also because she has an attitude to match her art. Sample this: her idea of “having a blast or freaking out is attending a classical-music concert”.
She terms an outstation concert by her “a fun holiday”. She rarely watches TV and her drive to college is spent listening to Carnatic music of past masters. She never misses an opportunity to attend a kutcheri.
 She’s performed on prestigious platforms like the Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai; in Bangalore at Gayana Samaja, for Ramakrishan Bhajana Sabha and Nada Imban; at Chennai’s Music Academy, Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Krishna Gana Sabha and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer’s Golden Jubilee Trust; besides Rasika Ranjana Sabha at Trichy. The Bangalore Rotarians recognised her as one of the City’s ‘rising young talents’. A live-concert CD of hers is soon to be released.
Aishwarya is one of the young flagbearers of the Semmangudi ‘baani’ or tradition––her early and currents gurus Seethalakshmi Venkateshan and P S  Narayanaswamy respectively, belong to the  famed Semmangudi school. She is also being coached in padams and javalis from Vegavahini of the Dhanammal school which is a renowned repository of these delicate Karnatik compositions.
Like most Indian classical musicians,  Aishwarya also appreciates western classical music. “My father taught me to appreciate other forms of music despite himself belonging to the Srirangam Thatachariar family,” she explains. Aishwarya’s parents are computer professionals.
She is a first-year engineering student at PESIT.  She began learning at age three thanks to her grandparents. Her mother Maya Vidhya is sometimes concerned about how her daughter thinks, eats, breathes music. But Aishwarya laughs it off saying she is thoroughly enjoying herself and is eager to learn more.