![]() Ishaan dedicated himself to the piano, going to class once a week and spending a couple of hours a day practicing. He has also has also taken master classes by Polish pianist Raphael Lustchevsky, French pianist Martine Dellenbach and Dutch pianist Marianne Boer. “I have had four teachers along the way – Justin McCarthy, Raj Bhimani, Svetlana Radashkevich and Dimitris Lambrianos,” he says. Ishaan began training in the piano at the age of six, and showed great talent for it. Pandit Ravi Shankar with Ishaan A love story with the piano I became used to different cultures, am cognizant of my cultural heritage and find it very easy to acclimatise and feel at at home in either part of the world.” It lent itself also to his explorations as a musician. From the time he was born till about the age of 15, Ishaan was on the road with his parents for a “good three to five months of the year.” Having a South Indian father and a Dutch mother also lent itself to cultural exploration – “I grew up speaking Kannada with my father and Dutch with my mum. “Hindustani and Western classical music are the most familiar to me but I have never really confined myself to a genre,” he says. Ishaan would also accompany his parents across the world, and has been meeting people from different cultures and heritages for as long as he can remember. Western music shapes your understanding of absolute pitch.” Although he’s comfortable with sheet music, the piano prodigy is happiest playing by ear. Indian music teaches you how to train your ear in relation to other notes, if you hear a ‘sa’, you know every other note in relation to that. “The unique combination of Hindustani and Western classical music has shaped me so that I can understand music quite intuitively. “My parents had taught me ragas by then, not necessarily in a regimented way but I had learned how to identify them.” When they sang him to sleep as a child, the lullaby would be based on a particular raga. By the time he met Pandit Ravi Shankar, he had learned around 15 ragas, even though he was still a toddler. He was listening to music even before he was born and doesn’t even recall the first time he picked up an instrument. Music isn’t merely a part of Ishaan’s world, something he loves or is good at – it is life itself. “I didn’t know anything else through my childhood,” he remarks. Growing up in Delhi, music was always “a given for Ishaan Leonard Rao, which is not surprising, all things considered. In this concert, he will also combine elements of modal jazz, which has been studying at University, with ragas, as he explores John Coltrane (Naima), Dave Brubeck (Rondo A La Turk).Ī post shared by Ishaan Leonard Rao childhood steeped in music His journey is only just beginning, but Ishaan is already crafting a style that is uniquely his own, inspired by his deep knowledge of Hindustani and Western classical music, as well as the many influences he encountered travelling with his parents as they performed around the world. I have really tried to show who I am as a musician,” he adds. “And some jazz I picked up last year at Berklee, along with some South American influences. “This programme will have a classical piano repertoire, with Hindustani and Carnatic-inspired music,” Ishaan says. The tour will take him to some of India’s most prestigious cultural venues, including the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, the NCPA in Mumbai, the India International Centre in Delhi and the Bangalore International Centre. This month, during his break from Berklee, Ishaan will begin his solo tour across India, performing five concerts across Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai. “I was five when I fell in love with the piano and decided to make it my instrument,” he tells Global Indian. He has trained in the piano for 12 years, and in the sitar for seven. ![]() The young piano prodigy is not really given to talking about his achievements, which already make up quite a long list. Photo (and featured image) by Bandeep Singh
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