Ramana Balachandhran

Ramana Balachandhran is a Carnatic veena virtuoso widely recognized as one of the finest young vainika of his generation. Born to Carnatic music practitioners Balachandhran and Sharanya, his extraordinary musical talent was noticed at a young age when he could identify ragas and point out nuances. He began learning vocal music and veena under his mother and subsequently pursued intensive veena training under Vidushi B. Nagalakshmi, granddaughter of the legendary Karaikudi Sri Subbarama Iyer. He also studied mridangam under Vid. Satyakumar and Vid. Nagendra, and vocal music from Sangita Kala Acharya Smt. Neela Ramgopal. He currently continues to learn from his father, Sri Balachandhran. Considered a prodigious talent, Ramana was directly awarded an A grade by All India Radio after auditioning at age sixteen, an honor bestowed on very few musicians in AIR's more than seventy-five-year history. The Madras Music Academy waived its age requirements to include him in its annual concert series at sixteen. He has presented nearly four hundred solo veena concerts across major concert halls, sabhas, and festivals in India and abroad, and was invited to perform at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of the President and Prime Minister of India.