Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath

Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath is among the popular musicians of her generation and one of the most promising vocalists in the field of Carnatic Music. Aishwarya was initiated into the world of music at the tender age of 3. She began her music lessons under Smt. PS Vasantha, an A-grade artiste at the AIR. She observed Aishwarya’s remarkable ability to appreciate and grasp, and allowed her to perform with her when Aishwarya was just 7.

Aishwarya, today, has the honour of being the disciple of musical stalwarts like Sangita Kalaacharya Smt. Seethalakshmi Venkatesan, Padma Bhushan Sri PS Narayanaswamy, and Sangeetha Kala Sagaram Smt. Vegavahini Vijayaraghavan. She has been the upholder of the Semmangudi Bhani and the Veena Dhanammal Bhani. Aishwarya was awarded the Government of India scholarship between the years 2008 and 2010.

Her first performance was at the age of 13, and there was no looking back after. Some of her noteworthy performances include those at the Cleveland Tyagaraja Utsavam (USA), Madras Music Academy, Shanmukhananda Sabha (Mumbai), Narada Gana Sabha (Chennai), Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai), Bharati kala Manram (Toronto), and Bangalore Gayana Samaja.

Aishwarya won the first prize in the All India Radio competition, and was awarded the B grade. In 2010, at the age of 21, Aishwarya was directly upgraded to an A-grade artiste at AIR. Meanwhile, she finished her B.E at PESIT, Bangalore, and worked in Biocon as a biotechnologist.

Aishwarya was awarded Best Concert prize by the Madras Music Academy for her performance during the December Season in 2014. She was conferred the “MS Subbulakshmi Award” by Narada Gana Sabha in December 2013, and the “Best Performer” by Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha for her performance during the December Music Festival, 2013. Some of the other accolades she won include the “Seerkazhi Govindarajan Award” instituted by Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, Best Vocalist prize instituted by Ramana Kendra, “RMKV Award of Excellence” instituted by Rasika Fine Arts, “Best Vocalist” from the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, “Yagnaraman Endowment Prize” from Krishna Gana Sabha, and “Rising Young Talent” by the Bangalore Rotarians. She is the recipient of the prestigious Meena Srinivasan Award, instituted by the Indo-Canadian Shastri Foundation.