Rakesh Chaurasia

A famous name attached to this musician; young Rakesh is the nephew and child prodigy of flute maestro Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. The most accomplished of disciples of his uncle, he shows all the promise to carry the Chaurasia legacy to new heights.
Just like his legendary uncle, Rakesh possesses the right balance of strength and serenity, very critical factors for an exceptional flautist. His dexterous blowing technique coupled with his training of ‘swar’ and ‘tala’ exudes adeptly in his emotions through the hollow piece of bamboo. Rakesh has already globe trotted many times over, enthralling audiences at classical and semi-classical concerts in Japan, Australia, Europe, South Africa and USA. He is also an accomplished musician having recorded with most of the leading stalwarts of the Indian film industry. And just like his illustrious uncle, he has composed music and worked with artists such as the Spanish guitarist Marco Salaun, Indian jazz pianist Louis Banks and percussionist Taufiq Qureshi, amongst others. “VIRA”, one of his most successful and highly acclaimed albums on which he was accompanied by Talvin Singh on the tabla, is released under the Sona Rupa label. Soon after its release, he and Talvin were invited to conclude the 24 hour live music broadcast to a worldwide audience on the BBC radio celebrating Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee.

Despite his experimental work, Rakesh has never deviated from his main goal of becoming a full-fledged classical musician. The winner of “Surmani” (Mumbai) in 1998, he has regularly appeared in prominent festivals like St. Xavier’s in Mumbai, ‘Festivals of India’ in Russia, Japan and the USA. His growing maturity and status has brought him invitations to perform solo at major events within India and abroad such as the Festival of Saint-Denis in Paris with Talvin Singh, Leicester International Music Festival in England, ‘Ashirwadh Sangeet Samaroh’ in Varanasi, ‘Anubhuti’ in Mumbai where history was made when, for the first time ever, Rakesh, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt Shivkumar Sharma and his son, Rahul, all performed together on stage accompanied by the legendary Ustad Zakir Hussain. Having also appeared in Gwalior, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bhopal, he has had the distinction of a solo performance in front of a 2000 capacity audience during the prestigious ‘Hindi Sahitya Sammelan’ in the city of Allahabad.

Modest Rakesh is the first to admit that he has a lot to learn, not just from his legendary uncle and maestro, but his peers too. He is indeed, destined to carve a niche for himself in the realm of Indian Classical Music with the simple yet extremely difficult to play bamboo flute, the Bansuri.

Prestigious concerts:
Festival De Saint-Denis, Paris with Talvin & Smadj
Ashirwadh Sangeet Samaroh, Varanasi
Chaturang Sangeet Utsav, Mumbai
ANUBHUTI,, Mumbai - first time ever 5 artist together, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shiv kumar Sharma, Zakir Hussain, Rakesh Chaurasia & Rahul Sharma
Fine Art Social Welfare Society – New Delhi - Inaugural Sangeet Samaroh, Millennium 2001.
Yeshwantrao Chavan Pratishthan’s Rangswar, Mumbai – “Avani” – a fusion concert in aid of the Gujarat Earthquake victims.
Milap fest – the Indian festival – Liverpool (part of BBC Music Live Program)
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA – Millennium festival, N.Y.
Vedic Heritage Inc. – Hempstead, USA – Dipawali celebration.
Sangeet Maha Yagna – 50 hour non-stop performance of Indian classical music by over 100 artistes on the occasion of India’s 50 years of independence.
South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur – Yuva Sangeet Nritya Mahotasav.