Anupama Bhagwat with Nitin Mitta

Anupama Bhagwat is an internationally acclaimed Indian sitar maestro and a leading disciple of the legendary Acharya Pandit Bimalendu Mukherjee. Born in Bhilai, India, into a musical South Indian family, she began her musical exploration at age five with vocals and violin. She picked up the sitar at age nine, later training rigorously under the Imdadkhani Gharana (style of playing) tradition. Her career has taken her to premier venues and festivals worldwide. Her celestial honor, in 2006, the asteroid 185325 Anupabhagwat was named in her honor by Italian astronomer Vincenzo Silvano Casulli. Anupama plays in the Gayaki style, a lyrical and subtly nuanced style modelled upon the human voice. Anupama’s technical virtuosity has been lauded by connoisseurs worldwide. Anupama has been awarded the title “Surmani”. Beyond performing, she is an active educator who shares her knowledge through global workshops and structured online sitar lessons. One of the leading disciples of Bimalendu Mukherjee, doyen of the Imdadkhani Gharana, Anupama’s style is characterized by scintillating fast taans, mastery of the meditative alaap, and brilliant fluency of melody (raaga-bhava), while remaining true to tradition.

Nitin Mitta: With a reputation for technical virtuosity, spontaneity, clarity of tone, and sensitivity to melodic nuances, Nitin Mitta has distinguished himself among the foremost tabla players of his generation. An exponent of the Farukhabad Gharana (style of playing), Nitin received his early training in his hometown of Hyderabad, India, from Pandit G. Satyanarayana, and later Arvind Mulgaonkar in Mumbai. In addition to being a dynamic soloist, he is a highly sought after accompanist who has performed with some of the most celebrated Hindustani classical musicians, including Pandit Jasraj, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Shahid Parvez, as well as many noted Carnatic musicians, such as Lalgudi G.J.R Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. Nitin has collaborated with Grammy nominated jazz pianist Vijay Iyer and Carnatic guitarist Prasanna to produce Tirtha, an album and live trio blending elements of contemporary jazz with the North and South Indian traditional ragas and compositions. Most recently Nitin collaborated with Vijay Iyer again as a trio with Indian classical sarod master Alam Khan.