Description:

Composer and performer, Shubhendra Rao is ranked amongst the key soloists of India. Distinguished as a musical bridge to many cultures, he creates an experience for his audience that "is not aimed at titillating the senses, but to seize the soul" (The Hindu, New Delhi). A prot?g? of world-renowned Sitar maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Shubhendra has established himself ?not only as a master of his instrument but also as a thinking musician, constantly endeavouring to carry his instrument beyond conventional boundaries?( Gateway magazine). Hailed by critics and connoisseurs as a worthy successor to his Guru?s tradition, Shubhendra has performed internationally at major music festivals and prestigious concert halls like Carnegie Hall and on Broadway in New York, WOMAD festival in Guernsey, UK, Sydney Opera House in Australia, Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington DC, the Edinburgh Festivals in Scotland, National Arts Festival in South Africa, Theatre de le Ville in Paris. In India, Shubhendra has performed at major music festivals in India including the Doverlane Conference, ITC Sangeet Sammelan in Kolkata, Baba Harvallabh Sangeet Mahasabha in Jullandhar, Shankarlal Festival and the Gunidas Sammelan in New Delhi, the SAPTAK Festival in Ahmedabad, the Vasantahabba Festival in Bangalore. He is invited as a guest teacher to give lecture-demonstrations about Indian music by leading universities all over the world. His international tours have taken him to the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Mexico, England, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium and many Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Dubai and Bangladesh. In November 2007, he was awarded the ?Youth Icon for Classical Music? by the popular Zee Television Network. A child prodigy who started playing the Sitar at the age of 3, Shubhendra?s first teacher was his father, N.R.Rama Rao, a noted and close disciple of Pandit Ravi S