Amrita Rao, a Hindustani classical vocalist hailing from the captivating town of Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district, India, embarked on her extraordinary journey into the realm of music at the tender age of eight.

In 2012, Amrita’s debut classical Album ‘Aagam’ featuring ragas Gurjari Todi & Maru bihag was released showcasing the soul-stirring ragas of Gurjari Todi and Maru Bihag.

With Pandit Parameshwar Hegde’s hand on the torch, Amrita has received awards and has performed in prestigious platforms in many cities in India, captivating patrons with her melodious voice. Some of her notable achievements include:

  •  B-high graded artiste of All India Radio in both North Indian classical music and light music genres and has performed for Yuva Vani on Amritavarshini, a classical music radio channel
  • Recipient of Young artistes’ Scholarship from HRD ministry and CCRT Scholarship for Hindustani music from Ministry of Culture (Govt. of India)
  • Has won the prestigious Kishor Pratibhe Award for Hindustani music category from Kannada and Culture Dept. (Govt. of Karnataka)
  • Has won a Gold Medal for light music from Adarsha Sugama Sangeeth Academy, Bangalore
  • Has a unique experience of teaching the tribal students of Heggadadevana kote (a tribal belt in remote Karnataka) for 3 consecutive years.

Performances

  • Has performed at noted venues in various Indian cities (Pune, Bhopal, Bangalore, Hubli, Dharwad)
    Vadiraja Kanakadasa Music Festival, Udupi
    Gosri Gana Sabha, Kochi
    Karikan Parameshwari moonlight Sangeeta Festival
    Sirsi Marikamba Navratri music Festival
  • Performances in USA and Canada
    Los Angeles (Avartan Music Festival, UCLA)
    Sangeet Dhwani, California
    Swara Lahari – Youtube recording here
    Dhwani Academy of percussion music
    Yuvaraga, SPICMACAY University of Washington – Performance link
  • HAA 2019 convention at Toronto, Canada
  • Featured as a promising youth vocalist in the Devnandan Ubhaykar Yuva Sangeet Utsav promotional video –  Catch a Rising Star
  • Has lent voice for highly appreciated CDs and cassettes like Raag-Anuraag, Panatha, and a vachana CD brought out by Govt. of Karnataka
  • She has lent her voice to independent short film (Chakori), theatre groups and Odissi dance performances
  • Has performed in Doordarshan and other regional television channels

Other Notable Accomplishments

A Postgraduate in Behavioral Science, Amrita worked in the ecommerce industry as a writer and later on took up music as a full time profession. She was associated with the Shankar Mahadevan Academy for 2 years as a music teacher to students across the globe. Amrita associated with Indian Raga ( a startup that focuses on music education) as a music teacher, by creating teaching videos for students of various levels.

She aims to increase awareness in classical music and hence, continues to conduct music classes at Raaga School of Music, Saratoga.