BIOGRAPHY

 

Indo-Dutch pianist and composer Ishaan Leonard Rao is an emerging prodigious talent in the world of music. Born to world renowned sitarist Pandit Shubhendra Rao and cellist Saskia Rao de Haas, described as the 'power couple of Indian music', Ishaan grew up steeped in musical heritage. He started learning classical piano at the age of 6, while already learning the sitar and cello, and quickly developed proficiency as a classical pianist. Now he seeks to blend this rich multimusical and multicultural heritage with musical traditions and forms from around the world. Drawing on influences ranging from contemporary jazz music to Arabic maqams and klezmer music, Ishaan seeks to paint a world united rather than divided by musicultural genre and form.

 

20 year old Ishaan is the only Indian chosen to be a Sony Music Global Scholar in 2022 among 50 recipients worldwide. India’s leading daily, Indian Express, featured him as ‘one of the 5 game-changers’ in their year ending cultural roundup article “Yearender 2021–Music to the ears”.

 

Ishaan is currently studying Piano Performance at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

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Ishaan has performed at prestigious concert venues in India and across the world, such as the Desert Song Festival in Alice Springs, the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, the Chhandayan Annual All Night Concert in New York City and the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai. He is currently working on releasing his first album as a bandleader, blending his Indian background and classical repertoire with writing and arranging techniques in the contemporary jazz idiom. Stay tuned for more news about the release!

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