Nishanth Chandran

Violinist, Computer Scientist, and Teacher, Dr. Nishanth Chandran is one of the most leading Carnatic Violinists today and has been performing Carnatic music on the violin for over three decades. A senior disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi A. Kanyakumari and Padma Bhushan P.S. Narayanaswamy, he belongs to the illustrious musical lineage of Thillaisthanam Rama Iyengar and has shared the stage with legendary artists in the field, such as his guru A Kanyakumari, Saxaphone Kadri Gopalnath, TV Sankaranarayanan, TV Gopalakrishnan, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Malladi Brothers, Trichy Sankaran, Flute Shashank, Ranjani-Gayatri and so on. He also had the rare honour of performing as part of the legendary sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar's music ensemble at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in 2009. Nishanth is an All India Radio National Award winner and an A grade artist. He has performed at prestigious festivals and venues such as the Akashvani Sangeet Samellan, Madras Music Academy, Bangalore Gayana Samaja, and Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre. He has received several accolades for his performances, including the prestigious “Best Violinist” and “Best Concert” awards from the Madras Music Academy on multiple occasions. Nishanth is the founder of the Thillaisthanam Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to promote Carnatic music through intimate musical events and workshops. Alongside his musical career, he is a well-known cryptographer having received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA for his award-winning research on cryptography. Currently, he is a Senior Principal Researcher with Microsoft Research in Bangalore.