Samarth Nagarkar

“An eminently talented virtuoso musician” - The Hindu

Samarth Nagarkar is a Khayal musician (Hindustani / North Indian classical voice music) - singer, educator and author, regarded as a flag-bearer of raga music globally. His music is often described as a rich blend of traditional authenticity with a deeply emotive, meditative, introspective and healing quality.

Samarth features in music festivals and venues around the world, some prominent appearances including, Lincoln Center (New York), ITC Sangeet Sammelan (Kolkata), LearnQuest Music Conference (Boston), Central Park Summer Stage (New York), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Chicago World Music Festival, The Continuum Festival (San Francisco), and Dakkhini Music Conference (Kolkata).

He has several solo as well as collaborative albums to his credit and has authored the much lauded book, ‘Raga Sangeet’. He has composed music for International films and conventions. He was awarded a Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and was one of the youngest to win the prestigious and highly competitive All India Radio’s National Music Competition. In 2022, Samarth was awarded the NAKC Outstanding Achievement Award in the field of Art.

Samarth trained under two distinguished masters, Ulhas Kashalkar and Dinkar Kaikini, in the guru-shishya system, where the disciple lives with the guru for several years and acquires deep insight and mastery in the art form through complete immersion. He was also a scholar at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata. Through intensive training and decades of study and practice Samarth has earned a rare distinction of being proficient in three styles or gharanas - Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur.

As an educator, in addition to training gifted students deeply committed to raga music, Samarth frequently lectures at universities like NYU and MSM as well as at middle and high schools across the country, working relentlessly to make this genre accessible to listeners, through short courses, masterclasses and innovative presentations. Previously, Samarth served as head of the K. K. Kapoor Music Academy, Lucknow, and as Guru and Director of Academic Affairs at Chhandayan Center for Indian Music, New York. As a voice coach, he has worked with several prominent personalities and musicians from other genres of singing such as opera and jazz.

He currently runs Raga Sangeet Creative, an initiative towards concert curation, music education and publication. He is a founding member of Brooklyn Raga Massive (a collective striving to make raga music mainstream and to create sustainable livelihoods for musicians) and a curator of their Colors of Raga deep-listening concert series. Samarth is among the first to scale digital platforms like Patreon in the Indian classical music world, pioneering new avenues of audience engagement, music education, mentorship and monetization.