Jyotsna Srikanth

Early life

Jyotsna Srikanth was born in an Andhra musical family in Bangalore, India. Her mother, Ratna Srikantaiah, is a Carnatic musician and teacher.

Training

Jyotsna's music training began with Carnatic vocals at age five under her mother. It was a rigorous programme of coaching, with practice for six hours daily, and the attendance of concerts during the festival periods.

At the age of six, she attended a violin performance by the virtuoso Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, which sparked her own interest in the instrument. She began training under R. R. Keshavamurthy, a doyen of classical Indian violin. Her first solo concert was at the age of nine.

Jyotsna recognised the necessity of learning the western classical style of violin to become a complete violinist, and began her training in this genre at the Bangalore School of Music. For more advanced training, she went to Chennai to study with V.S. Narasimhan, a solo violinist who works with the notable Indian composer Ilaiyaraaja. She achieved her grading from the Royal School of Music, London.

Career

Jyotsna's initial foray into music came in the film industry, playing under the direction of film composers such as Hamsalekha and Ilaiyaraaja. By her account, she has played for over two hundred south Indian films.

Following her marriage, she moved to London, where she expanded her repertoire to music scores for documentaries (on Discovery and National Geographic), teleserials, besides performing at global music events such as WOMAD, the Red Violin Festival, the Cleveland Music Festival, and the BBC Proms.

Jyotsna also performs jazz and fusion, and has set up a troupe called Fusion Dreams,. She has collaborated with the classical guitarist Simon Thacker, and the flamenco/jazz guitarist Eduardo Niebla., as well as Fado saxophonist Rão Kyao.

Jyotsna has lectured on comparative techniques between the Indian and western classical violin at University of Cambridge and Liverpool University.

She established a foundation Dhruva to help upcoming Indian artistes to perform in the United Kingdom, as well as raise funds for charity.

In 2012, she organised the London International Arts Festival, a series of concerts of Carnatic, fusion, folk and Balkan music, as well as dance performances from Cyprus and India.

Jyotsna continues her Carnatic music career as a soloist and as an accompanist, and has performed with masters such as Dr M. Balamuralikrishna, Kadri Gopalnath, and N. Ravikiran.

Srikanth specialises in the following Indian composers: Thyagaraja, Purandara Dasaru, Papanasam Sivan, Annamacharya, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Shyama Sastri and Mysore Vasudevachar

Acclaim

Her violin playing and music style has been referred to as "amazing".

In 2008, she received a Fellowship in Carnatic Music from the Trinity College of Music, London.

Personal life

Jyotsna is a practising pathologist, having received MBBS and Post-Graduate degrees in Clinical Pathology from Bangalore Medical College, India. She is married to K.V. Srikanth Sharma, has two children and lives in London. She is a very humble person

Discography