Chaar Prahar Indian Classical Music Festival

Masks are encouraged and appreciated, but not mandatory for this event.

Chaar Prahar Music Festival presents the doyens of Indian Classical Music and the brightest stars of the current generation on one stage. Now in its fourth year, the featured artists of Chaar Prahar Festival 2022 are Ustad Nishat Khan – Sitar and Pandit Abhijit Banerjee - Tabla. The show begins with a Hindustani-Carnatic jugalbandi with Raman Kalyan – Carnatic Flute, Sriram Raman – Mridangam, Indradeep Ghosh – Violin and Nitin Mitta – Tabla.

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM - Raman Kalyan (Flute), Indradeep Ghosh (Violin), Nitin Mitta (Tabla), and Sriram Raman (Mridangam) - Hindustani and Carnatic Jugalbandhi

8:15 PM - 10:00 PM - Ustad Nishat Khan (Sitar) and Pandit Abhijit Banerjee (Tabla)

Ustad Nishat Khan

With the strike of a single, unmistakable note, the sound of Nishat Khan’s sitar instantly captivates and transforms one’s mood. Listeners are transported to another realm by a sight and sound unlike any other. As the current torchbearer of the most recorded musical family in the world, 7 generations of wisdom reside in his fingertips. While grounded in centuries of tradition, Nishat forges his own signature sound with a refreshing twist: familiar yet challenging, unfolding with emotional contrasts and surprises at every turn.

Having lived and toured all over the world continuously since age 13, his unique cosmopolitan perspective has inspired a great sensitivity and connection to the philosophies and musics of the world. In addition to his solo works, Nishat’s dedication to uniting the cultures of east and west has fostered collaborations with renowned artists such as Evelynn Glennie, Paco Peña, John McLaughlin, and Vox Clamantis.

Nishat gave his first public concert at age 7, and was the youngest performer on an All India Radio national programme at age 15. Opening for the 100 Years of Indian Cinema celebration, he played his original live score for the classic 1920’s silent film Throw of Dice. He has been invited three times to the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall: as a soloist, premiering his Sitar Concerto No. 1 "Gate of the Moon" with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and for his Gregorian Chants project with the BBC Singers. He has performed at major venues internationally including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Suntory Hall in Tokyo for the Japanese Parliament, and he regularly performs at the South Bank and Barbican Center. Some of his most recent concerts include MIT's Kresge Auditorium and the Virée Classical Music Festival with the Orchestra Symphony of Montreal in 2019. In 2018, he performed at the Lugano Opera House in Switzerland and debuted his Sitar Concerto No. 1 with the Seattle Symphony. He was also featured in three concerts at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2017.

In 2021 he premiered a specially-commissioned piece for members of the Royal family, a duet with one of the world's leading artists, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Returning to the stage in November 2021 he performed to a full house at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

"Profound and electrifying... pure exhilaration, taking tradition as a blueprint for ecstasy" -New York Times

"Etherial, compelling, sensual, Nishat Khan master of the sitar" -LA Times

"Freewheeling virtuosity inflected with infinite imaginative variety" -BBC Proms, The Guardian

"Ferociously gifted... no conceivable limitations... his sitar roars, cries, and exults" -Times of India

Pandit Abhijit Banerjee

Abhijit Banerjee is one of the most sought-after creative artists in the realm of Indian classical music. He has crafted a unique style and creative approach, bringing him many accolades and awards. He is known for his sensitivity, skill, and deep sense of musicality. Apart from his contribution to Indian music, he has delved into a diverse variety of world music and crossover music as both a performer and composer. He was steered towards the tabla at the age of four by his father. Later he also studied vocal music and violin, making him a complete musician.

He is one of the main disciples of the illustrious guru, late Pt. Gyan Prakash Ghosh. Abhijit Banerjee has accompanied nearly all the top-ranking stars of Hindustani classical music on the tabla. As a tabla soloist, he has also left his distinct mark through numerous performances and publications in India and abroad. He has toured extensively all over the world and has performed in all of the major classical music festivals in India.

In addition to a highly successful career in Indian classical music, his crossover work includes collaborations with international musicians. He has also produced Rabindranath Tagore’s AMI Chitrangada in collaboration with Balinese Gamelan Artiste Dewa aBerata of Cudamani group, which was later released as a music album. Pt. Banerjee founded his ensemble Tarang performing his original compositions. He has scored music for TV series, documentaries, puppet shows, dramas and short films, and has won the National Award for Documentary Music for the film about Calcutta, The Trail, which screened at international film festivals.

Abhijit Banerjee founded and established the Dhwani Academy of Percussion in Los Angeles and Kolkata, attracting talented students from around the world. He has conducted several workshops and educational performance seminars on the intricacies of Indian music in universities and cultural centers abroad.

Raman Kalyan

Breathing magical melodies on the Indian bamboo flute, Flute virtuoso Raman Kalyan is one of the leading flautists in the Carnatic style of music. Raman with his unique style has captivated audiences globally. Raman has released over 80 CDs and many DVDs & his most recent CD, Music for deep meditation reached the # 1 spot on the apple Itunes world music charts & remained in the top 50 albums for more than 6 months. Raman has also been featured as a guest artist in more than 300 commercial recordings & Indian Movies. Raman is a top ranking artist for the All India Radio & Doordarshan. Apart from being a soloist, Raman has been a successful composer and has scored music for many audio /video albums, Dance Dramas and theatre productions. Raman won the “Best Flautist Award” from Madras Music Academy twice for his concert during December Music Festival 2009 & 2013

Indradeep Ghosh

Indradeep Ghosh is one of the premier violinists in the Hindustani Classical genre and an innovator who has adopted the repertoire of the Maihar Gharana on the viola. He is an “A” grade artist of All India Radio and Television. Indradeep’s traning began at the age of six under the guidance of Sri Anamitra Mustafi. Since 1991 he has been under the tutelage of Professor Smt. Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury. He also had the privilege of getting training from various maestros of Indian Classical Music including from Pandit V.G.Jog and Pandit Kumar Bose. Indradeep is one of the few Indian Classical violinists to play a custom made five-string violin with eight sympathetic strings, modeled after the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. The sympathetic strings allow for a fuller, resonant sound. His performances integrate many different styles and techniques of Western Classical and Oriental music. His style of playing can be described as a blend of Gayki and Tantrakari Ang.

Indradeep has performed in prestigious festivals such as Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahostav, Pune, India; Dover Lane Music Festival, Kolkata, India; L'Arbre Qui Marche, Saint-Martin-du-Bois, France; 10th Asia Festival, Spain; and 42nd EUYC, Switzerland. As a global musician Indradeep has collaborated with western musicians such as GRAMMY winning Kora player Mamadou Diabaté, world famous rock band drummer Steve Smith and Jazz Organ player Tony Monaco, to name a few.

Indradeep has contributed to albums such as Melodic Intersect: One Vision, which won the Akademia Music Award in January 2016 in Los Angeles. He is currently the artistic director for Global Creative Arts Academy (GCAA), Houston, Texas and serves as a faculty instructor at School of Indian Percussion and Music, Austin, Texas. In 2019, he was appointed as “International Cultural Ambassador” by Alliance Clubs International.

Nitin Mitta

Nitin Mitta is a dynamic Tabla soloist and a highly sought after accompanist who has performed worldwide with some of India’s most celebrated Classical musicians such as Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ustad Shahid Parvez , Ustad Nishat Khan and many such eminent artists.

Nitin has also made a mark as a versatile collaborator when he joined forces with Grammy Nominee Pianist Vijay Iyer and electric guitarist R. Prasanna to produce a studio album titled Tirtha. He has also performed and toured extensively with two time Juno ( Canadian Grammy) award winner singer Kiran Ahluwalia and recorded two classical music albums with Pianist Utsav Lal. Other prominent artists that Nitin has performed with, include Simon Shaheen, Homayun Sakhi, Michael Harrison and Amir El Saffar.

Nitin started his formal tabla training in Hyderabad, India from his Gurus' Pt. G.Satyanarayana and later from Pt. Arvind Mulgaonkar, both of whom are disciples of Ustad Amir Husain Khan, the Legendary doyen of the Farukhabad Gharana.

Nitin has performed at several prominent venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Zankel hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Nitin imparts tabla training to tabla enthusiasts around and the world and currently teaches Tabla at the Brown University in Providence, RI.

Sriram Raman

Sriram Raman is a mridangist based in New York and a disciple of the mridangam maestro, Neyveli R. Narayanan. Sriram started playing the mridangam at the age of 6. For the past 2 decades, Sriram has accompanied several well-known artists in Carnatic concerts in the US and in Chennai, his hometown.

Sriram plays drums for NY-based rock band, Sepoy. Professionally, Sriram is a Product Manager at Coinbase.