A Sitar concert featuring Purbayan Chatterjee accompanied by Anubrata Chatterjee on Tabla

Purbayan Chatterjee is recognized as one of the accomplished sitar players of the younger generation. Purbayan was born in 1976, and started learning music as a child from his father, Partha Chatterjee, a disciple of late sitar maestro Nikhil Banerjee as well as of sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Purbayan started giving public performances when he was nine, and at the age of seventeen he received the President’s Award for being the best instrumental musician in the All India Radio Music Competition. In 1996 he performed in Great Britain and Germany and, in 1997, he had a very successful concert tour of U.S.A. Since then he has performed in practically every major music conferences in India and has been hailed as one of the brightest Sitar performers of the younger generation.

Purbayan belongs to the Senia Maihar Gharana founded by Ustad Allauddin Khan and he carries the rich legacy of the great sitar maestro Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Purbayan combines amazing virtuosity with mature lyricism, reflecting the style of Pandit Nikhil Banerjee in depth, discipline, and exuberance. His style is an interesting mix of the vocal traditions of dhraupad and khyal, and evidence of that is seen in his balanced and fine technique between both the right and left hands. The depth, discipline and richness of the “Dhrupad” form are interspersed with the exuberance and lyricism of “Khayal”. He is able to combine technical brilliance and virtuosity of the highest level with depth and serenity with a unique display of maturity. Today Purbayan is acclaimed, by the top-most maestros in India as well as connoisseurs of music throughout the world, as one of the best young instrumentalists of the Hindustani tradition.