Aastha Goswami
Aastha Goswami, began her musical training at the age of ten, first from late Sri Sita Saran Singh Chauhan and later from Dr S S Awasthi, disciple of Ustad Amir Khan. She has completed the Sangeet Visharad, Sangeet Nipun and her masters in vocal music, receiving a 1st division in each of her exams. Aastha has been the recipient of several scholarships and state and national level awards and has also been conferred the title of 'Surmani' by Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai in 2004.

An All India Radio approved artiste, Aastha was at ITC-SRA at first as a general student and then as a scholar between 2004 and 2006, under Pandit Arun Bhaduri. She also received guidance from Padma Bhushan Vidushi Girija Devi in Thumri and Dadra, while she was here and is presently continuing her training under her. Since leaving SRA, she has been involved with the Sri Caitanya Prema Samsthana, at Vrindavan.

Aastha is a recipient of the Cultural Scholarship to Young Artists, 2001-2003 from the government of India and has received to date 29 awards in various vocal music competitions across the country, including state level and national competitions.

An empanelled artist of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, she has been performing since 1995 and her numerous performances include concerts for ICCR, U.P. Sangeet Natak Academy, Kal-ke-Kalakar (Mumbai), Purab Ang Gayakee Utsav (Varanasi and Delhi) and various concerts for Spicmacay and ITC-SRA. Aastha has also composed, sung and recorded padavalis for various projects.

Abhijit Ratnakar Apastambh
Born in 1986, Abhijit Ratnakar Apastambh was initiated into music by his father Ratnakar Apastambh and after learning at his hometown Nanded (Maharashtra) and Mumbai, he joined the Academy in September 2008 as a scholar under Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty.

He is a Sangeet Alankar and a first class first Master's degree holder from Nagpur University, an achievement which won hm several gold medals. Other achievements include the National Child Award for Achievement in music (1997), National Scholarship (2004-05), the gold medal in the classical music competition at the 13th National Youth Festival at Chennai in 2008 and standing 2nd in the All India Radio light music competition (2005). Abhijit is a B-Grade artiste of AIR and has several performances to his credit. He was a scholar here till November 2011.

	Raga : Puriya Dhanashri

Abir Hossain
Abir Hossain was born into a musical family of Burdwan, West Bengal. His father Gulam Emam was his first mentor in music, both his parents being students of the revered Pandit D.T.Joshi. At the age of 12 he came under the tutelage of sarod maestro Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta, whose residence soon became his second home. He later became a scholar of ITC-SRA and continued to receive talim from his Guru. Considered to be well on his way to becoming a torch bearer of the Seni-Shajahanpur Gharana, Abir has been the recipient of many laurels: he stood second in the Talent Search Contest conducted by the Ravi Kichlu Foundation in 1995, won the National Scholarship of Government of India in 1997 and has also won the gold medal at the ‘Sangeet Prabhakar’ examination. He has performed at several venues at Kolkata, Bangalore, Patna (Sangeet Natak Akademi), Bilaspur, Vishakhapatnam, Chandigarh as well as ITC Mini Sangeet Sammelan, Raipur (2005), Ballygunge Maitreyee Music Circle (2001, 2003 & 2006), ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Delhi (2007) and ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata (2009). In July 2009, he became a musician-scholar of the Academy and as of June 2012 has joined the ranks of the Musician Tutors of ITC SRA.

Adarsh Saxena
Adarsh began learning music at the age of six from Shri Mahesh Chandra Sharma. He has since graduated with music and has gone on to win national level competitions, a Ministry of Human Resource Development scholarship and awards. He has performed for organizations like SPICMACAY, Sankalp, Kalabati Sangam Kala group, and others in different parts of India. He has also performed for All India Radio. Adarsh was a scholar here between October 2005 and November 2011 under the tutelage of Pandit Arun Bhaduri.

	Raga : Bhimpalasi

Aditya Sharma
Born in 1986, Aditya Sharma was initiated into vocal music by his grandfather and was further groomed by his parents. A Sangeet Visharad, he won the Harballabh Sangeet Pratiyogita (both Junior and Senior, vocal) in 1999. He also won the All India Inter Varsity National Youth Festival (2005) and the All India Radio Competition (2005) and was subsequently graded as an artist. He has performed at the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi Programme (Yuva Pratibha) and the Chandigarh Sangeet Sammelan. Aditya was a scholar at ITC SRA under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar between June 2007 and September 2011.

Ajoy Chakrabarty
Born in Kolkata, Ajoy Chakrabarty showed extraordinary promise in music from a very young age. He was initially groomed by his father Shri Ajit Chakrabarty who shaped his early style in North Indian vocal music and later by Shri Kanai Das Bairagi. Ajoy also honed his musical skills under Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh. Talented both musically as well as academically, Ajoy got his Bachelor’s as well as Master’s degrees in music from Rabindra Bharati University, consistently topping his class. He was in his teens when he became a disciple of Ustad Munawar Ali Khan, the son of the great Patiala Maestro, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

Ajoy has been with ITC-SRA right from its inception, joining in 1978 as its first scholar. He went on to become one of the youngest gurus of the Academy, a post that he still holds and is a member of the Experts Committee. Ajoy’s list of awards and honours is monumental. To name but a few, he is the first Fellow to have received a Gold Medal from ITC-SRA, he was the first recipient of the Kumar Gandharva Award for the ' Best Musician of India under 45 ' , the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 2000 and the Padma Shri Award in 2011 were conferred upon him for his outstanding contribution to Hindustani Classical Music.

Ajoy has been proving sedulously and with success that Indian classical music if understood and practiced properly can contribute to international amity and understanding. Through 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. A top grade Artiste of All India Radio, he has also authored several books.

Anirban Banerjee
Born in 1989, Anirban Banerjee was born in Kolkata in a musical family. With the support of his parents he was initiated into music and he started learning Sarod from Sri Prattyush Banerjee, disciple of eminent sarod maestro Padmabhushan Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta of the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana. After that he started taking intensive talim from Sri Siddhartha Roy Chowdhury, son and disciple of Sangeetacharya late Anil Roy Chowdhury for 6 years with the best care and affection.

At present Anirban is studying B.A Hons. in Sarod at Rabindra Bharati University. He has stood 1st in many competitions and has also performed at several venues. Anirban was a scholar here from March 2012, for several months, training under Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta.

Anal Chatterjee
Born on January 1, 1984, Anal Chatterjee was initially guided by his parents and Sri Biswanath Chowdhury and continued his training under Sri Ajit Chakraborty, Smt Chandana Chakraborty and Sri Shantanu Bhattacharya respectively. Since 2000, he has been a student of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and was a scholar under him at ITC SRA between December 2008 and May 2009. A graduate in English Literature with a Masters in Vocal Music, Anal is a B-High grade artiste in All India Radio. He has received a National Scholarship, has stood first in several well-known music competitions and has performed creditably at several reputed venues.

Ankush N Nayak
Born into a family of musicians and educationists, music is Ankush’s lifeblood. He is the proud son of educationists Sri Narendra L Nayak and Smt Ushaprabhu N Nayak. At the age of four he was initiated into Carnatic music. But it was at the age of nine that Ankush had his tryst with the Sitar: a spell binding concert by Ustad Rafique Khan, a reputed Khandani Sitarist made Ankush see the sitarist in himself. He then began his tutelage under Ustad Rafique Khan, in the Guru-Shishya Parampara, under whom Ankush nurtured and blossomed into what he is today. His performance the very next year for All India Radio broadcast on International Children’s Broadcasting Day is a testimonial to his passion for the Sitar and the meteoric growth of the artist in him. So this child prodigy started his public performance at the age of 10. His approach to rhythm is largely intuitive, fresh and spontaneous which casts a spell on his audience. His quest for layakari and laya brought him to Mridangam and Ghatam maestro Vidwan Trichy K R Kumar.

A ‘B’ graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Ankush has performed at various music festivals across India and in USA. Ankush secured the First prize in National Level Music competition conducted by All India Radio in the category of Hindustani Instrumental (Sitar) for the year 2009-10.

Ankush was a Junior Scholar at ITC SRA under Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta between January 2011 and June 2012.

Ananth Vaidyanathan
Previously trained in Carnatic music, Ananth Vaidyanathan became a scholar of ITC-SRA in 1980. He was initially guided by Pandit A Kanan and Pandit Nivruttibua Sarnaik and then Pandit Sunil Bose of the Agra gharana. From 1983 onwards, he headed ITC- SRA’s Academic Research department and was an instrumental part of the planning and execution of the growth of the Academy. In the meanwhile, he continued to train under Pandit Sunil Bose with additional guidance from Pandit K G Ginde and Vidushi Girija Devi for another decade. Post ITC-SRA, he steered the Indian Classical music business at HMV (now Saregama) from 1995-1999.

In the last twenty-five years years, Ananth has worked intensively in voice engineering and culture techniques. Triggered off by a Ford Foundation funded period of learning in Europe under Prof. Peter Calatin in 1990, he trained in the esoteric methods of the late Swiss voice wizard, Frederich Husler, and has been applying this knowledge to the requirements of a variety of Indian music systems.

Ananth today continues to teach and research into voice and is a leading voice expert in India, specializing in voice engineering and vocal music training. He propagates the interests of voice culture in India with a passion that is almost like an activist, aspiring to create a new level of excellence in our music forms and performance practices.

He has guided many Hindustani and Carnatic musicians with their voice problems and perceptions. He also provides voice training to contestants on various Indian TV shows.

Aniruddha Bhattacharya
Born in 1971, Aniruddha was initiated into music by his mother Smt. Gouri Bhattacharya, one of the very first disciples of Pandit A.Kanan and an outstanding vocalist herself. He later joined ITC SRA as a general student in 1990 and went on to become a scholar between 1994 and 2001, training under Pandit A. Kanan. He is currently a Musician Tutor of ITC SRA.

Gifted with a mellifluous and emotive voice, Aniruddha is held in high esteem by his listeners. The Sur Singer Sansad of Mumbai awarded him the coveted “Surmani” title in June 1998. An “A” grade AIR artiste, Aniruddha has performed at various prestigious music conferences in India and Abroad. These include the Dover Lane Music Conference, West Bengal State Music Academy, Komal Nishad at Baroda and the BMC at Bhubaneshwar. Aniruddha has successfully toured U.K, USA and France and has performed at The Darbar Festival, London in 2009 and at the Festival International de Musique Universitaire (FIMU) in Belfort, France. This graduate from Calcutta University with zoology honours had his first CD release in 2009.

Anjana Nath
Born in 1968 Anjana Nath started singing from her early childhood. Her first formal teacher was Smt. Meera Banerjee, and she later continued her talim under Late Lalit Mohan Sanyal. Anjana joined ITC-SRA as a scholar in 1989 and remained here for 10 years as a scholar under Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty and strove relentlessly to master her art under her guru’s strict vigilance.

An ‘A’ graded artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Anjana has topped several Khayal and Thumri Competitions, including those organized by The Dover Lane Music Conference, The W.B State music Academy and the Prayag Sangeet Samity, Allahabad. She was also a National Talent Search scholarship holder. She has received a fellowship for Music Therapy from the Government of India in 2006 and has received awards for thumri from Bharatiya Sanskriti Parishad and the VSK Baithak, Delhi (Girija Devi Puraskar).

Anjana has been performing continuously in many music festivals in India and abroad. These include Prayag Sangeet Samity Music Conference, Samraat Sangeet Academy Music Conference in Goa, Harivallabh Music Festival, Jalandhar, Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre festival in Mumbai , ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelan in Kolkata, Sangeet Natak Akademi concerts and many more. In addition to performing at lntermational Music Festivals in England, Spain, Germany & Switzerland, she has also held workshops in these countries that received appreciation. She has also composed some Bengali songs in the light classical genre and has had five CDs of her performances of Khayal, Thumri and Bhajan released by companies in India and abroad.

Apart from her performances, Anjana is also a teacher of Indian classical music and is an examiner of the Rabindra Bharati University.
 

	Raga : Desh

Arnab Chatterjee
Initiated into music at the early age of five by his father Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee and then by Pandit A. Kanan, Arnab evolved into a young performer very early in his life, participating in numerous competitions and conferences in and around Kolkata. Arnab was an ITC-SRA scholar between 1998 and 2003, training at first under Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan of the Kirana gharana and subsequently under Pandit A Kanan. A recipient of the National Talent Scholarship, Arnab stood 1st in his Sangeet Visharad, winning a Gold Medal. He has also stood 1st at the All India Vocal Music Competition organised by Pandit Omkarnath Thakur Sangeet Mandal at Bharuch in 2002. Arnab has been honoured with the title of Surmani by the Sursringar Sansad of Mumbai and was also adjudged Best Young Vocalist of 2004-2005 by Bharatiya Sanskriti Sansad.

Arnab is empanelled with the Indian Council For Cultural Relations as a teacher of classical music. As an “A” Grade performer of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Kolkata, Arnab broadcasts regularly. He has been also selected as an examiner of Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. Arnab is currently on an ICCR deputation at Dhaka, Bangladesh for three years, as music trainer-cum-performer at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, High Commission of India.

His numerous performances include those for Indo-Occidental Symbiosis and the Dover Lane Music Conference at Kolkata, Saptak Music Festival at Ahmedabad, Lucknow Mahotsav, Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar Music Festival at Patna, and many more prestigious concerts at Dhaka.
 

	Raga : Purya Kalyan

Arun Bhaduri
Born in Murshidabad, Arun Bhaduri was initially tutored by Mohammed A. Daud and later by Mohammed Sagiruddin Khan. His talent won him a place at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy as a musician scholar in 1978, where he received training from Ustad Ishtiaq Hussain Khan of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana. Encouraged by Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh who taught him both classical and light classical music, he became aware of the nuances in lyrics. In his pursuit of musical excellence, he has been greatly influenced by Ustad Amir Khan and imbibed the Ustad's aesthetic qualities. Arun Bhaduri has combined all these styles to create one of his own. An acclaimed composer of Bengali songs and bhajans, he is a top grade radio and television artist, and has performed at innumerable concerts in India and abroad. He has to his credit a number of cassettes and CDs including some on music lessons released by the West Bengal State Music Academy. Arun Bhaduri has been a Guru at ITC Sangeet Research Academy since 1994.

Arshad Ali Khan
Arshad Ali, the grandson of the legendary sarangi maestro late Padmashree Ustad Shakoor Khan, joined ITC-SRA in 1988, at the age of four as a child prodigy. He became a scholar here at the age of six. Born in the family of the principal Kirana Gharana musicians, he has been receiving extensive taleem from his maternal uncles, ITC SRA Guru, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan and Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan.

As a child, he became one of the most celebrated “Little Ustads” of our country. In the year 1993, at the age of nine, he was described as “the biggest sensation of Sawai Gandharva Sammelan” following his performance on a special invitation from Bharat-Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi on the occasion of his 75th birthday celebrations. Winner of the Jadu Bhatta Puraskar in 2002, the Bharatiya Sanskriti Samsad Best Vocalist Award in 2010 and the ‘Best Young Talent of the Year’ by Rasa and Melting Pot Productions in 2011, Arshad has performed in many prestigious festivals in India and abroad. These include Bhatkhande Sangeet Sammelan, Lucknow, Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan, Jalandhar Sangeet Natak Akademy’s ‘Sangit Pratibha’ at Patna, Gharana Sammelan, Mumbai and Sawai Gandharva, Pune. He has also performed at numerous ITC Sangeet Sammelans across the country. His international tours taking him to countries all over Europe and the Middle East have been outstanding successes. Recently, he has performed at the Theatre de la Ville in Paris, the Trophen Theatre in Amsterdam, the Indo-Persian Festival of Music at Marseille, the Mawazine Festival in Morocco and many more.

A solo album of his, Murchhana was released in Bangladesh in 2002, and he has had several CD releases in India since by reputed labels such as HMV Saregama and Orion Entertainment He has also recorded with the internationally reputed Violin Brothers, Dev Shankar Roy and Jyoti Shankar Roy. In July 2009, he became a musician-scholar of the Academy and as of June 2012, Arshad, leaving his scholarship days behind him, has become a Musician Tutor of ITC SRA.
 

	Raga : Bhupal Todi

Ashim Kumar Dey
Ashim initially trained under his father Sudhir Chandra Dey and subsequently under Basudev Roy. Both his gurus were students of Kukhendu Goswami, a renowned classical musician. Ashim has been associated with ITC SRA first as a general class student under Mashkoor Ali Khan and from mid 2005 till 2008, as a scholar under the coveted tutelage of Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan. He has won prizes in several competitions, including 3rd position in the Trailokya Sangeet Parishad competition. He has also given several public performances. Ashim is currently a teacher of classical music.

Bakul Chatterjee
Bakul Chatterjee had her initial training in music from Pandit A Kanan and Smt Malabika Kanan as well as from Smt Hirabai Barodekar for a short while. In 1979 she joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy as a disciple of Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan. She also received guidance from Pandit K G Ginde and Vidushi Girija Devi. An “A” grade artist of All India Radio, Bakul regularly features in various well-known musical conferences all over India, performing classical and light classical music. She has also performed overseas especially in the U.S.A and Bangladesh and has held musical workshops at Paschim Banga Rajya Sangeet Academy as a classical trainer. An examiner of Rabindra Bharati University and Bangiya Sangeet Parishad, she is one of the judges of the Audition and Competition Board of All India Radio, Kolkata.

Chandra Chakraborty
Chandra started singing at the age of 3. Her first teacher was her mother Smt Manju Chakraborty. By the age of 12, she had completed Sangeet Prabhakar and Sangeet Visharad in music and Kathak dance and started performing regularly at All India Radio and Doordarshan. Soon after, she joined ITC Sangeet Research Academy, as a general student, receiving her musical tutelage from Pandit A Kanan. She later became a full time scholar, training under Malabika Kanan, from 1987. Under the able guidence of her gurus, Chandra has given Khayal and Thumri a touch of her vibrant personality and has created a style distinctly her own.

After leaving the Academy in 1991 to get married, Chandra was selected by ICCR and moved to Johannesburg as the teacher of Indian music at the Indian Consulate. Chandra started performing all over Africa which including major cities like Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, the Sun City Superbowl, and even remote villages at Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Later on, Chandra joined the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa as a Lecturer of Music in History and Society. She is the founder of three music schools in Johannesburg where students are still continuing to learn under some of Chandra's advanced students. Under Chandra's guidance, a group of 30 African students performed Indian Classical Music in the presence of Dr. Nelson Mandela.

She moved to the U.K in 2000 and immediately created a sensation with her exceptionally melodious voice and stage personality. She has represented the Indian Consulate of London in Ireland, Sweden and Denmark. Presently Chandra is performing all over UK and Europe under the banner of well-known organizers. In addition to her regular performance, teaching and music workshops, Chandra works full time as the Manager of one of the London's busiest libraries. Chandra has several albums on thumri and devotional music to her credit and has recently sung the playback for a British Film, Father's Footsteps

Dalia Rahut
Dalia Rahut was initially trained in Hindustani classical music by Pandit A. Kanan. She was one of the first scholars of ITC SRA, joining in 1978. Training under Vidushi Girija Devi from 1978 to 1992, she is a true representative of the Banaras Gharana, excelling in thumri, dadra, tappa, kajri, holi, chaiti, jhula, bhajan and other semi-classical forms. Dalia has also completed her Master’s Degree in Bengali literature.

Post SRA, she has devoted her life to the promotion of light classical music through teaching, workshops and vocal recitals in India and abroad. As a public performer, she has performed at several conferences in India like the ITC SRA Annual Music conference in Delhi, Gharana sammelan in Mumbai, Tansen Samaroh in Gwalior, the Dover Lane Music Conference in Kolkata, Annual Music conferences at Baroda, Indore, Jodhpur, Tirupati, Lucknow, Patna and many others. She has conducted workshops on light classical music under the aegis of Paschim Banga Rajya Sangeet Academy, Kolkata and is an empanelled judge of the Academy. She is an artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, with cassette and CD releases to her credit. Presently she heads the Indian Music Section of Calcutta School of Music and is an empanelled teacher on Gyan Vani FM (under IGNOU).

Dinkar Panshikar
Born in 1936, Mumbai, Pandit Dinkar Panshikar comes from an illustrious family highly accomplished in the performing and literary arts. Panshikar had his early lessons in music from the late Dattatreya Kunte in Patan, Gujarat. He later moved to Mumbai and received advanced and rigorous instruction from Vasantrao Kulkarni and Suresh Haldankar. But it was Panshikar’s final guru, Pandit Nivruttibua Sarnaik of the Jaipur Gharana who made a lasting impress on his gayaki. Panshikar spent many years with his guru and also accompanied him to Kolkata where he had the good fortune to continue his learning from him for a straight period of 4 years a scholar at ITC-SRA from 1979.

A top grade artiste of All India Radio, Panshikar is regarded as one of the finest exponents of the Jaipur gharana and has performed in major cultural venues in India and overseas. He was awarded the ITC Musician of the year 2009-2010 for his Ada-Chautaal compositions in various complex ragas. He is presently enjoying teaching at the Goa Kala Academy as its Head of Department of Classical Music and has several commercial releases to his credit.

Dola Dasgupta
Initially trained by Suchitra Saha, Dola started out as a General Class student of ITC-SRA. After she became a scholar in 2001, she became shishya to guru Biresh Roy, a veteran of the Rampur gayaki. She was training under Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, of the Kirana gharana before she left the Academy in 2004.

A Sangeet Visharad from Pracheen Kala Kendra (Chandigarh), Dola received a National Scholarship from the government of India in 2005 and went on to achieve a ‘B-High’ grading from All India Radio. She has performed in several programmes in Delhi, Calcutta, Siliguri, Rajasthan, Mathura-Vrindaban & Banaras. She has also performed on Tara TV.

Durba Bhattacharyya
Imbibing music from her parents, her mother Tapati Banerjee being a vocalist, Durba Bhattacharyya was nurtured in the basics of Hindustani vocal music at a very early age by Ustad Mazhar Ali Khan of Patiala gharana. She joined ITC-SRA in 1987, aged 12, receiving tutelage from Ajoy Chakrabarty, first as a general class student and later as a scholar between 1992 and 1996. Durba also took specialised lessons from Vidushi Meera Banerjee, the veteran musician who was a shagird of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Since her marriage in ’97, she has been learning from Shantanu Bhattacharyya, her Gurubhai-turned-husband, who was also a former scholar here.

She has performed at several cities in India including the Amir Khusro Music Conference in Chennai while her international concerts include performances at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore, Sangeetaanjali in Fremont, Bay Area, Humber College, University of Toronto and several other concert tours in UK, France, Canada, USA, Singapore and Bangladesh between 1997 and 2007. She has cassette & CD releases of bhajans to her credit. Durba currently divides her time between teaching raga music at the Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, in Kolkata , training online and performing in concerts.
 

	Raga : Bhairav

Ghulam Akbar Khan
Ghulam Akbar Khan hails from the Rampur Sahaswan lineage. Son of Ustad Ghulam Baqur Khan, he had his complete training under Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan, his father-in-law. He joined the Academy in 1978, where he continued his training under Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan. A versatile performer, his renditions have always been in the typical Rampur-Sahaswan style. Apart from his essential forte of khayal and tarana, his renditions of the lyrical forms including thumri, ghazal and bhajan have been well appreciated.

Ghulam Niyaz Khan
Ghulam Niyaz Khan, son of Ghulam Akbar Khan and grandson of late Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan, was born at the Academy. Fondly known as Khurram, his musical talent was recognized at the tender age of two and a half. Trained by his grandfather who was then a guru of ITC SRA, he was a scholar between April 1993 and August 1994 and at the age of 12 was astounding audiences at ITC Sangeet Sammelans around the country.

Girish Chatterjee
Initiated by his father Tarakeshwar Chatterjee, who was a classical musician in his own right, and his mother, Dipali, Girish Chatterjee became a scholar at ITC-SRA from 1982 and trained for 6 years under Pandit A. Kanan. He was also deeply influenced by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.

He settled in Mumbai after leaving ITC-SRA and went on to compose and sing playback for the Mumbai film industry and for T-Series Music Company. A thumri, “Mora Saiyan Bedardi” that he has written, composed and sung for the Hindi feature film Mirch, has been nominated for the National Filmfare Awards 2011.

Girish regularly performs worldwide and has thousands of students under his guidance throughout the world. He is also a regular artiste on All India Radio and Doordarshan programmes. He has won several awards including the Sangeet ‘’SURMANI’’Award and has classical, ghazal and devotional cassette and CD releases to his credit.
 

	Raga : Kalavati

Gopa Kanjilal
Gopa Kanjilal was initiated into classical music by her grandfather Late Smarajit Kanjilal. She was a research scholar at ITC SRA between 1978 and 1980. During her research on classical music, she was under the able guidance of Ishtiaque Hussain Khan of Rampur Gharana and Latafat Hussain Khan of Agra-Atrauli Gharana.

After leaving the Academy, she made a name for herself in light music. She has been engaged in a host of musical activities, including performances and teaching. She is a Principal cum Music Teacher at the Anandamath Sangeetayan, Nabapally, Barasat, teaching classical vocal music and Nazrul Geeti to students of different age groups.

Numerous awards and honours have come her way. She stood 1st (Gold Medal) in Sangeet Praveen (M. Mus) from Prayag Sangeet Samity, Allahabad in 1972 and the All India Classical Music Competition, organized by Prayag Sangeet Samity, Allahabad in 1972. She topped the All India Radio Music Competition in 1973 in the “khayal” category and was awarded the ‘Silver Veena’ from the Hon’ble President of India. She also received a National Scholarship from the Govt. of India from 1973 to 1975, the ‘Sur Mani’ title from Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai and several others.

She has given many performances all over India, some of her major concerts being Sur Singar’s Kal Ke Kalakar Sangeet Sammelan, Bombay, in 1975, Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Tarun Kalakar Sangeet Sammelan, New Delhi in 1976, the Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan, Bombay, in 1975, the Hindustani Classical Sangeet Sammelan, Chennai organized by S. G. S. Sabha in 1977, the All India Classical Music Conference, Bangalore in 1977, the Banga Sanskriti Sammelan, Kolkata in 1978, ITC SRA’s Music Soiree at Raj Bhawan, Kolkata, in 1978, ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Allahabad in 1979, and concerts organized by Sangeet Kala Sangam, Bhopal, Bhatkhande Lalitkala Sangeet Samity, Raipur and All India Radio between 1979 and 1981.

Gourab Chatterjee
Gourab Chatterjee was introduced to Hindustani vocal music at the age of five by his mother. After her demise, he began to receive training from Jainul Abedin, a renowned vocalist of the Agra tradition. He went on to become a General Class student at the ITC SRA from 1999 and then a scholar, under the tutelage of Arun Bhaduri from 2003. Apart from being a promising vocalist, Gourab is also an accomplished accompanist on the harmonium. Gourab completed his training in March 2006.

Post SRA, Gourab has been teaching Hindustani Classical music, giving performances and providing harmonium accompaniment at various programmes within the country and abroad with celebrated musicians. Major concerts have been at Mumbai & Jodhpur Palace with Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Durgapur Youth Festival with Pandit Kumar Bose and in Germany with Kaushiki Desikan. Gourab has also recently visited Europe on a concert tour with Subhankar Banerjee & Kaushiki.

Hem Raj Chandel
Initiated into music at an early age by his mother, Hem Raj ventured into Hindustani Classical Music only in his late teens, training under Dr Ganga Ram Sharma and Dr Neelam Paul of the Delhi and Agra gharanas respectively. At ITC-SRA, he trained under Abdul Rashid Khan of the Gwalior gharana between 2001 and 2004, both as general class student and scholar. Hem Raj holds a Ph.D in music from Punjab University Chandigarh and was awarded a junior and senior research Fellowship (2004-09) from U.G.C New Delhi. He broadcasts regularly as a classical vocal, folk and light music artiste from All India Radio, Shimla and has composed more then 300 compositions in classical music and light music under the pen name "Rajrang". He has also published two books “Saras Raag Rang” and “Sangeet Jagat Ke Daideepayman Nakshtra Baba Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan Saheb” and has many research papers to his credit.

Hem Raj stood 1st in the 17th National Youth Festival held at Udaipur in the Classical Vocal category and has won gold medals from the Prof. Lal Ji Shrivastav Research Academy, Allahabad and the Prayag Sangit Samiti Allahabad. He has performed at numerous concerts including the Kal Ke Kalakar for Sur Singar Samsad Mumbai, and several others at Delhi, Agra, Chandigarh, Darbhanga, Shimla and other places in Himachal Pradesh. He has also given vocal support and accompanied his Ustad in all his major concerts all over India. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Vocal Music in the Govt. College, Dhaliara in Himachal Pradesh.

Hrishikesh Purushottam Gangurde
Hailing from Pune, Hrishikesh Gangurde was initiated into vocal music at the age of five by his father Shri Purushottam Gangurde. He later received talim for eight years from Dr. Vikas Kashalkar and Pandit Yashwantbua Joshi. While in school and college, he won prizes in classical music competitions and also received scholarships from the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi and Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre, Mumbai. For six years from 2000, Hrishikesh was a scholar at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy under the able guidance of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. He has also learnt semi classical music from Vidushi Girija Devi.

He has completed his Master's Degree in Commerce and M.P.A. (Vocal Music) from Shivaji University Kolhapur. A “B High ” graded performer of All India Radio, he has won many awards for music at the school, collegiate and national levels, including the Pandit D.V Paluskar Classical Vocal competition, State level competition by “Bandish” at Ahmadnagar, Bharat Gayan Samaj at Pune, “SPICMACAY” classical vocal competitions etc.

Hrishikesh performs regularly in India, having performed at Pune, Nashik, Nagar, Ranchi, Madhubani and at the Tansen Sangeet Sabha in Bhopal. He has also performed with Pandita Shama Bhate, an eminent kathak guru and her students. He has two CDs releases to his credit in which he has provided the tabla accompaniment for Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar.

Hrishikesh has recently joined K K Kapoor Sangeet Research Academy, Lucknow as a guru.
 

	Raga : Hameer

Indrani Mukherjee (nee Chatterjee)
Indrani was initiated into music at the age of 3 under the guidance of her mother Shikha Chatterjee and her aunt Rita Roy and later started learning under her maternal grandfather Shri Sanjib Banerjee, a well-known vocalist of the Kirana Gharana. She was an ITC SRA scholar between 1996 and 2001, perfecting her art under the guidance of Pandit Arun Bhaduri. She has also trained under the Late Pandit Ramashray Jha of Allahabad and has also been learning Thumris and Bhajans from Vidushi Purnima Choudhury of the Banaras Gharana since 2004, and has recently started learning from Vidushi Manju Sundaram of Varanasi.

A fulltime musician, Indrani has since 2001, been a prolific performer at various festivals and venues of note both in India and abroad. She has performed for Sangeet Piyasi, Sovabazar Sangeet Sammelan, Rajya Sangeet Academy, Bhowanipur Sangeet Sammilani, Salt Lake Music Conference, and many others around the country, while her international concerts have taken her to France, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Lebanon, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. She has also represented India in Syria and Azerbaijan.

She has collaborated with the renowned musicians, trumpetist Erik Truffaz (from France) and pianist Malcolm Braff (from Switzerland) and Apurba Mukherjee (from Kolkata) to create the Benares Project, a mix of Indian Classical with Jazz, which has been released by the prestigious Blue Note- EMI. With her group, she has performed in 33 concerts in prominent festivals in India, Europe and Canada such as the Bose Blue Note Festival in Paris, Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada, London Jazz Festival, to name a few.

Besides teaching in Kolkata, Indrani has conducted workshops in France, Germany, Switzerland and Syria and has been interviewed by Radio France. She has also performed in highly successful duets with sarodiya Pandit Partho Sarothy, both in India and Europe. She has numerous CD releases to her credit, both as solo performer and as part of experimental music project.
 

	Raga : Piloo, Kajri

Jagdish Prasad (1937-2011)
Pandit Jagdish Prasad was initially groomed under the guidance of his father Pandit Badri Prasad, who was the court musician of the former principality of Raigarh, Madhya Pradesh. Later he was under the tutelage of none other than legendary artiste Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan of Patiala gharana. Under the tutelage of both these Gurus, he enriched his repertoire in both classical and semi-classical music and could sing khayal and thumri with equal command.

He joined ITC-SRA in 1977. A gifted musician, he performed throughout the country and abroad. He left the Academy in 1984 and later joined Khairagarh University in Madhya Pradesh as a lecturer. He continued to serve the cause of music until his death on July 18, 2011 after a brief illness.

Jainul Abedin
Born in 1967 at Bashirhat, a suburb of Kolkata, Jainul Abedin representing the Agra gharana, was one of ITC SRA's earliest scholars and trained here for more than 20 years between 1978 and 1999. He received rigorous talim from Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan, and subsequently under Pandit Vijay Kichlu and Pandit Sunil Bose. Growing up in a musical atmosphere amidst some of the greatest luminaries of Hindustani music, Jainul has also received invaluable guidance from personalities like Pandit K G Ginde and Smt Dipali Nag. He has featured in numerous major festivals as well as the various ITC Sammelans in the country. He has also toured Canada, USA and Bangladesh.

Including the decade he spent with us working in the erstwhile Prefect's Department and assisting with the musical content of the website, Jainul was associated with this academy for 30 plus years. Today, Jainul is devoted fully to his music, giving talim in Hindustani Classical Music to innumerable students, giving professional performances regularly and also conducting successful workshops both in India and Bangladesh to popularize Indian Classical Music amongst the young generation. His recent concerts include the Bishnupur Mela and the Dakshini Sangeet Sammelan in January 2011 and numerous concerts in North Bengal.He is also an examiner for Hindustani Classical Music of various universities.

Jainul has also formed a social organization, “South Kolkata Music and Art Foundation” whose primary activities are to help aged musicians suffering from financial distress, provide free training to financially disadvantaged students and contribute to socially desirable goals such as recent distribution of clothes in January 2011 to around one thousand people affected by the cyclone ‘Aila’. He is presently working on building an old-age home for distressed musicians and artistes, in various fields to share love, peace and happiness with them.

Jayanta Pandey
Jayanta Pandey started his musical training at the tender age of four, under his father Ashis Kumar Pandey and later, Bhismadev Bhattacharya. He was a scholar at ITC SRA between 1980 and 1984 under the guidance of Ajoy Chakrabarty. He later trained under Ustad Munawar Ali Khan and then, Prasun and Meera Bandopadhyay. He received the National Scholarship award in 1990 and is a regular artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. Jayanta has numerous performances to his credit. From 1995, he has been a staff artist of AIR, Kolkata and is currently continuing his research in the Gayakee of Patiala gharana.
 

	Raga : Bhupali

Jayita Pandey
Initially trained by her father, Ashish Kumar Pandey and brother, Jayanta Pandey, Jayita was a scholar at ITC SRA between 1984 and 1991, from the age of 9, training under Smt. Girija Devi. She later trained under Pt. Rajan Misra and Pt. Kishan Maharaj all of the Banaras Gharana. She has also worked extensively with Kathak maestro, Pt. Birju Maharaj. Topping the All India Radio music competition in 1994, she has been a regular artist of AIR and Doordarshan, Kolkata. Jayita performs regularly and has won accolades for her playback performances for television and cinema. She continues her research on Gayaki of Banaras Gharana and also runs her own music school.

Joyeeta Sanyal
As a child, Joyeeta Sanyal was initiated into the art of sitar playing by Pandit Deepak Choudhury and later learnt from Pandit Kushal Das. She has also imbibed the art of the gayakee ang from Kumar Roy. A recipient of the national scholarship from Central Cultural Resource and Training Centre, New Delhi, she has had several performances to her credit on the concert stage and on television. She was a scholar of the Academy between December 2005 and April 2012. She initially trained under ITC SRA Guru Pandit Manilal Nag and later trained in the gayaki ang under Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and finally, under Pandit Partha Chatterjee.

 

	Raga : Jhinjhoti

Kaushiki Desikan (nee Chakrabarty)
Daughter of the world-renowned vocalist Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Kaushiki was born and brought up within the Academy. Her mother, Chandana Chakrabarty initiated her into vocal music, but her formal taalim started at the age of seven when she became a student of the legendary Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh. Later, as a scholar of the Academy, between November 1992 and June 2004, she was groomed by her father and guru, Ajoy Chakrabarty.

Kaushiki’s recitals are marked by maturity far beyond her years, sound musical concepts and remarkable spontaneity. She is gifted with a melodious and flexible voice and has already participated in many major concerts including the Dover Lane Music Conference, the ITC Sangeet Sammelans in India, the Spring Festival of Music (California), Parampara Programme (Los Angeles) and others.
Her outstanding performances have fetched her many awards. The Salt Lake Cultural Association of Calcutta presented her with the “Jadu Bhatta” Award in 1995. Kaushiki received the “Outstanding Young Person” Award from the Rotary Club of Calcutta for 2000 and the BBC Award in 2005.

Koushik Bhattacharjee
Initially trained by his father, Pataki Bhattacharjee, Koushik showed talent from a very tender age. For the nearly 13 years that he spent as a scholar at ITC-SRA, he trained under Pt. Arun Bhaduri initially, then under Pt. K.G.Ginde and finally, under Pt. Sunil Bose. After completing his training, Koushik has been performing at numerous concerts, in India, Europe and North America. Noteworthy concerts within India include Dover Lane Music Conference, Kolkata, Bhowanipore Sangeet Sammelan, Rajya Sangeet Academy Conference, All India Music Conference, New Delhi, Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai and many others. He has been performing abroad regularly since 2002 and he has participated in music festivals in prestigious venues across France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Norway and Bangladesh.

A regular artiste of All India Radio & Television and an empanelled artiste of Indian Council For Cultural Relations, Koushik is on the Music faculty in Future Hope School, Kolkata and is attached as a teacher & examiner of “The Dover Lane Music Conference Kolkata”. He has also been a Guest Examiner of Rabindra Bharati since 2009 for the Masters exams. He has started a Live Classical Vocal class , “Gyan Vani” on FM Radio and has also been invited to participate on prominent radio and TV shows in Paris and Kolkata. Koushik has also been the recipient of several awards.

In addition to being a performer and teacher, Koushik is also busy developing Manindra Sangeet Tirtha (An Institution of Indian Classical Vocal), established by his father, in memory of his grandfather Dhrupad singer Manindranath Bhattacharjee.
 
www.koushikbhattacharjee.com
 

	Raga : Todi

Manali Bose
Manali Bose received preliminary training from her parents and then from Shrimati Debjani Basu, a disciple of late Pandit A. Kanan. She was but a child of ten when she began taking private lessons from Pandit Arun Bhaduri, guru at ITC SRA. She became a general class student of the Academy in 1996 and was a scholar here between June 2006 and March 2010, under her guru. Manali has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships : In 1995 she stood first in the Bhajan category in the West Bengal State Music Academy competition and performed in the Children’s Section and Special Bengali Service of All India Radio; she received a scholarship in khayal from Anun Lund Rej Fund (ALR Fund), Norway in 1999, followed by the ‘Sangeet Piyasi Scholarship’ in khayal in 2000-01. In 2007 Manali stood first in the khayal category of the All India Radio Music Competition and in 2010, she was awarded a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.

Manali has continued to pursue academics, recently finishing her Masters degree in English Literature, with aspirations to completing her PhD. Her various performances have always been well received, having performed creditably at ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Bangalore (2008), ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata (2009), West Bengal State Music Academy’s annual conference (2009), Ballygunge Maitreyee Music Circle (2009) , the Anirban Foundation (2009) and Brhaddhvani's ‘The Universe of Sound' festival in Chennai in 2009.
 

	Raga : Hamsadhwani

Mashkoor Ali Khan
Mashkoor Ali Khan owes his family lineage to the legendary Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, the founders of the Kirana Gharana. His father, sarangi-nawaz Ustad Shakoor Khan was the grand nephew of Ustad Bande Ali, Beenkar. After his father’s death, Mashkoor joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in 1984 as a musician scholar to further develop his undiluted style of Kirana gayaki. Now as a Guru of the Academy, he nurtures several scholars under his able guidance.
Mashkoor Ali has inherited a veritable treasure of bandishes and rare ragas. An A-graded artist of A.I.R, he has featured in several National Programmes of Akashvani and Doordarshan. He has performed at numerous festivals and conferences in India and abroad and his awards include the Abhinav Kala Sammelan, Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award, Swaranjali Award, the title of ‘Bandish Nawaz’ and the Ustad Niaz Ahmed Khan and Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed Khan Memorial Award (Kirana Gharana).

Nilanjana Sengupta
Born into a family of musicians, Nilanjana Sengupta started learning the nuances of Hindustani Classical Music at a very early age from her mother. For 12 years she then trained under Kumar Roy, a noted vocalist of the younger generation of musicians. She joined ITC SRA in 2002 as a General Scholar under Ulhas Kashalkar and later became a residential Scholar between 2003 and 2008. She has won laurels in several music competitions in Kolkata and was awarded a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in 2002.

Nilanjana got married after she left ITC SRA and is now a proud mother. She continues to be a musician and stays in touch with her guru. Her major concerts include ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelans of Kolkata, Raipur, Kanpur, Lucknow and Hyderabad, the All Bengal Music Conference 2007 and the Gunijan Baithak in Mumbai.

Nibedita Ghosh
Born on 2nd August, 1985, Nibedita Ghosh’s musical training started at the age of four from her father, Shri Gobinda Ghosh. She started to learn the sitar at the age of 10, initially from the Late Sri Biswanath Das and later under Pandit Manilal Nag. She continued her training with him after she joined ITC SRA as a general student in 2005. Accolades have already started coming her way - Nibedita stood first in the West Bengal Youth Festival, 2008 and was third in the National Youth Festival, 2009. Nibedita was a scholar at the Academy between September 2009 and December 2011, initially under Pandit Manilal Nag and subsequently under Partha Chatterjee.

Nirmalya Roy
Nirmalya had his early training from Sunirmal Bhattacharya, the late Govinda Prasad Debnath and Pt. Amiya Ranjan Bandopadhyay respectively before he became a scholar of ITC-SRA under Pt. Arun Bhaduri of Rampur gharana. Post his gurukul days, Nirmalya has entered the light music scenario. He has been dividing his time between performces in India and abroad, working as a faculty member in the World Music department of a university overseas and as a creative consultant, music director and trainer for Zee TV since 2007.

A ‘B-high’ graded AIR artiste and a National Scholarship holder, Nirmalya stood 1st in the Rajya Sangeet Academy competition in the khayal category and stood 2nd in the HMV Ravi Kichlu Golden Talent Contest.

Nirmalya’s numerous international concerts include a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 2010 with Pandit Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar and at Muscat in 2011 at the invitation of the Indian ambassador. He has also performed at Jazz festivals, collaborating with leading American guitarists. His projects also include music direction for films and telefilms and compositions for TV serials. He has to his credit, 8 album releases so far, and a 9th, composed with Bickram Ghosh awaiting release.

Omkar Srikant Dadarkar
Born in Mumbai on 30th July 1977, Omkar hails from a family of ‘Marathi Natyasangeet’ exponents, and was naturally drawn towards this idiom. He received his initial guidance from his aunt, the late noted classical vocalist Manik Verma and thereafter from Ram Deshpande. After being awarded the CCRT scholarship (Delhi) for classical music, he was groomed by Pandit Yashwantbua Joshi under the scheme of Guru-Shishya-Parampara of the Dadar-Matunga Cultural Centre. A Sangeet Visharad and Bachelor of Arts in Marathi Literature and History, Omkar joined ITC-SRA as a scholar in July 1999, receiving rigorous talim under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. He completed his training in June 2005 with an A+ grade. He also trained in the light classical form under Vidushi Girija Devi and Srinivas Khale.

Omkar is fast gaining recognition as a regular concert performer. His performances in ITC Sangeet Sammelans at Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai besides other prestigious programmes in India and also Bangladesh, Nepal and Canada have been highly applauded. His numerous awards include the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2009-2010 conferred by the Sangeet Natak Akademi to talented artistes below the age of 35, the Aditya Vikram Birla Puraskar for 2008, the “Shanmukhananda Hall-Mumbai-Sangeet Shiromani” award in 2007 and he is also the first recipient of “Chaturanga Sangeet Shishyavrutti Award” given by Chaturanga Pratishthan in collaboration with Mhaiskar Foundation, Mumbai in 2006.

Omkar who was previously working with Mumbai Educational Trust, as Music In-charge returned to ITC SRA as a Musician Tutor from 2010 onwards.
 

	Raga : Malkauns, Tarana

Paritosh Pohankar
Born on 13th April 1977 in Indore into a family of musicians, Paritosh grew up in a musical environment. His initial curiosity in music soon developed into an earnest lifelong pursuit. As a first step his tutelage began under Pandit Goswami Gokulotsavji Maharai of Indore Gharana at Indore.

After completing his graduation with subjects like Psychology and Ancient Indian Culture, he was as a General Class Student in ITC SRA - and soon became a scholar under the guidance of Guru Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan of the Kirana Gharana.

With his mature, rich and sonorous voice, he is fast gaining recognition as a regular concert performer. Though khayal singing is close to his heart, Paritosh sings tarana and thumri also. Ustad Amir Khan, Roshan Aara Begum and Smt. Hirabai Barodekar have influenced his gayaki but he does not imitate them and has developed a distinct style of his own.

To his mind, music is not commerce but an ART; not a means to material success but an end in itself. And he wants to be closer to this art form through sincere efforts and complete dedication. His performances, which include the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival at Kundgol and the Youth Festival at Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre, Mumbai and extensive concert tours in Australia, have been appreciated widely.

Paritosh has been grooming students at the Surtal Music Academy in Rajasthan from 2010. He also has several CD releases to his credit.

Parthapratim Das
Parthapratim Das, the only child of Late Hirak Kr. Das started learning music systematically from an early age, first from Shri Shyamal Dasgupta and then from Pandit Prasun Banerjee, the exponent of Patiala Gharana. He went on to train under Pandit A. Kanan for many years and became an ITC SRA scholar during this time (1994-1995). After the demise of Pandit A. Kanan he received guidance from Pandit Kumar Prasad Mukherjee, the exponent of Agra-Gwalior Gharana for a short spell. Parthapratim Das is now a successful performer of Kirana Gharana.

A regular artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Kolkata, Parthapratim has a Master’s degree in Music from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He was the recipient of several awards at his University including the Sangita Charya Girija Shankar Chakraborty prize and the Bijan Ghosh Dastidar Gold Medal. He also topped the music competition in ‘Khayal’ and ‘Thumri’ organized by All India Radio in 1992 and followed this up by standing first in the classical and light classical music section in the H. M. V. Golden Talents of Bengal, in 1993 and was selected by H. M. V. for recording. In 2000, he was awarded the “Surmani” title by Sur Singar Samsad in Mumbai.

He has numerous performances to his credit across India and also in Bangladesh.

Parthasarathi Desikan
Born in 1973, Parthasarathi’s interest in learning Hindustani classical vocal music was first induced in by his mother. Consequently he trained under the meticulous care of Smt. Dipti Mukherjee. He began performing at a young age and his participation in the Junior Talent Programme and the All Bengal Competition, organized by the West Bengal State Music Academy, brought him recognition as he achieved first position. He also secured first position in Bhajan and second position in Khayal at the A.I.R music competition. Partha proved his mettle when he was selected as a scholar of ITC-SRA where he was nurtured carefully by Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty between 1992 and 1998.

Pinaki Bose
Pinaki had his initial training from his mother, Bula Bose. He then received talim from the veteran guru of the Academy, Biresh Roy and went on to become a General Class student with ITC-SRA. As a scholar of the Academy, Pinaki continued his training first under Biresh Roy and later under Arun Bhaduri between 2001 and 2004, and then again between 2005 and May 2009. Pinaki received a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture in 2004.

Since SRA, Pinaki has been representing Indian Classical Music in Australia for the last 3 years by doing workshops and programmes. He has formed a group with other musicians and is also conducing research on World Music. Pinaki has many performances to his credit, notable among them being a concert in Delhi with the late Padmashree Mehmood Dholpuri.

Prasad Gulavani
Born in 1965, Prasad Gulavani hails from a family with a musical tradition. Initiated by his father, Madhukar Gulavani, a vocalist of the Jaipur gharana, Prasad has also been trained by Pandit Prabhakar Deshkar of Nagpur. He was a scholar of ITC SRA under Pandit Nivruttibua Sarnaik. A B-high graded artist of All India Radio, he has performed at numerous concerts including AIR Sangeet Sabhas and ITC Sangeet Sammelans. He is presently a staff artist of All India Radio, Ratnagiri.

Prasad Khaparde
Born in 1973, Prasad hails from Ghatanji, a small town in Vidarbha, Maharashta. His initial training in music was under the guidance of eminent gurus Bhalerao, D V Phanke and Smt Sumantai Chaudhuri of Amaravati. He was a regular participant of competitions and conferences all over India., He joined ITC SRA as a general class student in 1996 under the tutelage of Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan of Gwalior gharana and later after completing his master’s degree in music, became a scholar under Ustad Rashid Khan of the Rampur Sahaswan Gharana. A winner of the All India Radio music competition, his dedication and hard work has brought him many awards.

Prasad has worked in Kala Academy Goa, as a Guru and along with his ardent riyaaz, also teaches Hindustani vocal music to students from India and abroad. He has had very successful tours in countries like Dubai, Muscat, New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, Singapore and Indonesia. He has sung for a Marathi movie “Thaang” by renowned director Amol Palekar and recently gave an excellent performance at the coveted “Sawai Gandharwa Sangeet Mahotsav" in Pune. He also has several CDs and cassettes to his credit.

Website: www.prasadkhaparde.com

Prasant A Samadhar
Born in 1974, Prasant was initially trained by maestros like Mohan Lal Mishra and Chinmay Lahiri. On the untimely death of his guru, he joined ITC-SRA as a student and later was a scholar between 1996 and 1997, under the guidance of guru, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. He was later also tutored by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.

Prasant has had the privilege of performing as a vocal support artiste with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Vidushi Girija Devi. He has also performed with a galaxy of classical artistes like Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.

Prasant has been involved in Fusion and World Music and has sung in more than 20 Hindi films. He has groomed participants in various music reality shows like Indian Idol etc. and has also been a faculty member and judge on popular television reality shows like Fame Gurukul and Sitaron Ko Choona Hai. Prasant’s versatility is evident whether he is performing a classical recital, a romantic film song or a fusion piece with artistes like Sivamani, Louis Banks, Ranjit Barot, Karl Peters and others.

Prasant is on a mission to bring classical music at the same popular stage as light music. He performs with his band “Namah” at various concerts to promote classical music. He has performed with AR Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle and has represented India at a SAARC concert in Russia. His fusion band has performed at the Zee Cine Awards.

Mumbai based Prasant is now a prolific composer and singer and also Director of a company called Optimum Ore Creations, which creates concept based shows and reality television.

Raghab Chatterjee
Initiated into music by his mother Smt Shila Chatterjee, Raghab trained under Dr. Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay before joining ITC Sangeet Research Academy in 1993 as a general class student. In August 1996 he became a scholar under Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. A finalist of the Pandit Ravi Kichlu Golden Talent Contest 1994, he left the Academy in 1997.

Raghab has since gone on to become a regular performer on stage shows all over and has also made a name as a playback singer in the Kolkata and Mumbai film industries, with a lot of ‘hit’ songs to his credit. He has also brought out albums in Bengali and Hindi. He performs regularly all over India, USA, Hong Kong and other countries. His achievements include the National Scholarship, the R. D. Burman Award, Uttam Kumar Award, Kalakar Award, HMV Golden Talent Contest winner etc.

Rajyasree Ghosh
Gifted with a powerful yet melodious voice, Rajyasree was initiated into Hindustani vocal music at a young age and went through an extensive training in the hands of some of the most illustrious maestros in this field. A gold medalist both in her B.A and M.A. in khayal from the Rabindra Bharati University, she later became a scholar at the ITC SRA, between 1989 and 1991 under the able tutelage of Vidushi Girija Devi and Pandit Arun Bhaduri and subsequently, Pandit K.G. Ginde. This training, coupled with her exceptional musical talents has helped Rajyasree develop a style, which, while maintaining the purity of tradition is individual and original. She is equally adept at both Khayal as well as the lighter semi-classical genres. She has also trained in Nazrulgeeti under Smt Suprava Sarkar and studied Bengali Tappa and Puratani from its most famous exponent, the late Ramkumar Chattopadhay.

Rajyasree has received gold medals both for her BA and MA from Rabindra Bharati University and is also a recipient of the National Scholarship from the Government of India.

Regularly featured on All India Radio, Rajyasree has been performing at some of the most esteemed venues both in India and abroad. For three consecutive years she was adjudged the best in the Khayal, Ragpradhan and Bhajan categories at the Dover Lane Music Conference. In 2000, invited by the Bangiya Parisad of Oman she performed at several musical soirees in Muscat and also had a series of successful concerts between 2001-2006 in the USA. In 2008 she performed in Malhar Festival arranged by Indo-Occidental Symbiosis and took part in the annual conference of West Bengal State Music Academy.

Rajyasree is currently Senior Lecturer of Music at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata.

Rajkumar Banerjee
Rajkumar was both a general class student and a scholar here under Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty between 1992 and 1994. Post SRA, he moved away from a career in music and studied Civil Engineering in B.E.College (Shibpur) and did his B.E. and M.E. there. He is now a Professor in an Engineering College and a consultant with a civil consultancy company. He however continues to be associated with music and teaches students at home.

Ram Deshpande
Initiated and trained by a number of renowned musicians like Pandit Prabhakar Deshkar, Ram Deshpande later trained under Yeshwantbuva Joshi and for a short while, as a scholar at ITC SRA between late 1992 and early 1994, under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. Though generally a singer of the Gwalior and Jaipur gharanas, Ram also receives guidance from Babbanrao Haldankar of the Agra Gharana. He is a doctorate in music and an ‘A’ graded artiste of AIR and Doordarshan.

After SRA, Ram worked for 5 years at a school as a Music teacher and then went on to devote himself fulltime as a performer and teacher. At least 10 of his students are professional classical vocalists in their own right.

Ram has been the recipient of numerous honours: He has received a National Scholarship from the Indian government, the Kesarbai Kerkar Scholarship from N.C.P.A, Mumbai, the “Best Vocalist Award” from SRA in 1991, the prestigious Vidyasagar Award by Music Forum and the Aditya Vikram Birla Kalakiran Puraskar in 2005. Gandharva Mahavidyalay has selected him as a guide for doctorial students.

Ram has participated in many music seminars as a “thinker musician” and has had a spate of successful concerts in the USA in 2010 and as also performed several times in Kenya, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Ranjani Ramachandran
Ranjani was initiated into Hindustani music at a young age by her mother, Vijaya. Her formal training began under the tutelage of the Late Pt. Kashinath Shankar Bodas from Kanpur, and later, under Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe in Pune. She was a scholar of ITC-SRA between August 2001 and March 2006, under the able guidance of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. While at the Academy, she also acquired a rich repertoire of Thumri, Dadra, Chaiti and Kajri, under the guidance of the veteran Vidushi Girija Devi.

Ranjani is a recipient of Central Government Scholarship for Hindustani Classical Music, Resident scholarship of the ITC-Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata, Surmani award from Sur Singar Samsad, Mumbai and empanelled as a performing artiste for ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations). Ranjani is a graded artiste of All India Radio and has two commercial audio CDs to her credit.

Noteworthy past performances in India and abroad include the Vishnu Digambar Jayanti Samaroha (New Delhi), Chandigarh Sangeet Sammelan, ITC Sangeet Sammelans (Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai), “Sangeet Pratibha” of Sangeet Natak Academy, Kalakshetra Annual Arts Festival, Chennai; Nehru Centre (London), Learnquest Academy (Boston), Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre (Mumbai).

A physics graduate and a postgraduate in vocal Music, Ranjani is a recipient of the UGC Senior Research Fellowship and is currently pursuing a PhD in music at the Lalit Kala Kendra (Centre for Performing Arts) University of Pune, while also teaching in the department. Ranjani also gives online music lessons to aspiring students through the I-gurukul portal of Shadjamadhyam.
 

	Raga : Multani

Rashid Khan
A child prodigy, the immensely gifted Ustad Rashid Khan joined ITC-SRA with his grand uncle Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan, one the greatest maestros of the Rampur Sahaswan Gharana. Though the young Rashid initially showed little or no interest in music, his tutelage under his illustrious grand uncle, changed the course of his life.

Rashid was six years old when Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan intuitively perceived his latent potential. The Ustad decided to nurture his grand nephew’s musical sensitivity in the traditional Guru Shishya Parampara – first at Badaun (Uttar Pradesh), where Rashid was born and thereafter at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. Ustad Rashid Khan's growth from a child prodigy to a maestro is noteworthy. He became a scholar at the Academy in April 1980 when he was barely 14. The long and arduous training under his guru made Rashid a perfect exponent of the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana. He remained a scholar under the tutelage of Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan until the latter’s demise in 1993. He then became a ‘scholar musician’. Finally, from 1994 to 1998, he was a guru and a part of the teaching faculty at the Academy

Rashid became a Top Grade artiste of All India Radio in his very first audition, and has never looked back since. He has won accolades for all the aspects of his musical performance – voice, phrasing, virtuosity and sensitivity. The fine balance between his technical virtuosity and artistic creativity has amazed connoisseurs. He is also a master of the tarana like his guru but sings them in his own manner, preferring the khayal style rather than the instrumental stroke-based style for which Nisar Hussain was famous. He has performed in an endless list of prestigious concerts, in the greatest of festivals in the country and abroad.

Though a loyal and proud member of the Rampur Sahaswan Gharana, Rashid has always been prepared to learn and incorporate the best from other gharanas into his renditions. Still, his singing bears a distinctive stamp that is his very own, grand and majestic, yet soul-stirringly pure and simple. Rashid Khan has also experimented with fusing pure Hindustani music with lighter musical genres or in experimental concerts with western instrumentalist Louis Banks. He also performs jugalbandis, along with sitariya Ustad Shahid Parvez and others.

He was awarded the Padma Shree as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2006.

Ruby Mallik
Dr. Ruby Mallik was initiated in the art of music by Ustad Shabbir Ahmed Khan of the Agra gharana (school) in 1970. She completed her B.A. in 1974 with Hindustani Music as one of her subjects from Agra University. She did her a M.A. in English Literature in 1976. She then joined Delhi University from where she qualified for her M.A and M Phil in Hindustani Classical music.

During this period she got the opportunity to continue her professional training from one of the foremost musicians of the Agra Gharana, Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan. She learnt rare ragas and compositions from him. In 1980, Ruby became a scholar at the I.T.C. Sangeet Research Academy in Calcutta where she continued her professional training at an advanced level from the master musician of Agra gharana, Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan.

She was awarded Ph.D In Music in 2003, for her research on the musical style and contribution of her guru (teacher) to Indian Music by Agra University. From 1989, she started teaching music in Agra University at the under graduate and postgraduate level. In 2004 she was sent on deputation as Vocal Music Teacher- Cum- Performer at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Cooperation, Trinidad & Tobago by the Indian Council For Cultural Relations. She is currently working at The Academy for Performing Arts at the University of Trinidad & Tobago.

An exponent of Khayal, Thumri, Tarana, Dadra and other semi classical forms, Ruby has participated and presented papers in various seminars and symposiums, which have also been published. She has successfully conducted lecture demonstrations to create awareness for Indian Classical Music and continues this endeavour. Ruby has performed in many prestigious concerts in India, U.S.A, Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad. She was awarded the Surmani title at the Kal-Ke-Kalakar (artistes of tomorrow) Concert by Sur Singar Samsad in 1987.

Her second CD, Devanjali, had a grand launch in Trinidad in October 2011 and is playing on radio stations, everyday. It is also playing in US,Canada and other countries

Ruchira Kedar
Ruchira Kedar received her initial training from her father. She started learning both the classical and semi-classical forms of Hindustani vocal music when she was 14, from Alka Deo Marulkar, a vocalist of the Jaipur gharana. She went on to top the All India Radio Music Competition in 1999 and subsequently bagged the National Talent Search Scholarship from the Government of India in 2000. She has performed in major concerts in India and has also toured the USA and Canada in 2002. She was a scholar at the ITC SRA between June 2003 and December 2006, under the guidance of the veteran vocalist Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. She then moved to Pune and completed her Master’s degree in English Literature and Music. She has since been performing solo and collaborative Hindustani concerts very regularly. A significant few among these are the Tansen Samaroh at Gwalior, ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelans at Lucknow and Delhi, Yuva Mahotsav, DMCC at Mumbai, Pandit S.N.Ratanjankar Smriti Samaroh at Gwalior, Gururao Deshpande Sangeet Sabha at Bangalore; Khajuraho Festival of Music & Dance and the Vedic Heritage Aashram,Long Island,New York. She has been the lead vocalist of Anuradha Pal’s “Stree Shakti”, an all-women musician’s ensemble and has received several awards including the Yuva Sadhak Sammaan in 2007 by Madhukali ,a prestigious organization in Madhya Pradesh, the “Young Achiever” award from Mid-Day,Pune, the “Woman Achiever” award from Dainik Bhaskar,Bhopal, the “Sur Mani” title from the Sur Singar Samsad in Mumbai.

Her first solo album released by Sonic Octaves, Mumbai has been getting a very positive response while a popular U.K. label, which has brought out a world music compilation features her music representing the Indian music genre. The label has also released her first solo EP.

Rupashree Bhattacharya
Having learnt from her musician father Durga Chandra Bhattacharya and then from Ashit Bandopadhyay, Shipra Bose and Sanjay Chakrabarty, Rupashree was an ITC-SRA scholar between 1996 and 2002, training under Ajoy Chakraborty of the Patiala gharana. She received a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and came 1st in the East Zonal finals at the ITC SRA Golden Talent Scholarship. Noticing her innate talent in playing the harmonium, her guru gradually guided her through the intricacies and exacting standards of accompaniment. Maturing into a sensitive and unobtrusive accompanist, she has been a faculty member of ITC Sangeet Research Academy since 2002.

A ‘B-High’ graded artiste of All India Radio, Rupashree regularly broadcasts ‘Shyama Sangeet’ and ‘Bhajan’. She has participated in almost all classical conference of Kolkata, accompanying great maestros like her Guruji Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Vidushi Girija Devi, Pandit Arun Bhaduri, Pandit Amiya Ranjan Banerjee, Vidushi Subhra Guha, Vidushi Ashwini Bhide and many others.

Sabina M Islam Rahaman
Born in 1975, Sabina was initially groomed by her father Shri Nurul Islam, and later learnt from Pandit Aloke Chatterjee in Guwahati. An honours graduate in English Literature from Cotton College, Guwahati University, she passed “Sangeet Visharad” from Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapith, Lucknow, in 1988. She set foot in the world of ITC-SRA under the guidance of one of the academy’s senior-most scholars, Jainul Abedin. She was at first a general class student under Pandit Sunil Bose of the Agra gharana, and then a scholar of the Academy under Vidushi Subhra Guha, also of the Agra gayaki, between 1999 and 2003.

Since then, Sabina continues her sadhna of music, living with her Guruma in true guru-shishya parampara. Apart from khayal, Sabina also sings thumri, dadra, kajri, tappa in the “poorab ang”. She is a ‘B-high’ artiste of AIR Guwahati, Assam and has won several competitions and scholarships. She stood 1st in the All Assam Music competition , won the Jnana Pravaha Scholarship and in 2003-04, the prestigious “Young Artist Award” under EZCC, together with a Gold medal offered by the Ministry of Tourism & Culture,Govt.of India.

She has several prestigious performances to her credit including a concert organised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi at Siliguri in 2007 and more recently, at the 103rd Shastriya Sangeet Sammelan at Amritsar, the Indo Occidental Symbiosis programme in Delhi and Sangeet Piyasi at Kolkata. From 2006 Sabina has been visiting USA regularly on performance tours, performing at New York, Chicago, New Jersey and Wesleyan University, Connecticut. She is also a visiting teacher of Indian Classical vocal in NYC under the American Academy of Indian Classical Music.
 

	Raga : Bahar

Sadhana Deshmukh Mohite
Sadhana Deshmukh Mohite’s initiation started with Shri D V Pandke and continued with Smt M Sumantai Chowdhary. She was awarded a gold medal for her Master’s in music and is a Government of India senior scholarship holder. She is also a gold medalist in the All India Radio Classical Music Competition.

Sadhana joined ITC-SRA in 1992 to further develop her style under the guidance of Ulhas Kashalkar and trained here for nearly 7 years.

She relocated to Gwalior in 1999, but continues to be in touch with her guru and the Academy. Sadhana has also trained in tappa and ashtapadi under the eminent Pandit Balasaheb Poochwale of the Gwalior Gharana. A teacher of classical music and a regular performer, Sadhana has participated in many music conferences and seminars. Some of her concerts have been for Tansen Sangeet Samaroh at Gwalior, Ustad Allaudin Khan Sangeet Samaroh at Bhopal and Jabalpur, Amir Khan Sangeet Samaroh at Indore and Agra and many others.

She has also participated on AIR Gwalior’s National Sangeet Sammelan.
 

	Raga : Gaud Sarang

Samaresh Chawdhury
Pandit Samaresh Chawdhury was initiated and trained in Dhrupad and Dhamar by his father, the Late Sangeetacharya Amaresh Chawdhury, who himself was a disciple of the Late Ustad Dabir Khan Saheb of Rampur Senia Gharana. In 1977, Samaresh joined ITC-SRA as a scholar and was here for a while, developing into a mature musician. During his tenure at ITC-SRA he was also specially permitted to continue as Assistant Teacher of Music at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur. From 1984, he has been under the guidance of the great maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar.

A top graded artiste of Akashvani, Samaresh has performed in several Akashvani Sangeet Sammelans and Doordarshan National Programmes since 1979. he has performed at many prestigious concerts within India including several performances for the Dover Lane Music Conference since1980, Sadarang Sangeet Sammelan, Tansen Sangeet Sammelan,Park Circus Sangeet Sammelan, Banga Sanskriti Sammelan, Sawai Gandharv Festival at Pune, Ustad Allauddin Khan Festival at Maihar, Ustad Amir Khan Festival at Indore , the RIMPA Festival at Banaras and the Raja Rani Festival at Bhubaneswar. He has also performed abroad, in the USA, Europe, Canada, etc.. He has been on ICCR’s Reference Panel of Artists since March 1990 and has been named outstanding artist by the ICCR panel.

Samarth Nagarkar
Samarth joined ITC SRA in 2003 and was a scholar here till 2009, training under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. Prior to this, he was a disciple of Pt. Dinkar Kaikini.

Samarth won the 1st prize in the All India Radio Music Competition (2000), thereby becoming a graded artiste of the AIR. He has had numerous performances to his credit, prominent among them being the Sangeet Natak Academy, Lucknow 2009, ITC Sangeet Sammelans, Kanpur 2009 and Bangalore 2010, NCPA, Mumbai 2009 and HCL Concerts at Habitat Center, New Delhi, 2011. He was also awarded a Junior Research Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.

After leaving ITC SRA, he was head of the K. K. Kapoor Sangeet Research Academy, Lucknow as Founder Faculty between July 2009-Sept 2010. He undertook his first tour to the USA from October-December 2010. Samarth is currently a full time musician based in New York, USA, pursuing an active performing schedule. He teaches music at a few reputed schools of music in and around New York and is also involved in collaborations with top ranking Carnatic and Jazz musicians and dancers (some of Woodstock ’69 fame) although firmly rooted to his Hindustani Classical Music traditions.

Samarth has been invited to several schools and Universities in India and the US to educate and spread awareness of Indian classical music amongst children. The periodic workshops he conducts with serious students of music in various cities have gained popularity. In the USA, he has been invited to present lectures, demonstrations, workshops and master classes at several US Universities and at world-renowned institutions like Alvin Ailey school of Dance. His performances in the US include Ali Akbar College of Music, Stanford, Indiana, Southwestern-Austin and Penn State Universities, among several others.

Sandip Ghosh
Born in 1954, Sandip Ghosh started his training in Indian classical music at Sangeet Bharati, Calcutta, under the guidance of the late Shri Sukhendu Goswami in 1970. Later, he found his guru and mentor in legendary vocalist, the late Pandit A Kanan, with whom he began his talim and entered the realm of the Kirana gharana.

From 1980 to 1990, he was a scholar of ITC-SRA, also under the tutelage of Pandit Kanan. Here he supplemented his training with guidance from the late Pandit K G Ginde.

Sandip Ghosh has been performing within India and abroad since 1980. Some of his noted performances in India have been at ITC-SRA Sangeet Sammelan, Agra, Radhika Mohon Moitra Music Conference, Kolkata, Dakshini Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata, Sursagar Music Conference, Kolkata, and Silchar Sangeet Chakra, Silchar. He has been visiting the United States since 1998, performing at various venues across the country and also conducting music workshops at various musical institutions, such as the LearnQuest Academy of Music, Waltham, Massachusets, etc.

His performances in USA and Canada in 1998 won him the Honorary Citizenship of Baltimore and Maryland. In addition to Hindustani Classical music, he also performs Bhajan, Bengali Semi-Classical, Nazrul Geeti, Rabindra Sangeet, and Shyama Sangeet with equal competence.

Sandip has been effectively spreading his art amongst his several students. He is a visiting lecturer and examiner at University of Rabindra Bharati, Kolkata and an acclaimed artist at All India Radio.

Sandip is also the founder of musical institution, Dithi, aimed at showcasing young talents of Hindustani Classical Music. He also teaches music via interactive sessions at GyanVani, an educational FM radio station.

Sandip has also trained in Rabindra Sangeet under the guidance of legendary singer Shri Subinoy Roy.

Sanjoy Banerjee
Born in a musical family, Sanjoy’s initial teachers were his aunt Smt Basanti Chatterjee and then Smt Manjulika Dasgupta and Sri Ramanuj Dasgupta. He later received advanced training from Pandit Narayan Rao Joshi of the Kirana Gharana until the latter’s demise. In 1989, he started learning from the late Pandit A. Kanan and continued his training under his guru as a general class student of ITC-SRA from 1995 onwards. He became a scholar of the Academy in 1998 and proceeded to train under the late Vidushi Malabika Kanan until 2001.

Today Sanjoy is a busy artist, performing in India as well as in countries like Bangladesh, UK, Germany, Canada and USA as a representative of the Kirana Gharana. He is also a regular artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Apart from teaching in India, Sanjoy is a successful teacher with students in countries like Bangladesh, Germany, UK and USA. He is also a sought after composer and music director, having worked in several projects in India and UK with his own group, popularly known as Indian Festival Group.

www.sanjoybanerjee.com

 

	Raga : Bhatiyar

Sanjukta Biswas
Born in 1978, Sanjukta Biswas hails from Chakdaha, a small town of Nadia District, West Bengal. Initiated into music by her father, Bharat Chandra Biswas, she was further trained by Amalendu Pal and Kalyan Guhathakurta. She won the first prize in All Bengal Music Competition at the age of ten and went on to become a 1st class Graduate with Honours in vocal music from Rabindra Bharti University, Kolkata. She joined ITC-SRA in 1994 as a general class student and was a scholar between 1999 and January 2003, training under her Guru, Vidushi Subhra Guha of the Agra gharana.

Sanjukta at present lives with her Guru, Subhra Guha and learns in the Guru Shishya style. Apart from khayals sung in the Agra style, she also sings thumri, dadra, kajri in the “poorab ang”. In 2001, she bagged the 1st position in the AIR competition for Hindustani vocal music. She also won the much-coveted ITC SRA Award for Promising Artistes given by ITC SRA (West) and Music Forum, Mumbai. In 2002 she was awarded the National Scholarship for Young Artistes by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. In 2005 Sanjukta became the recipient of the prestigious Jnana Pravaha Scholarship for being a promising and budding young musician of West Bengal State. In 2007, Sanjukta won the prestigious “ Swar Vilas” Vadodra, All India Competition. In 2010, she was conferred the prestigious title of “Surmani” and in 2011, she has been awarded the prestigious “Madhobi Chatterjee Fellowship and has also won the “Girija Devi Puruskar” (Ankurit).

A ‘B-High’ artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, she has performed at nearly all the major cities of the country as well as on various television channels. She has also performed at several cities in the USA and currently teaches Indian Classical vocal in NYC and Chicago as a visiting instructor for the American Academy of Indian Classical Music.
 

	Raga : Chhaya Nat

Saswati (Banerjee) Choudhury
Born in 1964, Saswati started her musical journey under Pandit A. Kanan at the age of six. She joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy as a general class student in 1979 and became a scholar in 1982. Shri Sukhdev Mukherjee, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan and other eminent personalities have also contributed to her musical career. A regular broadcaster from 1999, she has also performed at various venues in India. Gifted with a melodious voice, she is also a reputed teacher, presently on the faculty of ‘Gurukul’ (Shakri Begum Memorial Trust).

Satya Narayan Mishra (1961 -2010)
Born in Varanasi in May, 1961, Satya Narayan Mishra was a descendant of both the Senia as well as Banaras gharanas. He was initially trained by his illustrious father, Pandit Shrichandra Mishra, and then by Smt. Girija Devi, after his father’s death. He became a scholar of ITC SRA in 1978. He held a Masters degree in vocal music and Hindi literature. He was a recipient of several awards including the Surmani award (1991) and Saptarshi Samman (1995). ‘Sattu Bhaiya’ besides being a performer, was also a poet, writer and composer, having worked with Kelucharan Mohapatra, Birju Maharaj and other eminent artistes of India. He had been teaching in the vocal department of Bhatkhande Music College, Dehradun for more than a decade when he died on July 12, 2010.
 

	Raga : Jaunpuri

Shantanu Bhattacharyya
Pandit Shantanu Bhattacharyya was initiated into music first by his mother and later learned from Pandit Sukhendu Goswami, Pandit Prasun Banerjee and Vidushi Meera Banerjee. He became a scholar of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in 1994 and came under the guidance of Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty. Leaving the academy in 1997, he has perfected himself into a musician aiming to combine the best of all styles, focusing centrally on the gayaki of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

A Calcutta University Graduate with Honours in Economics, Shantanu is a "Top" graded artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan and has performed thrice at the National Programme. He is a winner of several music competitions, including the A.I.R music competition, where in 1989 he topped both in khayal and thumri. He has also won a SaMaPa Award.

He has performed at most of the major music festivals across the country, including the State Music Akademi Annual Conference at Kolkata, Sangeetalok Conference, Ambala, SaMaPa Music Festival for Sopori Music Academy at New Delhi, Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan & Amir Khusro Music Conference in Chennai. He has also had many concert tours in the USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore and Bangladesh, including concerts at Esplanade Theatre in Singapore, Sangeetaanjali in Fremont, Bay Area and at Humber College, University of Toronto.

He has several CD & cassette releases of khayal, thumri and bhajan, as well as his own music compositions on Yoga & Meditation. Shantanu was associated with SRA from 2003 to 2007, as a Research Consultant and also taught young students. Besides his performances, Shantanu is currently teaching Raga music to students at home and to online students across the world.
 

	Raga : Shudh Sarang

Shashank Maktedar
Shashank Maktedar began learning classical music from his father, Shamrao Maktedar and later from Pandit Nath Neralkar of Aurangabad from 1982. He received a First Division in both his Master’s degree in Music and Sangeet Alankar and went on to receive the first prize in the All India Radio Music Competition held in 1988. After topping ITC SRA’s National Talent Competition held in 1991, Shashank joined ITC SRA the same year as a residential scholar, training under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. This was a turning point in his career. Shashank emerged from the Academy in 2000 but continues to seek guidance from his guru from time to time.

Blessed with a melodious voice, he has performed at numerous prestigious music conferences all across the country. These include performances for AIR National Programmes and Sangeet Sammelans, ITC Sangeet Sammelans, Sawai Gandharva Mahotsav and Vishnu Digambar Jayanti Samaroh. He has also had successful concert tours in U.S.A., U.K., France, Switzerland, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bangladesh. He is now a regular ‘A’ graded performer of AIR and has numerous cassette and CD releases to his credit.

In recognition of his prowess, he has been awarded the Jadu Bhatta Puraskar, the Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Kiran Award for upcoming musicians by Sangeet Kala Kendra, Mumbai, the Yuva Gayak Puraskar in memory of Ramkrishna Vaze Bua by the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Pune as well as a Fellowship from Sanskriti Pratishthan, Delhi for 2008-2009. He has also submitted his Ph.D. thesis on the musical contribution of Pandit Gajananbua Joshi.

Shashank has been a Lecturer at the Goa College of Music since 2002, exclusively training postgraduate students, some of whom are making a name for themselves.
 

	Raga : Basant

Shirin Sengupta (nee Nath)
Shirin Sengupta was initiated into music by her parents and then started learning from Shri Shubhrajyoti Chakrabarty and Pandit Dinanath Misra. She then joined ITC-SRA as a general class student, training under Pandit A. Kanan and also Pandit Arun Bhaduri. She became a scholar in 1996, training under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. She left in 2000 after her marriage to an upcoming musician.

A recipient of the President's Award for securing 1st position in both khayal and ragapradhan (light classical) category at the All India Radio Music Competition, 1996, Shirin studied Music from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata and topped both her graduation and post graduation exams, receiving a gold medal. She stood 1st in the Sangeet Visharad exam and has also received the Jadu Bhatta Award, the Pandit Ravi Kichlu Foundation Award and the Dagar Brothers’ Award.

Shirin still continues to be guided by Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and has been performing worldwide in major music festivals and other concert venues in more than 15 countries including USA, Canada and countries in Europe and Africa. She has also been performing in concerts in India for the last 11 years, including several ITC SRA concerts. Her recital was broadcast from Swiss Radio Station in 2002.

An empanelled Artiste with ICCR, Shirin has also been invited to judge the University Festival (UNIFEST) in Ranchi organized by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.

She has founded an institution called “Monomanjari Institute of Performing Arts & Research”alongwith her husband, sarod player & music composer, Ranajit Sengupta & they have around 50 students both from India & abroad, some of whom have been awarded National & CCRT Scholarships & have excelled in various music competitions.

link : http://www.shirinsengupta.com
 

	Raga : Poorva

Shirshendu Mukherjee
Born on 21st January 1979, Shirshendu received his initial training from Chandana Chakrabarty and later, Shantanu Bhattacharya, the latter himself being an ex-scholar of the Academy. He then became a General Class student of the Academy under Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and went on to become a scholar under his guru between June 2004 and 2007.

He received a first class for his Master's degree in Music in 2006 from Rabindra Bharati University, and was ranked first. A ‘B-high’ graded artiste of All India Radio, Shirshendu has been performing since he was 14. He has earned appreciation for his numerous concerts in Kolkata, Mumbai , Delhi and other places in India and also performs regularly abroad. His music has also been telecast on various TV channels. Post ITC SRA, he worked as Counsellor (Lecturer) for the Directorate of Distance Education Programme of Rabindra Bharati University in 2007-2008. He is presently a teacher of Indian Classical Vocal Music with The Heritage School, Kolkata.

Smarajit Kumar Sen
Born in December 1983, Smarajit Kumar Sen took his initial sitar lessons from Prof. Sukumar Chanda when he was 11 and later began to receive guidance from Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta. In 2001, he won the first prize in the Inter-University Youth Festival at Vinoba Bhave University and received a National Scholarship in 2004. In May 2005, he joined ITC SRA as a general class student under his guru and went on to become a scholar between 2007 and February 2010. With a 1st class in his Masters degree in music from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, he topped the Paschim Banga Rajya Sangeet Academy music competition. He is an ‘A’ grade from Calcutta Cine Musicians Association and is also an A graded artiste of All India Radio. Smarajit who is currently completing his Ph. D., performs and teaches the sitar. He is also busy composing and arranging music for music albums and films.

Soumalya Chakraborty
Born in December 1982, Soumalya Chakraborty was initiated into Hindustani vocal classical music by his father, Sajal Chakraborty. By the age of eight, he developed an interest in the sitar and was initially trained by Harasankar Bhattacharya. In 2000, he began training under Pandit Kushal Das, torchbearer of the Maihar gharana. A commerce graduate of Kolkata University, he became a general class student of the ITC SRA from December 2005 and later was a scholar under Pandit Manilal Nag for a short while. Soumalya stood first in the All India Radio music competition in 2006 and was awarded the National Scholarship in 2006-2007. In January 2007 he was awarded the Sri Ravi Koppikkar Memorial Award instituted by the International Foundation for the Fine Arts, Mumbai. He is currently undergoing further training under Pandit Kushal Das.

Subha Ghosh
Subha Ghosh, born on 18th October 1994, started his musical training from Smt Baishaki Chakraborty when he was just 3½ years old. He then trained from Ustad Rashid Khan’s Shakhari Begum Memorial Trust for seven years. He was a Junior Scholar at ITC SRA between August 2009 and February 2010, under Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan. Subha is the recipient of several scholarships and has numerous performances to his credit.

Subhankar Hazarika
Born in 1987 in Assam, Subhankar Hazarika started his training at very tender age under his father Hem Hazarika, senior disciple of Pandit Manilal Nag as well as his mother, Swapna Hazarika. From 1998, Subhankar too became a student of Pandit Manilal Nag at Kolkata. He continued his taalim with his guru, first as a general class student of ITC-SRA from November 2005 and later as a scholar between June 2007 and May 2009.

Subhankar’s achievements include a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, ‘A’ Grade from Calcutta Cine Musicians Association in 2001, “Sur Shravan” award from Sur Shravan Samaroh in 2003 and the “SURMANI” award from Sur Singer Samsad” Mumbai in 2009.

Subhankar teaches more than 40 students across North East India and holds music recreation classes for students and faculty at IIT Guwahati and at the Music Department of Guwahati University. He has an ongoing project on the Preservation of North Eastern Folk Music funded by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. He is also working as a composer, music arranger and a music director in numbers of Films, Tele-film and Albums. He is also involved with a Fusion Music project Naad Brahma, that involves a blend of north and south Indian classical music, Indian folk, rock, pop, jazz and blues. He also helps promote Indian Classical Music events across the Northeast.

His performances include concerts for the Ministry of Cultural Affairs (Govt. of Assam), NEZCC’s World Music Day celebrations, the Haridas Sangeet Sammelan and several Nehru Yuva Kendra festivals. He performed in a jugalbandi with his guru Pandit Manilal Nag at Guwahati in 2010 and has also performed at the Jazz Festival in Bangalore, 2011.

Subhra Guha
Subhra Guha joined the Academy in 1982 as a research scholar, she was trained by Pt.Sunil Bose, the veteran of the Agra gharana. Subhra also received guidance from Pt.K.G. Ginde,Pt. D.T. Joshi and Pt.V.K. Kichlu while she was a scholar at ITC SRA. She went on to become a guru of the Academy between 1992 and 2003 and has recently rejoined the Academy. Subhra has been performing regularly at prestigious platforms both in India and abroad - in the USA and in various countries in Europe and Asia. She has gained recognition for her thumri renditions in the poorab ang. She has also had numerous teaching assignments in the US and in 2006, she sang the playback for famed film maker, Goutam Ghose's film, Yatra.

Suchismita Das
Initiated into music by her mother, Suchismita had her first public performance when she was two and a half. Vigorous training at home continued with Kalyan Guhathakurta, a disciple of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and from age of four, she started performing on Doordarshan (National TV channel) programmes for children. She was nine when she joined ITC-SRA in 1990 as a general class student under the tutelage of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. In 1992, she became a scholar here. The disciplined training in classical music and long hours of practice (Riyaz) gave her a strong foundation.

She left the academy in 2002 and has been a prolific performer since, singing classical, semi classical and contemporary music at concerts as well as playback for TV and films. Her classical music concerts include performances at Saptak Festival 2011, Ahmedabad, Aarohi Music Festival 2011, Mumbai, Kala Ghoda Festival, Mumbai, Mallhar Utsav, World Peace Convention, New York, India Fest USA, Ananda Utsav 2011, New Jersey and NABC 2011, Baltimore. She has sung the theme song of IPL tournament 2009 and has also done the playback for a Hollywood film. Suchismita also conducts music workshops and gives lectures across the world. Her CD releases include recordings of Bhajans, Bangla Adhunik and Nazrul Geeti.

She has won numerous awards but the three she values the most are the best singer award at a competition organized by the Russian Consulate in Kolkata when she was eight, the first prize in a competition for Khayal, Thumri and Dadra organized by West Bengal State Music Academy and the best National Classical Singer award at the national level competition organized by All India Radio.

Sumana Gupta
Initially trained by Pt. Amaresh Chowdhury and Shri Kashinath Chakraborty, Sumana initially joined the Academy as a General Class student in 1997. She went on to become a scholar, training for nearly a decade at the Academy, between 1999 and 2008, initially under Subhra Guha of the Agra gharana and subsequently under Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty of the Patiala gharana. Since her graduation, Sumana has been teaching students at home.

Supratik Sengupta
Guided by his father, vocalist Kuber Sengupta, Supratik was initially trained at the age of five, by the late Biswanath Das. He went on to train under Deboprosad Chakrovorti, Sangeetacharya Ajoy Sinha Roy and Pradeep Chakrabarty. Supratik joined ITC-SRA in 2002, training under the sarod maestro, Buddhadev Das Gupta and was inducted as a scholar the following year. He subsequently trained under ITC SRA guru Partha Chatterjee and went on to become a Musician Scholar of the Academy between July 2009 to June 2012.

An 'A' graded artiste of All India Radio and Television, Supratik has won a number of awards and scholarships, including both the National Talent Search Scholarship and the Senior National Scholarship from the Government of India; he has stood first in the West Bengal State Music Academy competition, Swar Prabhat Talent Search contest and in the Bharatiya Sanskriti Sangsad contest; he has also received the Pandit Nikhil Banerjee Memorial Award, the Dover Lane best instrumentalist award and the Prasun Banerjee Memorial award for his prowess with the sitar. Supratik's numerous performances include numerous ITC-SRA Sangeet Sammelans across the country and at various other festivals of repute. He has also performed in concerts in Bangladesh, France, Germany and Spain.

Teja Chandrakant Kale
Teja Chandrakant Kale is a Sanskrit graduate, who joined the Academy as a general class student in May, 2005 and was guided by Shrimati Shruti Sadolikar Katkar. Her father is a Marathi theatre artiste while her mother plays the tabla. A winner of several prizes in school and college, she went on to become a scholar at the Academy between May 2006 and early July 2007. She later completed her Sangeet Visharad from Bharat Gayan Samaj , Pune and was ranked 2nd in her Masters in Music from Mumbai University . She received a 3-year Scholarship from Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre Mumbai and also received the Vile Parle Music Circle’s Pt. Bhimsen Joshi Scholarship from the Department of Music, Mumbai University.Teja has recently received a scholarship from NCPA Mumbai in coordination with CITI Bank and has also been awarded a “B” grade from All India Radio.
 

Tejaswini Amrutrao Khode
Initially trained by Sumantai Chaudhuri (Amarawati) at the age of 12, Tejaswini later received guidance from Alka-Deo-Marulkar of Pune and subsequently, Hemant Pendase. Holding degrees in music and the Performing Arts, Tejaswini has also been awarded several scholarships, including a National Scholarship. She was a scholar of the Academy for a short while, from November 2003, where she trained under Shruti Sadolikar.

Tushar Dutta
Tushar Dutta began learning the fundamentals of Indian classical music from Shri Bimal Mitra at an early age. He also learnt from Shri Santosh Choudhury of Natore, Bangladesh and Pandit Vishnu Sebak Mishra of Malda. He joined ITC Sangeet Research Academy in 1983, coming under the tutelage of Pandit A Kanan and later of Shri Arun Bhaduri, as a general class student. Later, as a scholar in 1992, he became a Gandabandh Shagird of Pandit K G Ginde, after whose demise he took advanced talim from Pandit Sunil Bose of the Agra gharana. He left the Academy in 1999, to explore the world on his own. Presently Tushar is under the guidance of his “Guru-Sister” Vidushi Subhra Guha.

In 1998, Tushar stood first in Khayal at All India University competition in Banaras. He got the National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India and was nominated as one of the best new talents for Ananda Sangeet Puraskar by Ananda Bazar Group of Publications in the field of Bengali Songs. Tushar has received the Surmani title from Sur Sringar Samsad of Mumbai. Since 1996 he has been an ‘A-grade’ khayal performer of All India Radio and has also sung for the National programme. Equally adept at singing bhajans, he is a regular radio performer and has at least 40 music CD releases of khayals, bhajans and Bengali songs to his credit by leading companies like Saregama, Sagarika etc.

He was nominated as the best new comer in Bengali music and received the Ananda Sangeet Puraskar. Tushar has been performing regularly in prestigious music conferences all over India, including Saptak Music Festival, Pranganga Swarotsav, Mumbai and others. Across the globe, he has been performing in the US, UK, Canada, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, France, UAE, Oman with ever increasing popularity.
 

	Raga : Bageshree

Vijaya Jadhav Gatlewar
Initiated by her father Dinkar V Jadhav, Vijaya came to ITC-SRA as a scholar in 1978 under the expert guidance of Nivruttibua Sarnaik and continued to learn from him for over fourteen years. From this association springs Vijaya's awareness of what is most subtle and beautiful in the style of Jaipur gharana. After completing her scholarship, she returned to Mumbai with her Guruji because of his illness and completed her M.A. in music from Mumbai University. Vijaya has been performing regularly ever since. Some of her concerts for the last 25 years have been at prestigious venues such as the Tansen Mahotsav, the Sawai Gandharva Mahotsav, at Bharat Bhavan Bhopal for Saptak and at many other concerts in India. She has also performed for All India Radio on their Sangeet Sammelan as well as their Mangalvariya Sangeet Sabha. Vijaya also conducts regular classes for Hindustani Classical Music at her residence. As of July 2011, she has taken on an assignment as a guru with a music institute.

Waseem Khan
Born in 1974, Waseem Khan comes from the great lineage of traditional musicians of the Agra gharana, being the grandson of Ustad Basheer Khan Sahib. He took his initial taalim from his maternal grandfather Ustad Ata Hussain Khan at the age of six. Thereafter, he learnt from his father Ustad Naseem Ahmed Khan. In 1st July 1999, he became a scholar of ITC -SRA under erstwhile Guru Ustad Shafi Ahmed Khan, who was his grand uncle. He left the Academy in April 2003, after becoming an A grade scholar.

After leaving ITC SRA, Waseem has focused on giving talim to students of all ages as it is his passion to groom young talent. Of course he is passionate about performing too. Waseem`s performance debut was at the age of ten. Since then he has performed at various important concerts all over the country, sharing the stage with prominent maestros, including the ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelan at Delhi and the ITC SRA Guru Shishya Parampara concert in Kolkata, 2003. In 2007, he toured France and Germany, one of his memorable performances being at the Theatre de-la-Ville in Paris. He also conducted workshops there. He is a regular performer of All India Radio.

On the invitation of Spicmacay, he has been giving performances and conducting workshops all over the country, along with great maestros, since 1996. He has taught for five years as a senior faculty member of Shakhri Begum Memorial Trust, an Academy run by Ustad Rashid Khan and is currently a Musician Tutor at ITC SRA.