With her mesmerizing glides, the timing and purity of her notes, and her soulful playing, Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh has been captivating audiences around the world for thirty years now and is one of the leading Veena (roughly, the Indian lute) artistes today. A sixth-generation musician, she began playing the Veena at the age of three and is one of the youngest Veena artists ever to receive the A-TOP GRADING, the highest from All-India Radio.
Apart from several prestigious venues and festivals in India, Jayanthi has performed at many international festivals, including the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Darbar Festival, the Queensland Music Festival, the Darwin Music Festival, and the Adelaide Music Festival, and at prestigious venues such as the United Nations in New York, the Palladium, Indiana, the Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, and the Northwest Folklife Festival, Seattle.
She has received many awards in India, including the Sangeetha Choodamani, the Kalaimamani from the Government of Tamil Nadu, the Veena Naada Mani, the Kala Ratna, the Sathyashree, and the Gaana Varidhi, to name a few. She is a seven-time recipient of The Music Academy, Chennai’s Award for Veena.
A collaborator, she has performed with legends such as tabla Ustad Zakir Hussain, Violin Maestro Shri. R. Kumaresh, Flautist Ronu Mujamdar, and the like. A pioneer, she founded the Indian National Orchestra, where 21 musicians playing different Indian instruments came together under one banner to showcase Indian classical music. A researcher, she holds a Doctorate for her works on “styles and playing techniques of the Saraswati Veena,” and conducts workshops and lecture demonstrations around the world. A composer, she has scored music for several dance productions and musicals. Her music for the dance ballet Krishna Bhakthi for Rasika, Portland, featured both the Carnatic and Hindustani styles of composition. She also composed and released the album Mysterious Duality, which is a multi-dimensional reflection of the simple yet complex self through a single instrument, the Veena, overlaying layers of several Veena recordings to create a symphonic composition.