Calcutta Shankar

With a Master’s degree in Commerce and Business Administration, Vishnampet Natarajan Shankar, also known as Calcutta V.N.Shankar, is a young and upcoming Carnatic Vocal Musician who, with an enthusiastic smile on his face, is ready for a concert at any moment. Vishnampet is 60 kilometers south of Tiruvarur. He learned his preliminaries from Shri. Sankara Bagavathar, Shri. A.Anantharaman, and Shri.V.V.Ramakrishnan of Calcutta, who came from a musical family. Later, he was trained under Shri. D.K.Jayaraman and Shri.O.S.Thiagarajan of Sangitha Kalanidhi. Sangeetha Bhushanam Shri.O.V.Subramanyam, Prof T. R. Subramaniam, and Oothookkadu Shri. Muthukrishan Iyer was among his teachers.

He received training from Padma Bhushan and Sangeetha Kala Acharya Vidwan Shri. P.S.Narayanaswamy and Kalaimamani Shri Anayampatti Ganesan. Even though being affiliated with the Semmangudi School of Music is a significant honor, he has developed his singing style. Thanks to his gentle and beautiful voice, his unique method of singing Raga Alapana, and smooth interpretation of Krithis, Niravals, and Swaras. Since he was a child, he competed in various music competitions, winning prizes and garnering appreciation. From the age of eight, he showed tremendous talent, promise, and potential. He has performed numerous performances both in and outside of Chennai.  He has also appeared on private television channels such as Raj TV and Vijay TV. He has also released an audio cassette under "Kalavardhani," which has received widespread acclaim. He has performed solo performances in and outside of Chennai in famous Sabhas and esteemed institutions and accompanying his gurus at most of their music concerts. His ability to sing light/light classical music, ghazals, and bhajans, in addition to performing pure classical music, adds to the flexibility of his musical expositions.

A feather in his crown is his understanding of Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, and Tamil, which aids in presenting compositions with precise pauses and correct pronunciation. In 2004, he performed in the United States. The concerts were a hit with beautiful reviews on the internet. The performances in each state were widely attended and arranged by the local community. Atlanta, Raleigh, Washington, and Nashville are the places where he hosted the shows.