Deborshee Bhattacharjee - Vocal,
ITC SRA Scholar

Born on February 3, 1985, Deborshee Bhattacharjee received his initial training from his mother, Sme Reena Bhattacharjee. He was ten when he started learning under Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, and continued to train under him at ITC SRA, where he is now a scholar. A Masters degree holder in Commerce, Deborshee has received an abundance of Awards and has also been a prolific performance from the age of ten..

Joyeeta Sanyal - Sitar, ITC SRA Scholar

As a child, Joyeeta Sanyal was initiated into the art of sitar playing by Prof. Deepak Choudhury and afterwards learnt from Shri Kushal Das. She has also imbibed the art of the gayakee ang from Shri Kumar Roy. A recipient of the National Scholarship from Central Cultural Resource and Training Centre, New Delhi, her first major solo performance was in 1994, at the annual programme of the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata. She has also performed at several youth conferences and on television. In December 2005 she became a scholar of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, being trained by Pandit Manilal Nag. Recently she performed creditably at the Calcutta School of Music.

Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty

The genius of Ajoy Chakrabarty requires no introduction. This artiste extraordinary, is the recipient of laurels, both in academics and in the world of music. Initiated into music by his father Shri Ajit Chakrabarty and later trained under great teachers like Kanaidas Bairagi, Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh and Munawar Ali Khan, his list of firsts in monumental. To name but a few : he is the first recipient of the “Kumar Gandharva Award”, the most prestigious National award for the best musician of India under forty-five years; he is the first classical vocalist of India to have received the Presidents’s award for the best male playback singer in 1990; he is the first Fellow to have received a Gold Medal from the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata and also the first Indian classical vocalist who was invited to perform by the Government of Pakistan. He is the first Indian classical vocalist who was invited by the BBC for a concert to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of India’s independence.

Ajoy joined ITC-SRA in 1978 as its first scholar and later went on to become one of the youngest gurus of this academy, a post that he still holds.

Ajoy has been proving sedulously and with success that Indian classical music if understood and practiced properly can contribute to international amity and understanding. Though his innumerable albums and CDs published all over the world and his extensive musical tours, he has spanned the cultural gulf between India and the West, endearing him even to those listeners who do not understand the language of the lyrics..

Sandip Kumar Ray Chaudhuri- Tabla
Sandip Kumar Ray Chaudhuri hails from a family of musicians and was initiated into tabla by his father, late Abani Ray Chaudhuri. He received further guidance from his uncle, Shri Anil Ray Chaudhuri, Professor of tabla, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He has also learned from Shri Manik Pal, Shri Radhakanta Nandy and Shri Debnath Chakrabarty. A Sangit Prabhakar gold medalist, he is quite adept at accompanying both classical and commercial artistes and has played with stalwarts of both the worlds with equal ease. A 'B-High' graded artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, he is currently a staff musician at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy.

Indranil Bhaduri - Tabla
Born in 1973, Indranil Bhaduri began learning the tabla when he was 10, from late Guru Satyanarayan Saha of the Benaras gharana. For the last ten years he has been a disciple of Pandit Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay of the Farukhabad gharana.

A Graduate with Honours in Accountancy, he is a “B-High” graded artiste of All India Radio and has accompanied both vocalists and instrumentalists at numerous concerts in several cities in India as well as Muscat, Canada, USA and UK. 

Rupashree Bhattacharya-Harmonium
Born into a family of musicians, Rupashree Bhattacharya was initially tutored in vocal music by her father, Shri Durga Charan Bhattacharya. She later learnt from Shri Ashit Bandopadhyay, Smt. Shipra Bose and Shri Sanjoy Chakrabarty. In 1996 she became a scholar of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy under the tutelage of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. Noticing her innate talent in playing the harmonium, her guru gradually guided her through the intricacies and exacting standards of accompaniment.
Rupashree, a proficient vocalist herself, quickly imbibed his teaching and has been able to attain the perfection that Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty had instilled in her.

As an ITC SRA scholar, she received dhrupad and dhamar training from Pandit Falguni Mitra, Guru-Prefect, ITC SRA. She has matured into a sensitive and unobtrusive accompanist. A B-High graded artist of All India Radio, as well as a graded performer of ‘Shyama Sangeet’ and ‘Bhajan’, she has been a faculty member of ITC Sangeet Research Academy, since 2004.

Brajeswar Mukherjee - Tanpura
Born at Burdwan on March 11, 1984, Brajeswar Mukherjee was initiated by his parents and later learnt from Shri Hara Kumar Chatterjee and Shri Asit Roy. He was then accepted as a disciple by Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and continues to train under him at ITC-SRA, where he is a scholar since May 2009. In 2005 he came first in the B.A Examination in music from Calcutta University and received the “Dhananjay Bhattacharya Award”.

Since 2000 he has been teaching at Shrutinandan, the music school established by Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. Since 2003 he has accompanied his Guru on the harmonium or provided vocal support in concerts in different parts of India as well as USA, Canada, UK and Middle East. A B-High graded artist of All India Radio, he had earlier won the Govt. of India’s National Scholarship. In 2009 he stood 1st Class 2nd in the Masters degree in Music from Calcutta University.