A Night of Hindustani Classical Music: Arjun K. Verma and Nilan Chaudhuri

ARJUN K. VERMA, sitarist, was trained by the legendary Maestro Ali Akbar Khan.

With over three decades of performance experience, at venues including the United Nations (Geneva), the Fillmore (San Francisco), Fox Theater (Oakland), Pattee Arena (Monterey), the New School (New York), Birmingham Museum of Art (Birmingham), Prague Castle (Prague), and NBC Bay Area television (San Jose), Arjun has emerged with a unique voice on the sitar—both within the tradition of North Indian Classical Music, and through his innovative cross-genre collaborations.

Arjun began performing at the age of seven, and has played concerts in the United States, Europe, and India, including performances with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Sri Alam Khan, Pandit Sharda Sahai, Ustad Shabbir Nisar, Bob Weir, Salar Nader, George Brooks, Nilan Chaudhuri, Indranil Mallick, Anirban Roy Chowdhury, and members of the Houston and St. Louis Symphonies.

Arjun has spent his entire life steeped in the tradition of North Indian Classical Music. The son of internationally performing sitarist Roop Verma, who was a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar, Arjun began learning sitar from his father at age five. As a teenager, Arjun was deeply inspired by the preeminent sarode maestro, Ali Akbar Khan, and he ultimately moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to study directly with Ali Akbar Khan for eight years. Since the Maestro’s passing in 2009, Arjun has continued his training under the able guidance of Ali Akbar Khan’s son, Alam Khan. Arjun has also received guidance from Smt. Annapurna Devi.
As a musician of the Maihar Gharana (style) of Hindustani classical music, Arjun’s playing is based on the music of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan. He has developed innovative sitar techniques inspired by the Maestro’s style, and is also influenced by sitarist Nikhil Banerjee. Arjun’s playing also incorporates musical elements drawn from his long apprenticeship with his father, Roop Verma. The combination of these influences results in a style encompassing the deeply contemplative as well as the exhilarating elements of Indian Music.

In addition to performing, Arjun teaches sitar and North Indian Classical Music at the Ali Akbar College of Music and the East-West School of Music.

NILAN CHAUDHURI, tabla player, received his first tabla lesson from his father, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, on his fifth birthday. When he was 11, he performed his first tabla solo at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, where he received blessings from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. That same year he was privileged to become Khansahib’s ganda bandhan disciple. In
2005, at the age of 16, Nilan made his debut performance in concert with his father in Queens, New York. In 2007 he performed for the momentous occasion of Basant Bahar’s 25th anniversary, and accompanied his father at the prestigious Sabrang Music Festival in Kolkata the following year. 

He has also performed for other prestigious organizations dedicated to the preservation of Hindustani classical music, such as The Music Circle, in Los Angeles, California. Since 2005, Nilan has continued to perform both as a soloist and accompanist, and has shared the stage and recorded with celebrated artists such as Sri Alam Khan, Pt. Ramesh Misra, Dennis Chambers, Ust. Sujaat Khan, and members of the Chitresh Das Dance Company. In addition to his tabla studies, Nilan is formally trained in western drum set theory and performance, and was involved in jazz ensembles in high school and University in San Francisco. Currently Nilan resides in the Bay Area where he continues to study under the guidance of his father.