Chitravina N Ravikiran

"Perhaps the world’s greatest slide player”- Radio National, Australia Prodigy & Musician Ravikiran, hailed as the Mozart of Indian music, made headlines as the world’s youngest prodigy at the age of two (in 1969). He could identify and demonstrate 325 ragas, 175 talas and answer numerous other music-related questions. He presented vocal concerts between the age of five and nine, which he has resumed since 1999.

He switched over to the exquisite, 21-stringed chitravina when he was 12 and presented a record non-stop recital for 24 hours when he was 18. He has toured around the world several times and performed in USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Singapore, etc in major international festivals and venues such as Autumn Festival (France), Millennium Festival (UK), Brisbane International Festival (Australia), Cal Arts Festival, (USA), Harborfront Festival, Toronto (Canada), Sadler’s Wells, London, Radio France International Festival, House of World Culture, Berlin, Tate Modern, London and Theatre de la Ville, Paris. Networks including CNN, BBC, ABC, and Channel 4 and record labels such as Nimbus, Naxos, Waterlily, Music Today & EMI have featured him. Ravikiran has played numerous jugalbandi concerts with such leading musicians from Hindustani style as Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Girija Devi and Pt Ronu Majumdar. His collaborations with top world music stars like Taj Mahal and Glen Velez have brought him world honours including The New Age Voice Finalist Award (USA) for Best Contemporary World Music for 2001. Ravikiran has been the first or youngest to receive several awards from the age of six, including Star of India, Kalaimamani, Kumar Gandharava Samman, Sangeeta Choodamani, Vadya Ratnakara and Isai Peroli. Composer & Director Recognized in world music for his concept Melharmony, which he successfully premiered in collaboration with artistes of the BBC Philharmonic orchestra for Kalasangam’s Global Echoes during the Millennium Festival in UK, Ravikiran is one of the more prolific composers today with over 500 original pieces that include music-dance productions such as Lakshmi Prabhavam, Savitri, Cosmos, Vinayaka Vaibhavam and In the Long White Moonlight. Ravikiran has authored two widely read books, Appreciating Carnatic Music and Perfecting Carnatic Music and also several other articles.

He also launched a Tele-Teaching program in 1996, which has enabled students from various parts of the world to learn effectively from him. He attributes all his success to his gurus Chitravina maestro Narasimhan and Sangeeta Kalanidhi T Brinda. He has an excellent website www.ravikiranmusic.com