• Profile

    • HK Venkatram (HKV) is one of the most accomplished and sought-after violinist in the Carnatic Music field. Born into a musical family, Venkatram received his musical training from his illustrious father and Guru Sangita Kalaratna Professor H.V. Krishnamurthy. Venkatram started learning violin at the age of eight and gave his first public performance in Bangalore along with his brother HK Raghavendra at the age of 11. He has given several duet/trio performances with his father and brother.
    • HKV works as a Senior Director at Intel Corporation for a Research & Development Group. He has been in the Semiconductor and IT Industry for over 30 years and has worked at Intel since 1995. His expertise, is in the area of System & Architecture Engineering and is credited to have built a world class System Engineering Research and Development team in India.
    • HKV belongs to the rare creed in which he pursues two careers in parallel seeking excellence in both the chosen fields and has been a role model for the younger generation.
    • HKV is an ‘A’ Grade artist in All India Radio. He has travelled extensively and has given solo and accompaniment performances at prestigious sabhas (including Music Academy, Krishna Ganasabha, Bangalore Gayana Samaja and others) in the country and abroad for close to four decades and has received raving reviews. He has given several performances abroad (USA, Canada, HK, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, United Kingdom).
    • He has accompanied many top-ranking musicians including Sriyuths Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, DK Pattammal, Dr ML Vasanthakumari, KV Narayanaswamy Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, Dr RK Srikanthan, Nendanuri Krishnamurthy, Dr N Ramani, TN Seshagopalan, TV Sankaranarayanan, Chitravina Ravikiran, Mandolin U. Srinivas, TM Krishna, Sanjay Subrahmanayam and others.
    • HKV also performs with G Ravikiran (Flute) and Ashwin Anand (Veena) as part of the popular Violin-Venu-Veena ensemble.
    • HKV has given several Carnatic-Hindustani Jugalbandi performances with stalwarts including Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt, Pt Ronu Mazumdar, Ustad Shahid Parvez and others.
    • Awards & Recognition: HKV has won several “Best Violinist” awards in the Annual Conference of the prestigious Madras Music Academy including the “Parur Sundaram Iyer Award for Senior Violinist“. In Oct 2004, Venkatram was awarded the title ‘Ganakala Shree’ by the prestigious Karnataka Gana Kala Parishath for his achievements in the field of Carnatic Music. He has received several titles like “Gaanavaradhi”, “Satyashree” to name a few. He is also an ‘Asthana Vidwan’ of Sri Kanchi Kamokoti Peetam, Kanchipuram.
    • HKV actively participates in many Panel discussions and has conducted a lot lecture demonstrations about various aspects related to Carnatic Music
    • HKV is also the Principal of Vijaya College of Music a premier music institution established by his father in 1953 and has been training several disciples. His family is also involved in running the institution. The music college has worked on the ‘Social Responsibility’ initiative (Prathyarpana Foundation) and has been actively supporting various NGOs and needy individual and organizations.
    • HKV has come up with several Creative Initiatives to promote and popularize Carnatic Music
      • HKV’s involvement in the Information Technology has helped Venkatram to make the best use of those technologies in the field of Carnatic Music.
        • In 1999, HKV released a multimedia CD on Tyagaraja’s Ghana Raga Pancharatnam during the Tyagaraja Festival held in Cleveland, USA. The CD was released in Bangalore too. The CD featured multimedia presentation on Life and Times of Saint Tyagaraja as well as audio tracks of Panchratnam songs with music notation and translation.
        • HKV has effectively utilized the modern form of communication to take Carnatic Music to the masses. He has presented comprehensive multimedia presentations on the Life and Works of Muthuswamy Dikshithar and also documentaries on several doyens of Carnatic music like Sri Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer, Veena Sheshanna..etc
        • HKV has also started the ‘Shabda’ initiative together with TM Krishna and RK Shriramkumar, Shabda (www.shabda.co.in) is a project aimed at creating an online archive of the various aspects pertaining to the Indian Performing Arts.
      • HKV has published a book, ‘TyagarajaVachanamrita‘ with text, transliteration and translation of popular Tyagaraja’s compositions.
    • HKV is an able organizer and has been successfully conducting several Music festivals and conferences. HKV is a ‘Convenor & Cultural Ambassador’ at Sri Vani Education Society and he has been supporting their cultural activities that includes conducting the month long Ramanavami Festival.