Shreya Devnath is a South Indian Classical (Carnatic) violinist. A student of the legendary Indian violin maestro Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman, she strives to be a worthy representative of this prestigious school of music. She is a well-established solo violinist, who has earned much appreciation for her distinctive music. 

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Instrumental Outfits and Collaborations

​Shreya presents diverse instrumental collaborations. She curates, performs and tours with various instrumental outfits like “A Carnatic Quartet”, a Classical ensemble featuring Violin, Nagaswaram, Mridangam and Thavil, “The Blue Trio”, a fusion music trio featuring the electric violin, Mridangam and Multi percussion and Keyboard,“AAVAAM | we two”, a classical duet with Indian percussionist Praveen Sparsh, as well as “Band Cooum”, an experimental collaboration bringing together the folk, classical and electronic music soundscapes of the city of Chennai, India. She has also presented “A Carnatic Quartet - alternate dimensions” - a coming together of classical, folk and electronic music, as well as “Villupaatu cutcheri” - a collaboration of artistes from Villupaatu, Tamilnadu’s traditional folk art form and Carnatic music. Her other collaborative ventures also include Violin- Chitravina duets, Violin-Flute duets, Violin-Sitar duets and a collaboration with Tabla Virtuoso Ms. Anuradha Pal in the prestigious Chakradhar Samaroh Festival in Raigarh. 

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Teaching  

A capable vocalist, and committed teacher, Shreya handles students from different parts of the world, for South Indian Classical vocals and violin. She was also most recently invited to be an international mentor for the Pathways Program as well as Dada Desi Program, which fall under the Sangam festival, Australia, an international festival for South Asian Music and Dance. She was also invited as Violin Faculty of the prestigious Summer School Program (Violin) of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London. 

 

Collaborations with Musicians and Dancers in the South Indian Classical Space

Shreya performs regularly alongside maestros of South Indian Classical music like Dr. S Sowmya, Sikkil Gurucharan, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, and Dr. Nithyashri Mahadevan and has also collaborated as a vocalist in the productions of veteran dancers Narthaki Natraj, Urmila Sathyanarayanan and Srekala Bharath. She has also been the Composer in dance productions, most recently for senior danseuse Vidhya Subramanian. 

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Research Projects

Shreya has collaborated on a research project funded by Goldsmiths University, UK, on finding the Intermusicality between the Western Classical music theories of Harmony and Counterpoint and the Carnatic music concepts of Melakartha and Gamaka. 

 

Independent Releases and Original Compositions 

Shreya is also an independent artiste, and music composer, with singles like ‘Kaatre’,’Night Sky’ and ‘Solace’, and has most recently brought out her debut independent album ‘Songs from the Blue Room’, along with musician and music producer Praveen Sparsh. 

 

Collaborations in the Indian Film Music Space

Shreya has played solo violin in various film projects from the Tamil and Kannada film industries, including most recently with Maestro AR Rahman. 

 

Tours and Collaborations in the Theatre Production Space 

Shreya has toured the US and UK extensively, as also Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Dubai for concerts and workshops. She has also toured widely with the productions of noted writer, playwright and musician Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan, including “MS Subbulakshmi: Born to Sing”, “DK Pattamal: Her music Her life” and “Songs of Peace - A tribute to the Mahatma”. She also scored and performed the music for Dr Ramnarayan’s plays “Kurukshetra: When Things Fall Apart”, staged at the prestigious Madras Music Academy, as well as “What She Said: six unheard voices from the Ramayana”, premiered at Kalakshetra, Chennai. 

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Outreach Programs

Along with Praveen Sparsh, Shreya is also the architect of ‘Sound.Music.Carnatic music’, a music outreach program for underprivileged children, the intent behind which, is to simply share the joy of music, and experience together, its omnipresence, regardless of our social, economic or physical setting - an exploration, of finding and befriending the music around us. The program is extended to governmental and non-governmental institutions with predominantly first generation learners. 

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Awards and Recognition 

Recognition has also come in the form of awards and titles awarded by prestigious organisations of South Indian Classical music like the ‘Isai Peroli’, ’Bharat Ratna Dr. MS Subbulakshmi Fellowship’, ‘Dr. Chitra Narayanaswamy Centenary Trust Award’, ‘Parur Sundaram Iyer Award’, ‘Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer Award for Youth Excellence’, ’Yuva Kala Bharathi’, ‘Nada Ratna’, ‘Visesha Pratibha Puraskaram’ ‘RMKV Award of Excellence’, ‘Best Performer Award’, ‘Yuva Shakthi Youth Achiever Award’, ‘Best Violinist’, ‘Best Instrumental Artiste’, ‘Outstanding Woman Achiever’, ‘Ministry of Culture Scholarship for Young Artistes' amongst others. 

 

Academic Qualification and Other Interests

Shreya holds a Masters Degree in Economics. She is a gold medalist with a brilliant academic record. She is also a talented painter, poet and a short story writer. She was awarded the RK Narayan Award for Creative Talent and her work of fiction was chosen by famed author Ruskin Bond, for publication in a collection of short stories. 

 

However, her interest in other art forms aside, she remains deeply passionate about music. Her music is characterised by substance and freshness with paramount importance given to aesthetics. It is music for the mind and soul, a journey for the artiste and the audience.