Anantha R. Krishnan (Anand) started his musical journey on the mridangam at very young age. The grandson and disciple of mridangam maestro, Shri. Palghat R. Raghu, Anand started learning the fundamentals of the mridangam under his uncle, Shri. R. Ramkumar and then began an official tutelage under his grandfather at the age of five. He performed his first concert at the age of seven. During this period, he received many awards from traditional organizations of Carnatic Music in India, including the Best Mridangist Prize from the Music Academy, Madras, a record five times in six years. Also, he was awarded the State of the Arts Award from the New Jersey government twice in 1997-1998 as part of the National Endowment of the Arts’ effort to promote cultural awareness in the U.S.A.

Anantha holds a BA in Western Music and Philosophy from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Electronic Music and Percussion from Mills College, California. During this time he studied Western percussion under William Winant. Specializing in contemporary 20th century percussion music. He is also a special interest student of tabla under Ustad Zakir Hussain for the past six years.