Ambi Subramaniam (born 5 August 1991 Los Angeles, California, United States) is a violinist, composer, and educator. He started performing on stage when he was six years old and was described as the "new king of Indian classical violin" by the Times of India. Ambi is the Associate Dean of the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa), an institute that trains musically inclined children to become professional performers. In 2014, Ambi started the SaPa in Schools program with his sister, Bindu Subramaniam. SaPa in Schools is an initiative to integrate music into the mainstream academic curriculum, and works with 30,000 children in India. Ambi's awards include the Ritz Icon of the Year Award, the Rotary Youth Award, two Global Indian Music Awards (GiMAs), and one BiMA. He was the three-time winner of the Philomena Thumbochetty Award for Best Western Classical Violinist, and received a golden violin from Sri Jayendra Saraswati when he was 18 years old. In 2021, he was named among GQ Magazine's 25 most influential young Indians. Ambi is a youth delegate at the United Nations for the

Sri Chinmoy Chinmoy Kumar Ghose (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), better known as Sri Chinmoy, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the United States after moving to New York City in 1964.Dr. L Subramaniam and vocalist Vijayashree (Viji) Subramaniam. His sister, Bindu Subramaniam, is a singer/songwriter and educator and his brother,

Dr. Narayana Subramaniam Dr. Narayana Subramaniam is an Indian singer, author and head and neck surgical oncologist. He is the son of violinist and composer Dr. L. Subramaniam and Viji Subramaniam. His father married Playback singer Kavita Krishnamurti in 1999. He h ...

, is a head and neck oncologist, author and musician. Ambi moved to Bangalore, India with his family in 1996, after the death of his mother. His father married Bollywood playback singer Kavita Krishnamurti in 1999.

Education

Ambi ranked first at the Board Royal School of Music's violin exams, which he took in 2005. He also received distinctions in piano and Western music theory, and was the three-time winner of the Philomena Thumbochetty Award for Best Western Classical Violinist. Ambi completed his BBM from

Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College (SBMJC) was established in the year 1990. Founded by group of members of Jain society, in VV Puram and now known as a part of Jain University which has established many colleges. However, SBMJC remains a prom ...

, which comes under the umbrella of Jain University Bangalore. He completed his MBA at RIMS, Bangalore, and has a PhD in music.

Career

Early Years

Ambi first sang on stage when he was six years old, and gave his first violin performance at the age of seven in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the Indian Embassy. In 1999, he performed at the Necklace Road, Hyderabad, to an audience of 200,000. He performed alongside the Venga Boys as part of the Pepsi Live Concert in 2000. Ambi started performing regularly after he turned 13. Around this time, he performed for then President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He also participated in a virtual exchange program between an audience in New Delhi and one in

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

, where he and an American teenage musician discussed cultural and musical differences. In 2007, he took his first trip to Durban, South Africa, where he performed at the One World Music Festival with his father. In 2008, he played at the opening of the

Commonwealth Youth Games The Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) is an international multi-sport event organized by the Commonwealth Games Federation. The games were held in the years, mid-way between when the Commonwealth Games are held, until 2008. They continued to be he ...

held in Pune.

Orchestral and international performances

Ambi gave his debut orchestral performance at the age of 15 with the Orchestra Nationale du Lille conducted by Maestro Jean-Claude Cassedesus. In the same year, he performed at the Barbican, London, and the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

for the first time. In 2008, he performed with the Leipzig Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dr. Michael Koehler. He has also performed with the Orchestra Nationale du Lille, Sinfonia Baltica, the Kwazulu Natal Symphony, and the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. In January 2013, Ambi was a soloist with the

Seattle Symphony The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera. History Beginnings The orchest ...

performing Shantipriya, a composition of Dr. L. Subramaniam. In 2014, he performed at the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, as part of the events accompanying Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

's speech to the Indian American community. In 2015, Ambi performed at the Philharmonie de Paris, a cultural institution in France dedicated to music. He played at the Theatre de la Ville in 2017, and was the youngest Indian soloist to have performed there. He performed at Chicago's

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...

for the first time in 2015 with his father, as part of the

Chicago World Music Festival The World Music Festival Chicago is an annual musical event held in Chicago, Illinois, since 1999. It is organized by the City of Chicago. The festival takes place in September, usually runs 5–10 days, and has featured musicians from over 75 ...

. It was the first time a Carnatic artist performed at the festival. In 2015, he performed in Iceland and in 2017, he performed at the 19th Annual Chicago World Music Festival. In 2018, he performed for External Affairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj Sushma Swaraj (''née'' Sharma; 14 February 1952 – 6 August 2019; ) was an Indian lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Delhi, and also the Minister of External Affairs of India in the first Narendra Modi ...

in Luxemburg. Ambi is a regular performer at the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival, participating as a featured soloist in many special events including Sounds of India and Violins for Peace. Ambi has performed twice at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, in 2008 and 2012. Ambi continues to record and perform regularly with his father. He endorses D'Addario strings and Realist violins.

SubraMania and The Thayir Sadam Project

In 2013, Ambi started a fusion band, SubraMania, along with his sister Bindu Subramaniam. SubraMania has performed live in many cities across India and toured in seven European countries. In 2016, SubraMania was invited by the Spanish government to celebrate 60 years of Indo-Spanish relations. This inspired their single, Esperanza. The band has collaborated with

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist, piccoloist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 50 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop ...

, Oystein Baadsvik, Lesle Lewis, and Bollywood composer

Aadesh Srivastav Aadesh Shrivastava (4 September 1964 – 5 September 2015) was a music composer and playback singer who worked in Indian films. Initially, he had worked as a drummer to music composers including R. D. Burman, Rajesh Roshan before working indep ...

. SubraMania's music has been described as a "mammoth success" by the Asian Age, and their performance at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2018 was described as "one of the major highlights" of the festival by Firstpost. In 2018, Bindu and Ambi collaborated with Carnatic fusion artist Mahesh Raghvan to create The Thayir Sadam Project. The Thayir Sadam Project has released tracks in collaboration with Carnatic singing duo Ranjani-Gayathri, and created an Indian cover of A Million Dreams to promote the United Nations'

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

. As of 2018, The Thayir Sadam Project has conducted workshops with over 5000 students, teaching them global music and promoting initiatives like the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via the 10,000 deeds campaign.

Music education

Ambi is the co-founder and CCO of the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa), an institute of Indian and global music founded by Dr. L Subramaniam and

Kavita Krishnamurti Kavita Krishnamurthy (born as Sharada Krishnamurthy), is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded numerous songs in various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Marathi, E ...

in 2007. He co-founded the SaPa in Schools program in 2014, as an initiative to integrate music into the mainstream academic curriculum. The program works with 30,000 children as of 2021. Earlier in 2019, Ambi co-authored India's first series of textbooks dedicated to teaching the Indian violin. He is currently working on offering undergraduate courses in music education, technology, and performance. In 2020, along with Bindu Subramaniam, Ambi took the SaPa curriculum online, with an online learning platform hosting self-paced courses by Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti Subramaniam, Anup Jhalota, Russ Miller and more.

Masterclasses and Workshops

Ambi delivered two

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

talks on fusion music and the violin – at different universities in Bangalore. He has conducted workshops at the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

, Metea Valley High School, Illinois,

Whistling Woods International __NOTOC__ Whistling Woods International is a film, communication and creative arts institute located in Mumbai, India. Founded in 2006 by Subhash Ghai. The institute is promoted by the Indian Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, Mukta Arts and Film City M ...

, Mumbai and many others. He has also conducted masterclasses in music at locations in Norway, Sri Lanka, Spain, The Netherlands, and Germany.

Film and TV Appearances

Ambi did a cameo in Kamal Hassan's '

Hey Ram ''Hey Ram'' () is a 2000 Indian epic historical fiction film written, directed, and produced by Kamal Haasan, that stars him in the title role with Shah Rukh Khan (in his Tamil debut) in a pivotal role. It was simultaneously made in the Tamil a ...

.' He appeared as Chinno, younger brother to Vasundhara Das's character. In 2011, he was a featured guest on ' Oye! it's Friday' with host

Farhan Akhtar Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and singer who works in Hindi films. Born to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he established the production company Excel Entertainment, along with Ritesh Sidhwa ...

, and played for Bollywood actor

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Padishah, Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has Shah Rukh K ...

, who called him a "genius". He has made appearances on TV shows broadcast in Sri Lanka, Spain, Italy, UK and the US. Along with Bindu, Ambi co-hosts The SaPa Show, a weekly television program aimed at teaching children Indian and global music.

Personal life

Ambi was born in Los Angeles, California, to violinist L. Subramaniam and vocalist Vijayashree (Viji) Subramaniam. His sister Bindu Subramaniam is a musician and music educator, and his brother

is a head and neck oncologist, author and musician. He moved to Bangalore, India with his family in 1996, after the death of his mother. His father married Bollywood playback singer

in 1999. He is married to Shreya Suresh.

Discography

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Subramaniam, Ambi Carnatic violinists Living people 1991 births 21st-century violinists