Rimpa Siva is a child prodigy actually. I first saw her when she was 13 or 14 and what a talent she turned out to be. Must be 19 or 20 now. Anuradha of course has been playing for quite some years - she even has a group called Stree Shakti, an all-women ensemble which is fantastic.
Talking of female musicians in male dominated field, there is Seema Shirodkar who plays the harmonium, and accompanies many vocalists. Again superb

Showcasing the talents of Ms. Meeta Pandit of the Gwalior Gharana

This is a wonderful thread. I am very keen to know more about upcoming, young artists. Among sitarists, there is Purbayan Chatterjee who is quite good. Only problem is that when he comes here to play in Singapore, he tends to dumb down his performance to make it more palatable to foreign audiences, like playing too fast or trying different gimmicks. I am sure when he plays in Kolkata, he would be playing more spiritually.

Very good point, Punjini. Purbayan is a fantastic player - along with Niladri, one of the stars of the younger generation of sitarists (for other and obvious reasons, Anoushka was a star even before she began doing concerts, but to be fair to her, she has improved tremendously in the past two or three years).
By and large, I am noticing that the 'dumbing down' is being done by many artistes, even when they play to audiences in India. Except for some vocalists, who know their audience largely comprises the purists, this tendency of playing to the gallery has increased in the recent past. The main reason probably is that many people come to watch a classical show for the glamour and social value... per se, understanding of nuances is low among the audience-goers.
But why only the younger generation? I have seen some of the maestros do it if they know for sure that the crowd consists of more casual listerners than aficionados. I remember an instance when the great Vilayat Khansaab began a concert with the light raag Piloo, and only played 'dhuns' in the latter half. A handful of purists were completely dejected, but then, it was a corporate show where 75 per cent of the audience members were invitees of the title sponsor. I'm sure Khansaab was directed to play something light, and he must have played light raags not to please the sponsor, but as an indication of his irritation to such directives.
Similarly, I've heard Amjad Ali Khan begin concerts with the 'gats' - normally, one begins with a composition comprising the slow alaap, the medium-paced jod and the fast jhala (all this without tabla accompaniment), before going into the 'gats' (which are played to tabla accompaniment). Both these concerts were in Mumbai.
At the same time, I know musicians like Shivkumar Sharma who don't compromise on the structure of the concert. The alaap has to be full, the right raag has to be played at the right time, and the Pahadi and Piloo 'dhuns' have to be played at the end, irrespective of the audience profile and the 'farmaishes'. So essentially, it's a matter of what the musician chooses to do.
In western classical music, such a situation doesn't arise because the musicians have to play to the note. If Mozart or Beethoven had written a composition one particular way, it would be sacrilege to change even a note, even if the composition is 200 years old. Though this restricts the creativity and improvisational abilities of musicians, it retains the purity and emotion of the music, as it was originally created. But in Indian classical music, moreso in north Indian classical music, one has the freedom to improvise, and can thus take liberties. How many liberties one can take is, of course, something that the artiste alone can control.

With all apologies to his fans, I think Ust Amjad Ali Khan always tries to please the masses not the classes. Right you are about Pt Shiv Kr Sharma, who still takes his time to develop a raga. I was very impressed with Ashwini Bhide too. She sang extremely well and went to the depths of the ragas she sang. But of course she is not really a newcomer.

Ashwini is fantastic... Her mother and guru Manik Bhide learnt from Kishori Amonkar, and hence she's imbibed nuances of the latter's style, which is largely based on the Jaipur-Atruali gharana, and yet incorporates elements of other vocal schools, in what has been dubbed as an 'avant garde' approach to singing.
On Saturday, I was at a tribute concert held in memory of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Though it was a full-day affair, I could attend only the evening session, and witness only five performers, of the 19 or 20 who performed through the day. The concert featured the cream of the younger generation.
Three of the performers I heard were amazing vocalists - Sawani Shende, Jaiteerth Mevundi and of course Rashid Khan, whom the organiser described as 'nava peedhi ke sabse buzurg kalakar'. Sawani was note-perfect. There wasn't a second in her performance, which comprised a Puriya Dhanashri khayal and Mishra Maru Bihag dadra, when her voice showed any kind of strain or wavering. It was like getting the most perfect recording in a single take. Jaiteerth sang a range of taans and gamaks which seemed to have been monitored by a computer. So effortless, so energetic, so enchanting. It's not for nothing that this 30-plus gentleman from Hubli in north Karnataka is being hailed as a Bhimsen in the making. He received a standing ovation from each and everyone in the audience, with many crying out for an encore, which he couldn't unfortunately do because of time constraints. Finally, Rashid Khan was ever-so-graceful and pure on Megh Malhar.
The other two performers were Niladri Kumar, who literally romanced the sitar, and Carnatic flautist Shashank, whose perormance was nothing short of genius. This one concert was enough to showcase the wealth of talent present in the younger generation. But to come back to the earlier discussion, one only hopes they don't get swayed away.

Thanks for all these names! Well, so Jaiteerth Mevundi is modelling himself on Pt Bhimsen Joshi?
About Rashid Khan, I think he has his good days and bad days. When I first heard his voice some 17 years ago, I was blown away. The voice-quality was amazing; I never thought anyone could sound like Ust Amir Khan (he is still my most favourite among all classical vocalists) but Rashid Khan had it in him. Many years later, when I heard him, it seemed to me as if something was stuck in his throat - I think his paan chewing habit is ruining his voice(though some believe it adds to the voice!). Incidentally, Rashid Khan is not all that young - must be in his fifties now?

Rashid is 43... he looks older. I love him, Ajoy Chakraborty and Ulhas Kashalkar from that generation of male vocalists.
I don't think Jaiteerth is modelling himself after Bhimsen. But he's from the Kirana gharana and the styles and raag-development techniques are obviously imbibed from and inspired by the great maestro. Plus, he sings some devotional pieces that were popularised by Bhimsenji - Teerth Vithal, Bhagyda Lakshmi Baarama and Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada. So people are bound to say he's styling himself on Bhimsenji.
But what he lacks in personality and charisma (something which Bhimsenji had in abundance) and sheer quality of timbre (which isn't a patch on Bhimsen, Jasraj, Amir Khan saab and even Rashid), he makes up with his brilliant technique and flawless execution. Check him out when you do get the chance. I've seen him a few times during the past four or five years and he's a completely different performer now, supremely confident and effortless. I was stunned to see the response to his performance the other night. As for me, I literally had goose-pimples and gaped open-mouthed when I heard certain phrases