Profile
Vishaal Sapuram is a Carnatic (Indian) classical musician, and an exponent of the rare Indian slide lute known as the chitravina. He is a disciple of the chitravina legend Shri. N Ravikiran.
Vishaal began his musical journey at the age of three, learning vocal music under respected gurus in the USA and India. Later, he came under the tutelage of Shri. Ravikiran, and under his guidance, gave his first full vocal concert at the Music Academy Madras at the age of nine. At age thirteen, he began to perform on the chitravina, joining the ranks of the rare few performers of the instrument.
His music has been featured at Ragamala (Chicago World Music Festival), Esplanade’s Kalaa Utsavam (Singapore), Navatman’s Drive East (New York), Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha (Mumbai), the Tyagaraja-Tansen Festival (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Drammen Sacred Music Festival (Norway), Nada Neerajanam (Tirupati, India), several venues at Chennai’s Margazhi Music Festival, and so on.
Vishaal has also presented unique concepts and collaborations such as “Unfretted: Indian Strings in Conversation” with noted violinist Sruti Sarathy, exploring the creative and collaborative frontiers of the traditional concert form, and “Immersed in Infinity”, a showcase of spirituality through the Carnatic concert journey. He has also played chitravina accompaniment for stalwarts like T H Subash Chandran, his guru Chitravina Ravikiran, and Abhishek Raghuram, as well as jugalbandis (improvisational duets) with several notable musicians.
Vishaal's music has been hailed by critics at The Hindu and other publications as ‘mesmerising’ and ‘showing his musical wisdom’, its ‘sonorous sound taking the audience into a trance’.
An A-Grade artiste for All India Radio, Vishaal has been felicitated with the Dr M S Subbulakshmi Fellowship from Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha Mumbai, several awards from the Music Academy Madras, and so on.
Vishaal began teaching at the age of ten, and has imparted knowledge and performance skills to several students over the years. He has also given talks on various aspects of Carnatic music at Emory & Brown Universities, Laya at UC Berkeley, Temple of Fine Arts Malaysia, and so on. He has also conducted several community music camps and workshops in his childhood hometown Austin, USA.
Vishaal is a highly proficient vocalist as well, and a student of the poetry of Carnatic music. He possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Sanskrit and a minor certification in Tamil from the University of Texas at Austin (USA), along with a significant knowledge of Telugu, giving him a perspective into the lyrical beauty of the art form. He has also written English translations for many compositions.