Rakesh Chaurasia & Shahbaz Hussain

*This concert is now sold out. Please e-mail info@musicatoxford.com if you would like to be added to the waiting list for tickets.*

One of India’s greatest musicians, the Grammy Award winning flautist Rakesh Chaurasia is a pioneering player of the modern bansuri (a side-blown flute). His distinctive style has been described as enchanting, haunting and mesmerising, and he’s known for his diverse musical explorations, with recent collaborations including jazz, flamenco, and bluegrass. Rakesh is joined on stage by one of the most exciting tabla players of his generation, the award-winning Shahbaz Hussain.

This concert is produced in association with Asian Arts Agency.

About the Artist

A famous name attached to this musician; young Rakesh is a child prodigy and the nephew of flute maestro Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. The most accomplished of disciples of his uncle, he shows all the promise to carry the Chaurasia legacy to new heights.

Just like his legendary uncle, Rakesh possesses the right balance of strength and serenity, very critical factors for an exceptional flautist. His dextrous blowing technique coupled with his training of ‘Swar’ and ‘Tala’ exudes adeptly in his emotions through the hollow piece of bamboo. Rakesh has already globe trotted many times over, enthralling audiences at classical and semi-classical concerts in Japan, Australia, Europe, South Africa and USA. He is also an accomplished musician having recorded with most of the leading stalwarts of the Indian film industry. He was invited to conclude the twenty-four hour live music broadcast to a worldwide audience on the BBC radio celebrating Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee.

Despite his experimental work, Rakesh has never deviated from his main goal of becoming a full-fledged classical musician. He has regularly appeared in prominent festivals like WOMAD festival in Athens, ‘Festivals of India’ in Russia, Japan, USA and Europe. His growing maturity and status has brought him invitations to perform solo at major events within India and abroad such as the Festival of Saint-Denis in Paris, Leicester International Music Festival in England.

He has received an Indian Music Academy Award by Honourable President Of India Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam in 2007, Aditya Birla Kalakiran Puraskar in 2008 and Guru Shishya Award in 2011.

In 2024 he won two Grammy awards for his collaborative music album As We Speak.

He’s been awarded the Nakshatra Samman 2024 by TV9 Network in the realm of entertainment and music.

Modest Rakesh is the first to admit that he has a lot to learn, not just from his legendary uncle and maestro, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia but his peers too. He is indeed, destined to carve a niche for himself in the realm of Indian Classical Music with the simple yet extremely difficult to play bamboo flute, the Bansuri.