Anil Srinivasan (born 3 June 1977) is an Indian pianist. Born in

Chennai, India Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and educated at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

and at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, he is well known for his collaborative work with Carnatic vocalist Sikkil Gurucharan and for his pioneering work in music education in South India. Anil Srinivasan was awarded

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government o ...

by government of Tamil Nadu for the yea
2019

Early life

Anil Srinivasan was born to a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

family. He was brought up in a South Indian traditional atmosphere with

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is o ...

all around right from childhood and has studied western classical

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

since the age of three.

Music

Solo work

Anil has performed at various venues across the world including those at the Kaplan Penthouse at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nati ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the

Esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

The Harbourfront Centre
in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

and The Ashram in

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

, South India. Anil’s solo work marries the Indian classical with the western classical styles. His solo album TOUCH was released in 2015.

Collaborative work

Anil Srinivasan has collaborated with many well known classical musicians such as Mandolin

U. Srinivas Uppalapu Srinivas (28 February 1969 – 19 September 2014) was an Indian mandolin player in Carnatic classical music and composer. Because he was a child prodigy, he was sometimes called the Mozart of classical Indian music. He was awarded th ...

, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, P. Unnikrishnan, Chitravina N. Ravikiran,

Aruna Sairam Sangita Kalanidhi Aruna Sairam is an Indian classical vocalist and carnatic music singer. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the Government of India and has been elected as Vice Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy (India's premie ...

, Rakesh Chaurasia, Gaurav Mazumdar, The Lalgudi duo,

Jayanthi Kumaresh Jayanthi Kumaresh is an Indian Veena musician. Jayanthi comes from a lineage of musicians who have been practising Carnatic music for six generations and started playing the Saraswati Veena at the age of 3. Her mother, Lalgudi Rajalakshmi, was h ...

, Mysore Nagaraj, film actress and

Bharata Natyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

dancer

Shobana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fi ...

, Supratik Das and others. He has also worked with prominent film musicians such as Singer

Srinivas (singer) Srinivasan Doraiswamy, known by his stage name Srinivas, is an Indian playback singer who has sung over 2000 songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. He has also worked independently as a music composer, working on films and ...

Chinmayi Chinmayi Sripaada is an Indian playback singer, working mainly for the South Indian film industry. She is also a voice actor, television presenter, radio jockey, and an entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of a translation services company ...

Saindhavi Saindhavi is a Carnatic music vocalist and an Indian film playback singer. She has been performing from the age of 12. Personal life Saindhavi married her schoolmate, composer G. V. Prakash Kumar, on 27 June 2013 in Chennai, India. They were i ...

Shweta Mohan Shweta Mohan (born 19 November 1985) is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She has recorded more than 700 s ...

Naresh Iyer Naresh Iyer (born 3 January 1981) is an Indian playback singer. Born Mumbai, Iyer is fluent in Malayalam,Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and Marathi. Naresh Iyer has rendered 2000 film songs in several Indian languages and has several chart hits to h ...

Madhu Balakrishnan Madhu Balakrishnan is an Indian playback singer who sings in different languages Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada. Personal life Madhu Balakrishnan was born on 24 June 1974 to Balakrishnan and Leelavathy at Paravur, Eranakulam. His earlie ...

, Harini,

Anuradha Sriram Anuradha Sriram (born 9 July 1970) is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 700 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi ...

Navin Iyer Navin is a surname of various origins. In some cases, it is a Hebrew surname, whose Dutch derivative is Nawijn. In other cases, the surname is derived from the Gaelic surnames ''Mac Cnáimhín'' and ''Ó Cnáimhín''. Hanks; Coates; McClure (2016) ...

and others. Through his collaboration with vocalist Sikkil Gurucharan, includes 6 published albums and several national and international tours. He is also known for having organized alternative performing arts platforms and festivals such as the Festival of Parallels, an annual festival in the city of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

, the Children's Musical Rhapsody(an annual children's arts festival). and his television show "Keys and Conversations" o
NDTV-Hindu
co-anchored with Anuradha Ananth. He regularly works and records with noted vocalist and composer Vedanth Bharadwaj. Anil has also worked with UK-based Milapfest in cross-cultural educational projects. Internationally, he has worked with the Eli Yamin Jazz Quartet (from the US), Pete Lockett (Percussion), Dominique DiPiazza,

Randy Bernsen Randy Bernsen (born July 15, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist. Career Bernsen was born in Needham, Massachusetts and grew up in Florida. He attended high school in Plantation and was active in the clubs of South Florida, starting at age 17 ...

(Guitar), Mark Stone in a recent collaborative performance, members of the National Traditional Performing Arts repertory in Korea (where he was invited as an Artist-In-Residence). He has worked with well-known dancers including the Dhananjayans, Ramli Ibrahim from Malaysia, Anita Ratnam, Anandavalli (Australia) and the Lingalayam Dance Company, among others. He composes and scores music for several productions in the theatrical space as well. In 2013, Anil embarked on a project with the

's famed

Alchemy Festival Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim w ...

, where he has trained teachers of Western Classical music in the nuances and pedagogy of Indian music in classrooms.

Music education

For children

Anil is passionate about music education for children across all strata of society. In 2012, Anil founded Rhapsody – Education Through Music. Rhapsody now reaches over 400,000 children in South India. His work with setting up initiatives for children from different backgrounds is evident through his association with NalandaWay, an NGO that strives tirelessly to provide arts-based educational inputs to children from difficult backgrounds.

For adults

Anil Srinivasan is also a speaker on music and its effect on human behavior, organizational processes and related topics at various forums. He continues to write about music for various publications and media.

Writing

He has written extensively on music for several leading dailies The Hindu, The New Indian Express, The Times of India, Deccan Chronicle, magazines and periodicals. He speaks regularly at conferences related to music, education and entrepreneurship and has been featured at prominent conclaves such as TED INDIA and THINK festivals.

Awards and recognition

1989 - Rachel Morgan Prize - Best Pianist in the Commonwealth 2009 - Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for creative and experimental music from the central

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...

. 2010 - Ritz Icon - South India] 2013 - Swami Haridas Puraskar, Vrindavan, India 2017 - Ken Hobbs Citation for Social Responsibility by Rotary Foundation 2017 - Pride of Tamil Nadu b
Round Table India
2019 - Kalaimamani by Government of Tamilnadu

Television

Compositions and commissions

Various theatre projects (1997–present)

* Guide (Teamwork Productions, Delhi, 2012) * Sita’s Magical Forest] (Apsaras Arts and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, The Esplanade Theatre Company,

, 2012) * Chasing My Mamet Duck (2011) * Barefoot in the Part (Evam, 2003)

Dance works

* Seven Graces (With Anita Ratnam) * Aasai Mugham (With Ramli Ibrahim) * Tapasya (With Rajika Puri)
Karadi Tales (The Mouse Series
2009)
Karadi Tales (A Quiet Courage
2012)

Discography

* Into the Light (2002) with Mandolin U Rajesh * Spirits (2003) with U Rajesh, Pete Lockett and others * Madhirakshi (2006) with Sikkil Gurucharan, Charsur * Maayaa (2007) with Sikkil Gurucharan, Charsur * The Blue Divine (2009) with Sikkil Gurucharan, Kalakendra * Tarunam (2010) with Sikkil Gurucharan, Kalakendra * Flame of the Forest (2009) with Chitravina Ravikiran, Kalakendra * Kannamma (2009), with various artists, Fo
Nalandaway
(Kalakendra) * Eternal Light (2010) with Lalgudi Krishnan, Felmay, Italy * Samjhanitha (2007) with

U Shrinivas Uppalapu Srinivas (28 February 1969 – 19 September 2014) was an Indian mandolin player in Carnatic classical music and composer. Because he was a child prodigy, he was sometimes called the Mozart of classical Indian music. He was awarded th ...

and various other artists, Sony Dreyfus * The Story of Silk (2012) with Sikkil Gurucharan, Silkworm * Live at the Peninsula (2012) With Sikkil Gurucharan, The Peninsula Studio * Keys to India (2013), solo with featured guest artists

Residencies

* Music India, Milapfest (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) *

, London (2013) * National Centre for the Traditional Performing Arts, Korea (2011) * The Lingalayam Dance Company, Sydney, Australia in association with the Parammatta Arts Council (2010)

External links

*http://www.sabhash.com/artist/73/anil-srinivasan.htm *http://www.mtv.com/artists/anil-srinivasan/biography// *http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/article63668.ece

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Srinivasan, Anil Living people 1977 births Indian classical pianists Indian music educators Musicians from Chennai USC Thornton School of Music alumni Columbia University alumni 21st-century classical pianists Pianist from India