Sougata Roy Chowdhury

Sougata Roy Chowdhury is a sarod player who has been recognised as one of the most talented up-and-coming Hindustani classical musicians of his generation. Raised in West Bengal, Chowdhury began his training at age ten with sarod master Dyanesh Khan, son of the five-time Grammy nominee and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

He continued his studies with Dyanesh’s brother Aashish Khan, also a renowned sarod player, and with Pandit Santosh Banerjee, a sitar and surbahar player. Chowdhury received a degree in Indian classical music from the Prachin Kala Kendra of Chandigarh in 1997, and earned his M.A. in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from Visva-Bharati University in 1998. Since 2000, he has been working internationally as a performer and educator, touring and holding workshops in Europe, North America, and India. In 2006, he began performing regularly for All India Radio Kolkata, receiving “A” gradation in 2015.

Among other awards, Chowdhury received a scholarship from the Indian Ministry of Culture in 2000, and won the Pandit Ravi Kichlu Foundation Golden Talent Contest the same year. He has also been invited to perform at the Saptak Annual Festival of Music several times since 2008, and was named one of the best young artists of the decade during the festival in 2010.