Shubhendra Rao

Shubhendra Rao is a popular sitar player and a music composer born on 26th November 1964 in Mysore, Karnataka. Pandit Ravishankar is Shubhendra’s guide. Pt Ravishankar is much close to Shubhendra Rao’s father, N R Rama Rao, who was the one who motivated Shubhendra to learn music. Nagaratna, the popular Saraswati Veena player, is Shubhendra Rao’s mother. Right from the age of seven, he started learning music. In 1983, he made his stage debut in Delhi. He performed in Uday Utsav with his Guru. In 1984, Shubhendra Rao moved to Delhi to carry out his dream. It is his teacher Pandit Ravishankar, who developed his skills and made him a complete musician. In 1988, he went to Russia to perform in a concert, Live in Kremlin. After many years, the video was released as a CD. He toured the UK in 1989 and 1990 and performed in the concerts under the production banner Ghanashyam. From 1985 to 1995, he performed with Pandit Ravishankar in many concerts worldwide.

His first solo concert was held in Bangalore in 1987. Although he made his solo concerts, he accompanied his Master in his concerts. He has performed in the world’s most prestigious places, including John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Walker Arts Center, Des Moines Arts Center, Sydney Opera House, Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Paris’ Theatre de la Ville and Baba Harballabh Sangeet Mahasabha. Besides this, he had performed in many music festivals, including England’s WOMAD festival in Guernsey, South Africa’s National Arts Festival, Tehran’s Fajr International Music Festival, Shankarlal Festival in Delhi, Ahmedabad’s SAPTAK Festival, Gunidas Sammelan in Delhi and Bangalore’s Vasantahabba Festival. Shubhendra is one of the regular performers in DD and Radio. He has also performed at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and also had been the guru for the council. He teaches music in the council for years and develops the potential of the students. He had been a guest lecturer in many renowned universities, including Yale University, Peabody Conservatory of Music, University of Sacramento, Duke University, Lewis and Clark College, Winona State University, the University of Minneapolis and the University of Nebraska.

He received the Youth Icon for Classical Music in 2007 from Zee TV Network. He is married to Saskia Rao-de Haas since 2001 and the couple has a child, Ishaan. The couple runs a non-profit organization, The Shubhendra & Saskia Rao Foundation and helps underprivileged children learn music. In 2014, he was awarded the Delhi Ratna award by the Art and Cultural Trust of India and Saskia Rao was also honored with the same award with him.