Vivek Chellappa, 23, began learning mridangam at the age of six from Sri R. Kannan, a disciple of Sri. Malayappa Iyer who hails from the style of legendary Sri Palani Subramania Pillai. He has also taken lessons from Sri. Anoor Dattatreya Sharama of Bangalore, Sri Srinath Bala of Jayamangala and Kalaimamani Guruvayur Sri Dorai.    

Vivek has won prizes in the percussion competition at the Cleveland Aradhana, including first place in the Senior mridangam category in 2005. Since his arangetram in 2004 with Smt M.S. Sheela, Vivek has been regularly performing in mridangam and kanjira, including concerts since 2004 in Nadatarangini and and concerts the last five years at the Cleveland Aradhana.