He began his mridangam training at the age of 6 under the tutelage of  T.S. Nandhakumar in Mumbai and later learned from Dr. Venkat Natarajan in NJ for over 7 years. He continues to take advanced training in Mridangam and Kanjira from Prof. T.H. Subash Chandran. Akshay has accompanied several renowned artistes in the US as well as in India, and has toured with his guru Prof. T. H. Subash Chandran in a percussion ensemble kutcheri. Akshay has also been performing in concerts at the Cleveland Aradhana and during the December Music Season. He has performed during the last four December Seasons making his debut performance at the Music Academy during December 2007. Last year, Akshay gave a solo tri-percussional performance at the NJ State Theater featuring the mridangam, kanjira, and konnokol. Akshay Anantapadmanabhan is a junior in Electrical Engineering at Cooper Union, NY. He also teaches mridangam.