Biography

Rajeev Taranath is a professional sarod artist based out of Mysore, Karnataka. Internationally acclaimed performer, Rajeev is today one of the world's leading exponents of the sarod. A distinguished disciple of maestro Ali Akbar Khan, his performances masterfully combines the rigour and depth of the tradition of Hindustani classical music with an emotional intensity and inspired imagination. Hailed a prodigy in Hindustani vocal music, he had been earlier trained by Pandit Taranath, his father, and other eminent musicians and was a radio and concert artist before he was 20. Rajeev has also received direction from Pandit Ravi Shankar and Shrimati Annapurna Devi. From 1995-2005 he was a member of the music department faculty at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, California. He has toured extensively as a performer in India, Europe, Australia, Yemen and throughout the US, and also composed music for several nationally and internationally honoured Indian films. He is the recipient of the Indian Government's highest award in the arts, the Sangeet Natak Academi Award for 1999-2000, given in recognition of outstanding accomplishment in the field of Hindustani instrumental music. In 1998, he received the prestigious national award, Chowdiah Award for Music, from the Government of Karnataka for excellence in the field of instrumental music. He has also earned awards from the Indian State Government of Karnataka for his contribution to music – the Sangeet Nritya Akademi Award in 1993 and the Karnataka Rajya Prashasti in 1996. In 1980, he was the subject of a documentary made for the television in Yemen and Eden called Finnan Min-Al-Hind (artist from India). Rajeev’s distinctive musicianship demonstrates striking technical excellence, imaginative power, and emotional range. He is respected for the clarity of musical understanding which he brings to the unfolding of a raga and the beauty of the tone he evokes from the sarod. Rajeev Taranath frequently tours throughout India and internationally with concert engagements for major Indian universities, music conferences, world music festivals, western chamber music series and Indian cultural organisations dedicated to the presentation of high calibre Indian classical music.