Internationally acclaimed performer, Rajeev Taranath is today one of the world's leading exponents of the Sarod. A distinguished disciple of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, his performances masterfully combine the depth and rigor of the tradition of Hindustani classical music with an inspired imagination and emotional intensity. Hailed a prodigy in Hindustani vocal music, he had been earlier trained by his father Pandit Taranath and other eminent musicians and was a concert and radio artist before he was twenty. Rajeev has toured extensively as a performer in India, Australia, Europe, Yemen and throughout the U.S. He has also composed music for several nationally and internationally honored 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 achievement in the field of Hindustani Instrumental music. In 1998 he received the prestigious national Award, 'Chowdiah Award for Music' from the Government of Karnataka in India for excellence in the field of instrumental music. He has also received 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 Eden, Yemen, entitled Finnan Min-Al-Hind (Artist from India). Rajeev Taranath's distinctive musicianship demonstrates striking imaginative power, technical excellence 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. The New York Times (April 14, 1982) described his music by commenting with great enthusiasm about the exuberance and versatility of his playing, which ranged from the spiritual to the spirited. Rajeev was a Ford Foundation scholar (1989 to 1992) and researched during this period on the Teaching Techniques of the Maihar-Allauddin Gharana. Rajeev has also received guidance from Pandit Ravi Shankar and Shrimati Annapurna Devi. From 1995-2005 he was a member of the music department faculty at the prestigious California Insitute of the Arts in Los Angeles, California. Rajeev Taranath frequently performs and tours throughout India and internationally with concert engagements for major Indian music conferences, Universities, western chamber music series, world music festivals and Indian cultural organizations dedicated to the presentation of high caliber Indian classical music. (Source: http://www.rajeevtaranath.com/bio.htm )